A LOT happened this week...
I'm going to try to remember... First the funny and the good:
We had a pretty crazy experience with this lady that was yelling at us when we were at this sketchy apartment complex. She called herself as a "crack cocaine whore" so I don't feel bad saying it because she said it first. But, oh man, was it an interesting night! It was so Jerry Springer! She was yelling and swearing and then crying. She was around 50 years old and told us her whole life story. She admitted she had brought it all upon herself. I don't even know how to give this story the justice it deserves, but in summary: she was wearing this little SHORT dress (which was just wrong)and she lifted up her dress and pulled down her nylons to show us this bug that was living in her skin high up on her upper thigh. I was dry heaving and she said "Honey- it’s not contagious. Do you think I grew up thinking I really want to be a crack whore one day and have a bug in my leg and an earwig in my ear?" Clearly I didn't know how to answer this question and she proceeded to make this squealing noise that she claims the earwig makes when it is moving around in her ear (?) which made me jump like 10 feet. I thought earwigs didn't actually go in your ear? I thought that was something Brandon and Chase just told me to make me scared! She told so many stories that she was crying about, but some of them we were DYING trying not to laugh - like how her boyfriend had a foot disease (pretty sure she said gangrene, and put his foot on her pillow and it gave her a permanent rash on her face…but don't worry she still loves him). Anyway, it was sick and wrong, sad and a little funny. Then the cops came because the manager of the apartments called the cops on her. It was a pretty funny hour that made our night a little more interesting. AND THAT, boys and girls, is why you don't do crack!
Okay spiritual stuff:
We had this awesome lesson with "M" and "A" but Andrea (13) kept switching to English when she didn't want her mom to know what she was saying, which would annoy "M" because she doesn't understand a word of English. So "A" was telling us why she hasn't been praying, and how she is scared to pray because the first time she tried it she felt something dark and got scared and started crying and hasn't prayed since. So we were trying to answer her question when "M" just got fed up because she couldn't understand what was going on and out of nowhere she yells "QUIERO BAPTIZARME!!!" (I want to be baptized.) Umm what?! She says “Yeah, I'm ready and then "A" said "me too...but I still want to learn a little more because I still don't feel good about praying. SO they are getting baptized - probably this week because they want to do it before Hma B leaves next Tuesday:) But then "A" started to break down and cry and tell us more about whenever she does church things she feels like something doesn't want her to do it. We explained about Satan and it freaked her out and she was hysterically crying. So the zone leaders came over and gave her a blessing. The spirit was really strong it was a cool experience for everyone there. It was kind of my "Ah-ha" moment for the Priesthood. Not that I didn't have a testimony of it before but this was cool. We didn't tell the elders anything when they showed up we just said she's upset and needs a blessing. He said EXACTLY what she needed to hear, talked about how she needed to trust her mom and be honest and confide in her and not keep things from her. He talked about not being afraid to pray. It was a beautiful blessing and so perfect for "A" to see that Heavenly Father knows her perfectly. She was crying so hard during the blessing. We talked to her about it the next day and she said she knew the church was true and that the blessing was from God and how she had never felt like that before. So, yay for worthy little priesthood holders who saved the day!
Also, we went to a baptism the other week and last minute they decided to do the confirmation at the baptism instead of the next day and on the spot she picked an elder to do it. This elder is SUPER awkward and quiet and REALLY, REALLY struggles with Spanish. He looked terrified. I was praying sooo hard the whole blessing that he would be okay. He spoke PERFECT Spanish, with confidence and gave a perfect blessing, it was really cool. Sometimes I get so proud of these lil Elders. Especially in district meeting - I always think "if only their moms could see them and hear them".
Okay so more about "M" and "A". We had dinner with them last night at a members house and it was fun. It was a girls night and we laughed so much. She asked what our first names were and she tried to pronounce them and said they were too difficult so now she calls Hma Barker "Bacon" which a lot of Hispanics call her - I don't know why Barker is hard to say… and she nicknamed me "gatito" because apparently that is close to Kaitlyn.
