Email 5/16/11

Emailing is stressful. I just want to go back to bed.

We had a referral for some guy named "F" so we went and knocked. This woman answered and told us we could come back the next night and she was really sweet, we figured she was his wife. So we went back the next day and she invited us in. We asked her where her spouse was and she said he died six months ago. Turns out this "F" guy is her Uncle? She starts telling us about how he was murdered and how hard it has been. She has 3 little boys under 8 years old and she's 8 months pregnant. :( SO sad. She cried for an hour to us. She has nothing, no job, no nothing and she doesn't know anyone in the US. She said she knew she needed to find peace and that she was looking for a church so she could feel tranquility again. It ended up being really cool how we were put in her path. We are trying to get all of the relief society sisters to help her and get to know her. Hopefully we can help her.

The other day we were teaching "J" and "G" English and how “gordita” is not nice in English; it's not nice to call girls fat. So they were practicing how to say "fat". So the next days we were over there and he was telling us about his neighbor. He said she probably wasn't interested in the gospel because “well, she's a fats." I don't know why, but the way he said it was so funny we couldn't breathe for about a minute.

"G" is a recent covert who we have started to bring to some lessons and he's been sooo awesome…until the other day when we were teaching the plan of salvation. Hma H has practiced 5 lines to say about the spirit world, so I nodded at her when it was time to say her 5 lines. She got about one sentence out and "G" lost patience and took over. He started explaining - well more like threatening - that it was heaven or hell and you better be good or else. It was intense haha. I had to jump in and explain that it's not really heaven or hell, and he kept getting defensive and saying yes it is, its heaven or hell or you’re in trouble. It was pretty funny. Finally I explained the rest of the plan. After the lesson he apologized and said he got confused and was remembering what one of his old preachers had told him in a previous religion, he felt really bad. He's such a bashful little guy. Did I tell you he asked me if I would like to dance when we had my little birthday party with "J" and him? That was pretty funny too.

Yesterday was the best. We were walking past the park and there were 6 guys lying under a tree. They were wasted, and one asked me if I would buy his dream catcher and if he could tell me a story. So I said I’ll hear your story if you hear ours. They were all drunk and high, but nevertheless OYM's. So he tells some crazy story about the dream catcher and we told them about The Restoration. Then one of the crazies asks if we can say a prayer together. This was the best prayer of my mission. So two of the guys are humming and chanting "Woooaahhhoooiiiiagreeeewiiitthhhwhaattthheeesaayyyssgooodd" (Singing I agree with what he says god.) While the one guy starts his prayer and starts by saying "my name is "R" and I'm an alcoholic. I know you are there god; in the trees, rocks.... and proceeds to name every object in his sight in the park. It was a good 3 minutes of this crazy prayer. My eyes were watering and I was trying so hard not to laugh that I had to cover my face with my planner. "J" and "G" were with us and they can't understand English and even they were laughing out loud. I really wish I could just pull out my camera at times like that. When he finished I thanked him and told him it was beautiful. He said "I could have kept going, I could have said more.." Thank heavens he didn't because I would have peed my pants.

Remember "Y"and "H"? Awesome lesson with them!! We randomly called "H" to check in with him and he tells us he's had the worst day, he got kicked out of his school (he already goes to a school where you have to wear handcuffs to go to the bathroom and be escorted everywhere.) He failed a test and then got in 2 physical fights. He was mad because he prayed before the test and he still failed it so therefore God doesn't care about him. So we went over to his house and taught his mom and him and it was AWESOME. We totally got through to them both. He even started talking about possibly going on a mission, his mom got all teary eyed. They invited us to dinner with them the next night. It was so cute because they had cleaned their whole house and been cooking all day. The whole family listened and participated as we taught the Plan. "H" started talking about where he would want to go on a mission if he does go. THEY WENT TO CHURCH YESTERDAY -the whole family. It was a miracle. First time in 20 years. They want to have us come over every week for dinner now! :)

What else? Oh "B". We've had some really good lessons with him. This week was a little weird. His wife sat in on the lesson and she usually doesn't because he acts different when she is there. He was kind of being a punk and wasn't listening half the time. It was frustrating. We talked about repentance and the atonement. As we were reading the last scripture I kept feeling like I needed to commit him to baptism, but I really, really didn't want to because I was worried it would freak him out and he would feel pressure and not let us come over again. But I couldn't deny the feeling, my heart kept pounding. After the scripture I asked him why he thought it was important to be baptized and he said "to follow the example of Jesus Christ" which was perfect and part of the baptismal commitment. So I did it. The spirit was so strong he paused for a minute and said "yes, I think. I know I will. I just don't know when. I need a little more time" He’s progressing slowly. I'm excited about him though. It will be a big deal for his family.

Okay I'm out of time….

I love you!!!