Wonderful Week

 

We had a WONDERFUL week this week. We found an awesome new family with 3 little girls. We found them by helping the young husband carry in his groceries. They were so grateful that of course they were interested in everything we had to say. We taught them THREE times this week and they have accepted baptismal dates for in about a month. It is amazing how God has prepared them and how we never would have known if we weren't brave in helping him and then brave in testifying. They have been prepared by grief. Their oldest daughter is 11 years old, but actually she doesn't live with them. She lives in Mexico because when she was 2 they went to visit the grandmother, but didn't think to get their daughter a passport or something, so when they tried to come back, she wasn't allowed back in the country. They were forced to leave her with her grandmother and they haven't seen her in 9 years. Can you imagine the grief of that mother in not being able to raise her daughter? And the processes of getting a birth certificate there or a passport are more than they can afford. Can you imagine how much the Plan of Salvation meant to her? Or what light was shed in her life when we explained family sealings?? yeah. pretty cool.

Last week at the conference my companions and I sat at the table with President  and Sister Pingree, and Elder and Sister Golden of the Seventy.  That was probably the quietest I have ever been at a meal. 

We have been using this new technique when we are street contacting or knocking where we start by saying, "Hi. We are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ." Elder Golden gave us this counsel when he came to visit our mission. When we say His name, the Spirit HAS to be present. It is amazing what results we have seen. Instantly people's focus is completely on us. They feel the urgency of our message. They listen. Sometimes they even invite us back. Sometimes, like the family we found, they actually are ready to receive the Gospel in their lives. But opening our mouths to every single person is important, whether or not that person ends up accepting our message. I have found that it is the trial of our faith. When we do something that is hard for us, in order to demonstrate our faith in God, he always blesses us. He has to. What's funny is that the blessings come in other areas that you aren't expecting. What I mean is, I would expect that if I introduce myself as a servant of the Lord to someone, the blessing will be that that person will accept the gospel and be baptized in 3 weeks. But really my faith is proven as I introduce myself that way to every single person I meet throughout the day and the blessing is that we finally miraculously run into one of our long lost investigators, or an inactive family asks us to come visit.  One funny story actually that happened this week is that one day we had been particularly diligent in finding people and talking to literally EVERY PERSON we came across, beginning by introducing ourselves as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we had qualified ourselves for the Lord's help. Then, on our way out of our last appointment, we saw this guy approaching, and I was thinking, "okay, here we go. One more contact. We can do this." Right as I opened my mouth to say hello he starts talking REALLY FAST in Spanish: "Wow! I never see anyone! you two must be Angels. What do you have to say to me. Tell me." We mumbled something out kind of in shock, he continued, "Do you have something for me to read? Oh I live in apartment 1706, come by any time! I have a son who would probably listen too. Oh and here is my phone number! Oh and by the way, you know what? I think drinking and smoking are really bad for you. I never do any of that stuff. I have heard of your church before. I think I'd actually be a pretty good fit. Come by my house tomorrow! You want food? I'll feed you. You like peeksa?" (in Spanish its hard to pronounce pizza. It's really endearing.)

We said maybe 10 words the whole time and yet he gave us all the information we normally have to press for and got all excited about our message without us really telling him we had a message. I asked hermana Villanueva if he was a member playing a joke on us. It was seriously so funny. Since then we have started to teach him the Restoration ( it takes a while to get through lessons with most Hispanics. They have so many awesome questions, and so much life experience to relate to us). and He just happened to ask if we could give him a tour of the church building and he is just a really charismatic awesome guy. So that was fun. God blesses us at the end of diligent days like that. And it's just really fun to see how.

Last thing I want to tell you about! hermana Villanueva is the sister training leader which means we get to do exchanges once a week because she has to exchange with each companionship in 2 zones once per transfer. I LOVE EXCHANGES. This week I got to go to Gulf Bank which is the GHETTTTTOOOOO. Like, I didn't realize my mission contained this much Ghetto and it made me so excited. I was made for the ghetto. Gulf Bank is completely Hispanic.The line of grocery stores there is called FIESTA! Who knew that that was even a thing? Yup. It is.

 

 

 

 And at night the sign lights up all crazy like an amusement park roller coaster. Instead of donuts they sell pan dulce (various forms of bread with powdered sugar or frosting). They have the craziest produce. Like plantanes and papayas bigger than my head. On ever street corner is a Taqueria which is just a little taco stand like the ones in Tijuana. There were Pulgas which are just HUGE flea markets, lining the streets. I was immersed in the culture, and I gained such a love for the people and an excitement for the adventures ahead in my mission that I have never experienced yet while out here. To give you an idea of what it was like, we ran from a couple of dogs, and everywhere we went we were stumbling across litters of kittens. There are WAY too many nasty ferrel cats here. Some missing tails, some missing eyes, all of them with gross matted fur. At night, we not only are required to lock the apartment door, but the bedroom door as well. I guess white people are approaching the sisters in that area all the time and saying things like, "what are you doing here? I hope you will be really careful because you are just going to get hurt in a place like this."

But the amazing thing is, we never felt afraid. The darkness around us was so contrasted by the light of the saints we visited and the dear investigators with such pure hearts. It was so fun. I love my mission. I love these people. I love how every time you have a conversation with a Hispanic person, they leave you with a blessing from God as you say goodbye. I love how they love to laugh. I love how they love color and wind chimes and little frog statues.

