Well to start off with the questions mom....
Yes mom, no robbings this week.
Everyone does besos
here. Women and women, but also men and men. I love it. It´s so much
better than the handshake. Except us of course only beso women. There´s
always the creeper men who try to sneak one in on us. No one hugs
though. Just us american hermanas.
And trek...yep it does exist here! In fact the youth are going this
week, it´s in Cordoba. But the lucky ducks get a swimming pool, real
toilets, and a nice little camping spot.
It
wouldn't be a letter without the weather update. Right now it´s
pourrrring. This morning we were sitting there studying, when my comp
looked over and realized her bed was soaking wet. jajaja. Our roof
leaked. So then we taped little plastic grocery bags hanging from the
ceiling to catch water, and buckets on the floor. It´s quite the site.
This week I also experienced the lovely humidity, more than any other
week here. I felt like a man walking around wet constantly. I think I
will move to Arizona.
As for the baptism we were going to have Saturday,
it was sadly canceled. Rocio had to move back to Tucuman weeks
early....so she wasn´t baptized here. Super bittersweet. But...she will
be baptized there. As for other investigadores, it was a tough week for
finding people. A lot of our time was occupied with service, going to
Rosario, and so many other little things that came up. I don´t even know
what a normal week would be anymore. We did get a reference from the
mission office. It´s a man named Flavio, he talked to someone from
Uraguay on FB about the book of mormon. Flavio is a professor, has
studied the indio culture and religions of argentina, and written 5
books. We gave him a BoM, he gave us a copy of his book. We had no idea
what to expect going in, but it was very different as he doesn´t have
the christian background and beliefs of God and Cristo. I felt more like
I was teaching someone from china.
I had 2 of the most entertaining service projects.
We went to cut the grass of our little old member grandma, maria. (That
in itself took convincing, as she wanted the elders to do it...they
assured her that hermanas are capable also) She didn´t have a rake to
clean the grass up, so gave us a squeegy that´s used to clean the floor.
So i squeegied the grass. And she told us that we needed to cut the grass
by hand around all her flowers. And then I used the broom to sweep her
dirt. There was a plywood table that needed to be cut in half, the
elders were then given little kitchen knives (like we use for
steak)...let´s just say it took a while. Hey, you use what tools there
are. Another day I learned how to use a machete as we pulled out weeds
from another members house. She basically had a jungle outside. (And
then an elder lost his keys...)
People here always keep it entertaining. We were
talking to Zunilda (75 year old) about a challenge we had given her to
write down names of people who could listen to the gospel, and then pray
every day for them. As i was asking her about each of the names, she
explained it´s her grandson, her son, her brother (´"he´s dead"), her
husband ("he´s dead")....jaja oops I guess we didn´t explain good enough
it's for LIVING people to listen to the missionaries. We keep walking
into streets where the testigos de jehova are contacting...ugh. They do
their best to even avoid eye contact with us. We just make sure to go
back and contact the same streets after.
I was thinking and studying a lot about repentence
this week. As a missionary, we have to repent more than ever. Really in
life the way that we progress and become more like Christ is through
repentence....to change our desires and thoughts and intentions. This is
super important for alll members. Our ward here is realllly
struggling...there are few members, and more menos activos than ever.
The repentence every day and every week help us be converted. And here´s
a little quote that I read today....
"Character is demostrated by looking and reaching outward when the natural and instinctive response is to be self absorbed and turn inward." -Elder Bednar.
This week we also took a little trip to Rosario to
do visa stuff. And slept in the mission house with A\C....(i may have
even slept with 2 blankets....).
Well thank you for all the letters. Seriously. I´m glad everyone has not died in the cold yet. (well, except maybe sterling).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!!!! wooohooo!
And happy valentines day! I will just have to survive without my cinnamon hearts.
Keep on keeping on, the decisions you make every day really do determine where you will be tomorrow.
Love you all.
Hermana Andrews
No comments:
Post a Comment