April 16, 2016
Rain, rain, Rain. It has begun! The street is flooded, the people 'stuck' in their houses, and the bottom of our skirts are gross, haha! I've really enjoyed the rain, actually. Not much time to write, but I had a tender experience today I don't want to forget. So usually we pass an auto shop before returning home and greet all the old men and today it wasn't all the way open and there was just one man there and usually we pass fast and quickly 'hola' and passing him I felt the need to quickly turn around to give him a hand shake, to which he smiled so bright and held on a little too long. We asked him how he was and he talked about a cut on his face that happened and was really sad about it! Poor guy, he started crying and we asked him why and he poured out his sadnesses--he works so hard, lives with a cousin and some other family but doesn't have much of them, never had a family of his own, and just isn't happy. What PAIN, ahhh :(! Maybe a moment I'll never forget--him standing there hopelessly crying, it starting to rain, the truth of the gospel ringing in my ear, wanting to hug this little guy so bad and my heart hurting for him. I searched for the spirit to tell me what he needed to know and what did I say? Well, I looked him straight in the eye and out came the words, 'You are a HIJA de Diós, who is unique, special, etc.) ARGH, I MEAN HIJO!! ;[ Hma Molina thought it was the funniest thing in the world (bust out laughing after we left him all tender and feeling better (he asked about church and we left him with the Plan of Salvation pamphlet), and I was feeling all spiritual seeing him feel better and having had the spirit act on me to just reach out my hand passing by, but I just HAD to mix up hijo and hija ('misiercordia' as Hma Lopez would yell!). ARGH!
BTW, it's now Sunday April 24th. I'll try to write down all the highlights. Our comp inventory was really good and she opened up about some personal struggles that made me love her so much more. Her family doesn't write her and it's hard to see when I get a ton from my family (please don't stop that :} ), but I'm so grateful now for my parents and family and true support I have.
Monday: Finding P_--old investigator, on drugs, admitted he feels no direction/happiness in his life. Went from saying 'no thanks' to inviting us in and wanting to change.
R_--the viejita who saved the dog that got run over now hates the dog because it's dirty and ruins her plants...she stress cleans.
P_--12 year old recent convert, so chill, only member in family, gets made fun of but knows the church is true!
Hma F_--wife of ex-70 who doesn't go to church now and she wants to get to the temple again but doesn't feel worthy. We explained family history and she said (with no hope/resentment) that her family has said that she canNOT do their work in the temple (but they're dead??)
D_--let us in to meet her boyfriend (RM) and he, being a good RM, insisted we teach her. 'What is the gospel?' GOOD NEWS. Taught us games for Noche de Hogar (NDH [Family Home Evening FHE]).
TUESDAY: San Cristobal hike. What I enjoyed was opening up and getting to know Hma S_, talking to her, asking her to tell me stories from her life. And I liked that! I love stories!--telling... NO, but listening to them...YES! Besides that I talked with English tourists who I mistakenly told that my grandmother is English and is from Wales. They laughed and I corrected myself. ¡Que verguenza! Also talked with a couple from Belgium who didn't live too far from the bombing. I enjoyed email time and looking through Hna's photos from before the mission and getting to know and understand her better.
Things that happened this week that I remember right now...Noche de Hogar with R_ y N_--Ahí de Gallina (took 2 HRS to make!), our investigators and even Y_ didn't come, S_ shows up all S_-like, our 'beautiful' lesson we planned was ruined by S_ changing the subject with 'And what's the spirit?' when we were just explaining--baby crying, game that only R_ understood, and all of it just a JOKE! This was also the day M_ had his baptismal interview and was drunk, etc, and we ended the day just as we started, saying hopelessly, 'I HAVE NO PURPOSE!' LOL! We know that's not true, but sometimes it just feels like it, ya know?
Friday--a drunk old man contacted us by calling to us to come over to him. It was really sad! A dog had bit a chunk out of his hand. (The dogs are really mean here. Did I write about the night walking through apartments a dog charged at us and I panicked and pulled out my super loud alarm thing and we ran but I dropped my umbrella so we needed to slyly run back for it. Then it started raining for the first time?) . The man was all sad eyes showing us his hand 'and what do I do with this? And I'm an alcoholic, and I gotta ?, who's fault is this--mine or God's" which I responded, 'NEVER is it God's fault when we make poor decisions. It went on for about 10 minutes of me giving him firm answers (I feel the need to do that with angry drunks) and my firm testimony that I know miracles and God exist and He's going to help him, but only if he wants it. He just said over and over, 'But I'm just SO stubborn!'
At the end of the night, we visited E_ and the reason I mention her is just because she's the first person I've talked to who is afraid to pray...because Hma Molina says she has the gift of seeing spirits and has had a lot of weird experiences. So that was interesting.
Saturday we found F_ again because, welp, turns out we were knocking the wrong door for the past week and when she didn't answer, we decided to contact on the way down and, ope, there she was in her house the floor below the house we were knocking at!
Another funny story--in once [like the number 11 in spanish--'ownsay'--snack time], we arrived to the home all ready to bake a banana cake for FHE. WOOH! mixed it all up, good tuh go, yuh. Oh wait... 'Hermana, we don't have gas! NOOO! So we check to see if Y_'s family (our neighbors, she's a recent convert who's now less active) could bake our cake, and no...no working oven! So we switch over their gas to ours, doesn't work, so we called the gas guys (there are always gas trucks roaming the streets), didn't come so quickly and it was getting time to leave for FHE, so we got nervous BUT they came 5 minutes later, so I grabbed my debit card, decided to grab my cardigan and put on some shoes to go pay and it started to rain, so I asked Hma if she had the keys so I could close the door and she said yes, so of course, I closed the door! But as soon as I did, Hma's eyes were all big and full of shame/guilt over her face. She said, 'Hermana, I don't have the keys!' She thought the phone in her pocket was the keys, lol! It wasn't so 'LOL' though at the time because we'd gotten ourselves locked out the week before (because I waited for Hna to come out before I took the keys out from inside the door to lock the outside and she closed the door behind her and I just stood there with my mouth open :{}. Anyways, it was raining, the gas finally came so we could bake our cake we whipped up, but then it was time to leave and we were left outside. So as Hna is calling our ZL's to have them bring us our spare keys (again!), I'm waiting to pay the Gasco guy with my card (my sole possession at this point lol) and I said, I have a card! And they just kind of looked at me and so I just waited there until he'd tell me he's ready. la la la la la And Hma is explaining to the elders that we were locked out of the house and need to pay for this gas and I said no, I've got my card right here! And she and the Gasco guys gave me all a look of, OOOOOHHH! Because Hma thought we weren't going to be able to pay and the Gasco guys were waiting for me to pay. Meanwhile, I'm just waiting to pay and go to the FHE. Anyways, the Elders said they're on the way and it started pouring rain as we ran to go meet them for our keys, but I'm just glad I put a cardigan and shoes on and brought my card to pay. We got there late to FHE with M_ who's the less active recent convert who responds better to FHE's, but we got there with 2 members and her mom opens up the door all fome saying I'm tired! ;[ But it was ok, even though M_ never came down to participate, her mom not really either, we played the flour game with the 2 members--J_, a little girl who is friends with M_ and Hna A_--a viejita who smiles all the time, muttering everything and laughing and I never understand her :D! That night!! I could cry, I suppose...but also hilarious, I suppose!
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