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.
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.
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.
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