 

I love how they accept life as hard-work and ask for nothing more than to live another day and put food on the table.
It is amazing to me what people to do get to America. We met a guy who gave up everything in El Salvador--a fine reputation, seven years of medical studies, his family, his culture--just to remodel houses and be a hard laborer day in and day out. He is trying to learn English and it is strange to see someone so intelligent and so sophisticated unable to speak the language. People are so misconceived just because they can't speak English. Yet they do everything to be in America. This is the promised land. The Restoration of the Gospel began here, and there is a special spirit here.

 

"Hola Preciosa"

This was my favorite line from yesterday:
I walked past this guy who was just kinda lounging around a pool in an apartment complex and because I am in the habit of saying hello to everyone, and mostly speaking in Spanish, and maybe have some trouble distinguishing races, I said, "Hola! Como esta?" and He looks at me with this lurpy grin and says, (please read in your best high-pitched China accent) "I'm not Spanish, I'm ASHAN!" oh boy. My companions laugh at how I have such trouble telling people's ethnicities. I say companions because (trumpet blast) last week at transfers Hermana Villanueva and I were called to trio train a new sister, Hermana Allred, who is waiting for a visa to Peru.

 

So I wanted to share a couple of stories with you! 2 weeks ago I went on exchanges to an area called the Heights, which used to be the gheeeettttooo but was taken over by a bunch of arsty hipster college students who modified all the houses to be simply adorable and made the downtown full of neat little shops and restaurants.

 

 

It's a new area so we spent all our time just strolling around neighborhoods, talking to everyone we saw, opening up opportunities to teach. It was WONDERFUL. Exchanges taught me that everyone does missionary work in a different way, and that is a wonderful thing. Hermana Villanueva is a fantastic missionary, but I can't be her. I get to be the missionary Hermana Carter! It really helped me to gain this fresh perspective and realize there is no one right way to do this great work.
So in the Heights, we were walking through this "bayou" on our way to a park where we planned to have a picnic dinner and hope to come across lots of people. I say bayou because that's what the Texans say but it is really just a glorified canal. As we hopped across this little stream and came out of some trees we walked past this 17 yr old Hispanic kid on a bike. Hermana Gutierrez (my exchange comp) gave him a pass-along card and kept going, but I felt really strongly like I should talk to him some more. In our area this past couple of weeks we have been striving to implement some training we received on finding people where you just ask them one deep question like, "Do you believe God has a plan for you?" or "What are your hopes and dreams for your life?" Questions like this always open up people's souls and hearts because it's the substance they ponder all the time but never have a real chance to talk to anyone about. So we're walking past him, he's behind me at this point and I'm trying to push away the spirit thinking, "aw...it's fine if I don't talk to this one kid. Yeah it will be awkward now, it's too late. No I don't need to do anything..." But then in one herculean effort I shoved those thoughts away, said to myself, "What have I been learning all these weeks?? Shall all the Spirit's efforts with me be in vain?? NO!" And I whipped around and said in Spanish, "Have you ever wondered if God has a plan for you?" He sat there on his bike looking like...well pretty much like he was about to throw up all over his shoes, and he paused for a REALLY long time before saying, "Well. Okay. Listen. I have a question for you two. There are so many churches. How do I know which one I should join?" I couldn't suppress a grin as I rubbed my hands together and said, "Can we sit down?" And so there we sat, on this cement wall of the bayou, as we told him about the other young boy who had that same question in 1820, and how God revealed His great plan to Him, and how now we have the Restored Gospel and the Book of Mormon. He said how he had been going to different churches and asking different preachers but he didn't understand so many things. Arturo (that was his name) knelt there on the cement and offered his first prayer, and the Spirit confirmed to Him the momentousness of what was occurring in his life. He later told us about how he doesn't have a family--he is living with a friend right now, because he used to live in Mexico until his friend said to him, "Hey. Let's go to America. Everything is better there. No poverty. Everyone is happy." So they climbed through a mountain range together, made it America, where his friend ditched him. Now Arturo works all day every day for minimum wage. He can't go to school because he has to work. He is living in the slums in the home of his friend's cousin, and he doesn't know what will happen in his future. Nothing much more than having to work tomorrow to have food and a place to stay. It is crazy the kind of lives that exist that we have no idea about in our wonderful, peaceful home in Utah. Well, two days later hermana Gutierrez called me to tell me Arturo accepted a baptismal date. So that was an incredibly miraculous and sacred experience to me. I felt so much joy for him!  I just love ARTURO and I find so much peace and consolation in knowing that no matter what happens in his future now, He at least has the light and guidance of the Restored Gospel, his own powerful relationship with Jesus Christ, and full advantage of the powers of the Atonement.

I also would like to express the power of kind words. I don't catch a lot of what these rapid Spanish ladies say to me amidst their chatter and laughing. But I understand perfectly when they hug me and say, "Hola preciosa." It means so much just to receive a smile from someone, a hug, a few simple words to remind you of your worth. I hope you realize what powerful tools you can be to help people realize the greater picture here, that we are all precious and that we have a Father. Love is the fastest way to teach people about the Gospel. Because God is love. And when they feel that from you, they remember everything they knew from the premortal life. Or at least they remember that they need to listen to you.