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.