We went to visit Bishop
Friday night because our last appointment fell through and we had about 20
minutes left. We walked straight into the Christmas tamale preparations. Tamales
are the most beloved Hispanic Christmas tradition. They make HUNDREDS to eat
with all their cousins and friends all night long Christmas Eve while they wait
to open all their presents at midnight. (25th is more of a
sleeping/recuperating day). So the Bishop's wife was churning this BIG bowl of
corn flour and lard and water with her hands (like dough or pie crust) while
her daughter literally wiped the sweat from her brow with a paper towel and the
other daughter and Bishop stripped the meat from HOT freshly boiled chicken
bones. 30 lbs. of chicken. 30 pounds. Well. I can't just stand around in a busy
kitchen for long. SO my hair got pulled back and my sleeves rolled up and I
started burning my fingers as I set to work on my own tray of steaming chicken
legs and thighs and wings--throwing all the bones into another bowl and then
squishing up the meat as much as possible. Hispanic women's fingers probably
have no prints because they are all so used to flipping hot tortillas by hand,
turning sizzling pupusas, and making tamales. I'm still working on giving up my
fingerprints. But Karla leaned over and whispered that if I pulled the meat
from the bones then let it sit for a minute in one corner of the tray while I
separated some more bones, it cooled to the point where I could work with it
painlessly. So we got to spend a good half hour helping the Bishop finish his
Christmas tamales. They invited us over last night to partake of the fruits of
our labors. They were good........but I don't know if I would go to those
lengths to make them every year...... What sweet mission experiences I am having!
A little follow up:
We had a lesson on Thursday with the man whose first question while eagerly reading the book of Mormon was about Moroni already being resurrected,
and what we planned was a lesson on how he could recognize his own answer from
the Spirit regarding the Book of Mormon. He listened really intently the whole
time, and when we finished he said, "you know something? After our last
lesson, I couldn't sleep for 3 nights. I stayed up all night studying the
Bible, restless, trying to find an excuse or the fault in what you said, and I
just couldn't. The answer you gave me is the best one I have ever received out
of a life full of studying and out of all the pastors I have ever asked."
His compliments always make me feel uncomfortable, because he
attributes all the truth of the Spirit and God to us, and he has no idea what a
MIRACLE it is that we are guided by the spirit, no matter how much we try to
explain it to him, but in my head I was just like, "Welcome to the fulness of the
gospel, Brotha!" I can't wait for him to begin to love and trust the
Book of Mormon and study it and learn infinite truths for the rest of his life.
aaaaahhhhhh. It was a really sweet confirmation to me of the promise
the Savior gave missionaries in D&C 100:5-6.
5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; a the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be b before men;
6 For it shall be
a you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.
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