Hma B was telling them about how whenever we talk to some drunk people on the street and they ask where I’m from I say I’m from Chihuahua and most of the time they believe me which is hilarious. So they were all telling us last night about how we need to come and visit them in Mexico and how we need to marry men from Chihuahua. They taught me a bunch of bad words and phrases in Spanish though. It's fun to learn about the culture though. Apparently if you are dating someone you can only visit them on certain days of the week. They look down on you if you hang out with your boyfriend on a Wednesday. Pretty funny stuff. BUT, after all of this, "M" opened up and started talking about her and "J" (member who introduced her to the gospel) who we've thought this whole time was such a good guy. WRONG. She started crying and saying how he was acting differently toward her and how he told her she wasn't ready to be baptized and was basically being a jerk. There has been some fishy stuff with him all along. So he told her he wanted to marry her. He told us two days later on the phone when he called us to tell us not to talk about baptism with her? That he wasn't planning on marrying her, but he said it in kind of a joking way, so we didn't think anything of it. He was over there when we had the blessing for "A" and we originally asked him if he could do it and he said "no" so we didn't think anything of it. ANYWAY "M" told us everything last night. Basically the guy is a player and a creeper. Not to mention like 50 years old. Do men ever grow up?
As we were talking about all of it all of us just had that horrible feeling in our stomachs as "M" was saying maybe he's a good guy… maybe he will change… and how she would still marry him because "sometimes" he is really sweet to her. So we tried to talk to her about how she needed to pray about it because even LDS guys can be slimy and deceiving and if she prays she'll know. It made us upset like all night. Sometimes I just wish I could make the decisions for these people. Dump the guy! Some of these women don't have any respect for themselves, well actually most women in generally don't anymore. Walking around ASU is pretty crazy when there are little stands with girls with practically no clothes on selling "free porn". It's sad. Anyway, "M" and "A" are getting baptized with or with out stupid "J", which is the good news.
We are teaching this woman, "B", which has been really cool. She's from Cuba. Her son is 5 years old and really cute. As we were explaining authority and the priesthood she asked about how people receive the priesthood so we were trying to explain the laying on of hands. Her son, "J" ran into his mom's room and grabbed the Restoration pamphlet we gave his mom weeks ago when we met her and flipped open to a picture of Jesus giving the priesthood to the apostles and said "LIKE THIS HUH?" Kids really do get it. I love how many little kids recognize Jesus Christ even if they haven't heard anything about him and have never been to a church in their lives. We had a picture with Jesus and a lamb around his neck and this little boy said "that's Jesus" and then pointed at the lamb and said "that's me."
Remember "O" and "Oz", the family I really, really loved and was super excited about and we were always joking around with? Well, they dropped us! We had such a cool lesson with them last week where THEY talked about how the spirit was really strong and how they felt it and knew that the things we were teaching were true. They talked about how they were going to read the Book of Mormon as a family and were excited about it. This week they were so cold to us. I don't know what the heck happened. The dad is working construction and is building an LDS church right now for work. He has a lot of LDS friends that kept joking about baptism with him because he told them he was meeting with the Hermanas. I'm pretty sure he got anti'd or something. They were completely different night and day. We went over and they said "We just aren't interested anymore". That was my official first time of being dropped. It pretty much feels like a break up, but worse. It threw off our whole day. I just don't get what happened. It makes me sick.
Oh I did something stupid 2 weeks ago. I’ve been praying that I would be humbled so I could know what I needed to learn and how I could grow so I would be more prepared to train. Pretty much saying to inflict upon me whatever is coming so I can deal with it now and not when I’m training. Well, that was a bad idea. I feel like the Lord has done nothing but humble me. I am sick of being humbled. I’m so amazingly stressed right now. I feel like we have a couple really good things going in our area and so many trials and problems. Basically I’m going to be spending a lot of time on my knees this next transfer. Plus I’m going to miss Hma B. This transfer has been easy companion wise. She is really laid back. Our zone is fun we are always doing something together. Laser tag was fun last week. This morning we went biking/hiking and now we have a barbecue today. This is my favorite area so far.
I feel like this sounds like a negative email... I'm happy I promise:) I have pictures I’m going to send - most are from this last week. A lot of people pray for you and the family here. They are thankful that you sent me to come to them. Last night "S" told us he thinks there is something in our blood that makes us "fuerte" strong and light up. He says there is just something different about missionaries - all the Hermanas he has met. We explained it was the spirit. Pretty cool that people can recognize it. But you get lots of prayers from the people here.
I love you
Love, Kaitlyn
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