Well that was an incredibly long
week!
I am really tired...we went hiking
at like 5 this morning and just got back and so if this makes no sense I’m
sorry....
It was a really hard week with lots
of trials bit it all turned out okay, like always.
We are starting to get the area
down…kind of. We only get lost like once or twice a day so that is an
improvement!
You asked a lot of questions in your
letters but I don't remember the majority of them, sorry.
Our area is huge. It takes about an
hour driving for us to get from our house to the edge of our area. We
feel like we are road tripping all day because everything is super spread
out. Technically we live with members but I’ve never met them. They have
their house in front and we live in a small little house in back by the
horse.
Home? I will be home Feb 7th – that’s crazy! That’s like 3-4
months?
My companion? She's awesome. We
laugh all day and are weird together so that makes it fun. She's from Oregon.
She's hilarious. She doesn't understand Spanish quite yet so that has been entertaining.
She fell asleep in one of our lessons this week! Ha-ha. Training is so much
more fun this time.
We had some crazy lessons this week.
It seems like every transfer there is a theme that Heavenly Father is trying to
teach us - like patience or charity. I think this one is “Don't marry an
idiot”. We have seen so many bad marriages and families this week it's not even
funny.
I probably had the craziest lesson
of my mission this week. We went to stop by this inactive family’s home
because they have 4 kids who have never been baptized. I don't know if I
can even describe how crazy this lesson really was and do it justice. We
planned on watching Finding Faith in Christ and then reviewing the Restoration
but that’s not at all what happened. We get there and there are holes in the
walls from being punched in and we know something is wrong with the family
immediately because there is just a weird feeling. They don't have a DVD
player except in the parent’s bedroom so that was awkward as we all crammed in
there (missions are full of so many awkward experiences I can’t even begin to
list.) But there was this weird tension so after the DVD we talked about Christ
and the atonement, which they didn't understand. I was trying to ask them
questions to see where they were in their testimonies and I asked the Dad why
he was baptized and what he remembers from his baptism. OUT OF NO WHERE he
starts screaming that he was baptized for the right reasons but his wife
wasn't he doesn't know why she was baptized, but she's a terrible mother and
wife and person and has the spirit of the devil in her and he wants a
divorce. (All the family is sitting around the kitchen table at
this point - 4 little kids too). Then his wife, who has been all quiet
and bashful the whole time, starts screaming back that she hates him and that
salvation is on an individual basis and that she doesn't have the spirit of the
devil in her. So they are screaming across the table and are about to
strangle each other both red and purple in the face. The kids are sitting
in the middle acting like this is an everyday occurrence. Hermana K and I are
in shock because it came out of no where! I've never seen two people that hate
each other more. It was sad and ugly.
So - this is the crazy part: I
stood up and yelled and waved my hands in front of their faces and told them to
stop (it was not me, I would have been terrified to do that. This
calling is so real it scares me sometimes.) Finally they did
and I asked if I could share a scripture (after Hermana K and I were talking
about it and she said the same scripture came to her) It was 3
Nephi 11:29 about how contention is of the devil. I don't know how to describe
what happened after but it was like my mouth was moving but it was so not me as
I yelled at parents and told them to grow up and set a better example for their
kids and that they are destroying their family.
They humbled themselves so quickly
and every time they opened their mouths they just said "Si Hermana".
I felt like a freaking referee. My mouth was filled - it was crazy. It
was just so so so not me doing the talking. We talked about how only through
the gospel they can heal their family but they all will have to work together
and humble themselves. We went around one by one at the table and committed
them to do things, including the kids who looked at us like we saved their
lives. There is without a doubt abuse going on in that house. It's really
sad. By the end of the lesson they had calmed down so much and decided they
needed to come back to church and that the kids needed to start taking the
lessons to get baptized. I will never forget that crazy lesson.
All week we've had crazy bad lessons
where no one is prepared and so Saturday night we were so discouraged after our
4th lessons fell through and everything else that could gone wrong had.
Everyone had been rude to us all day. We sat in the car and starting talking
about what we could be doing wrong and why we were having so many challenges.
It is so depressing.
Then we had our last appt with “D”
and “R”. When we pulled up their youngest son was waiting out front with his
Book of Mormon and yelled "they're here!" I love this family so much.
This was our 4th lesson with them. They started progressing so fast. “D”,
the mom, didn't want anything to do with the church and the Elders were about
to drop her. All she needed was Sisters. She opened right up to us and love
that we speak Spanish. She started reading the Book of Mormon and asking all
her questions and doubts. She called us during the week to tell us that she got
on the Mormon channel and loves it. So we had an amazing lesson talking
about the gospel. Every time we read over a verse that said “Follow me
and do what I do” they perked up. The spirit was so strong. I pinched Hermana K
and she committed them to follow Christ and be baptized on Nov 5.... (it was
her first baptismal commitment…yay) and they said YES!! They are so excited!
They started bearing their testimonies and talking about the differences they
have seen in their family since they started talking with missionaries. We were
so freakishly happy after that lesson and everything that was horrible during
the week didn't matter it was all worth it.
They came to church yesterday for
the first time and fit right in and they loved it. So it's “D” and “R” and
then their sons, one of them under the age of 8 so he can't get baptized
yet but it's a family!! I haven't had a whole family get baptized on
my mission yet.
I'm happy.
We had a lot of farm experiences
this week too. We helped this lady clean her farm and feed her horses and cows
and learned all about cows. They're huge. So she raises them to eat them. She
even gave us a piece of “Oliver" who is sitting in our freezer,
which we will never ever eat. How can you name a cow and pet it everyday and
then just eat it? I can't do that. I can only eat hamburgers because I didn't
personally know the cow. Poor Petunia is next. Part of me wants to sneak over
and let her out of the pen.
Well outa time…
LOVE YOU!
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