Sorry about last week's lack of a letter. It was a bit of a crazy
P-day and I just plumb forgot to do it. All I managed to get out was
regarding housing, and heaven knows THAT's boring. So here's a quick
sum-up of our last two weeks.
Last P-day we went to President's house to do interviews and to have a
BBQ. It was a lot of fun, but nothing was weirder than seeing
President in a sweatshirt and jeans. We did interviews in suits, and
then after he finished he said, "Alright, go put on your grubbies and
we're going to play tennis and barbecue." So we made burgers and it
was cool to just be able to talk with him and Hermana Pack. They are
great people, and they're doing a great job leading the mission.
Elder Ávila and I have been planning a super fun ward activity - we're
going to do a movie night of Meet the Mormons. There's gonna be food,
the movie, food.... Alright, so it's just normal. But this week, to
get everyone excited, we've been going to their houses and giving out
invitations - the personal touch (: And then, we told them they had
to bring a friend. Those who don't bring friends, don't come. It was
fun to try and hit all the active members in a single day - and this
is my first area where that wasn't actually possible! On Tuesday we're
going to do the same recorrido, but to do some follow-up and remind
them that no friend-no entrance. While we were out knocking the doors
of the members, almost all of them gave us food. And one Romanian girl
started talking about the homeless people in the city, and then she
looked at us and said, "Oh! I almost forgot!" And then she ran inside
and got us some food. People think we're starving I guess....
One of my favorite lessons that we teach is with a Spanish guy named
Raul. He got baptized in June, and we're giving him the follow-up
lessons. We teach him twice a week like clockwork, and he is
progressing really well. Buuuut - he talks a whole lot. My companion
timed it once, and in our 1hr 5min lesson, he spoke for 1 hour. So
last week, for the first time, he blessed the sacrament! And then he
taught Elders Quorum. The first one went much better than the
second.... Have you ever been in one of those lessons that you are
just praying to have it end? It was funny because the members of the
class had to fight the teacher for speaking time... Oh it made me
laugh. I love Raul, and we're excited to see him keep doing stuff.
This weekend we're going to have his first Home Teaching
experience.... More on that when it comes. But for sure it will be
funny. It's great because he understands the gospel SO WELL- better
than most people. He's just a chatterbox.
Maria is another woman we're doing follow-up after her baptism. And
she got assigned to give a talk and clean the church last week. But,
she takes care of an old lady 24/7, so both of those jobs are not the
easiest. But we had a cool experience when we started explaining how
to give a talk and a testimony. I started asking her questions about
the gospel, and she just got frustrated. "I don't know, just tell me
the answers and what you want me to say!" And then I said, "Maria,
it's not a test - pretend I'm your friend who is honestly curious.
Tell me what you know, what you believe, and what you feel. Nothing
else." And a sweet spirit filled the room as she shared her testimony.
She had no idea what it was, but she could tell it was different and
real. The gospel works!
I think my favorite thing is watching the baby steps that people make
as we teach them. Things we invite them to do and then they actually
DO them, and it makes a huge difference in their lives. Jesus has now
come to church FOUR times, and he actually wants to - Maria fulfills
her church assigned ends - Raul gave a class. Six months ago (when I
got here... Transfers are this weekend) I would have never said any of
that was possible. But the Holy Ghost has been present in their lives
and changes have been made. That is so unbelievably cool.
Me.
No comments:
Post a Comment