Well, first off, the computer doesn't recognize my camera program or something? So, I can't send pictures. . . Bummer! I wish I could send you pictures of the week but it won't let me. Sorry! Maybe I can figure something out next p day. Anyway, I don't go to any giant grocery store. We use the small hole in the wall type places. PS, the prices here are so cheap! I bought a ton of groceries and it only amounted to 20 US dollars! Hopefully I don't get fat . . .especially since I never work out. Elder Vergara can't really.
Anyway, here's my week! So, on Tuesday I had an interesting
experience. We had this lesson with this lady named Carolina and right
behind her she had the TV on. The shows here are a lot less censored
than in the US . . . We'll just say that. Ja ja! At one point she had
to go into the other room to go help her kid start a movie and when
she was gone Elder Vergara turned off the TV! She didn't even notice.
Anyway, this lady talks SO much!! The lesson, which normally takes
us about forty minutes to do, took over two hours!!! She just sits and
tells us everything about her life! She loved everything but we
didn't invite her to be baptized because she is living with another man
other
than the man she's married to. They had separated a few years ago
but never divorced. So, she has to figure out all of that before we can
baptize her. Speaking of baptismal invitations . . . Guess how many
baptismal dates were accepted this week with just Elder Vergara and me.
. . ELEVEN!!!!! Ja ja!! This week was awesome! We now have somewhere around seventeen baptismal dates.
So, Maira, a daughter of a less active sister (whom we reactivated this week), was the start of our fechas this week! She's such a capa! (a stud, but ladylike) ja ja! She had a lot of doubts but eventually accepted everything and she was going to come to church, bring friends, and she wanted us to return again in two days! But. . .Satan had a hand in this this week. For some reason, we got a message through a chain of people that Maira doesn't want to continue with the lessons and doesn't like the Book of Mormon. SO, we decided to call her because we didn't understand since she was so excited the other day. Anyway, she refuses to talk to us but her mother said she is kind of like this. I don't know what we can do to help her. Pray for Maira to have a softened heart!
The second fecha was with Hna. Romoa's grandson, ALexis, yeah it's a girl name in the US but here it's for guys. So, the first thing he said was basically, I want to get baptized! Ha ha! We asked him why he thinks it's important to be baptized and he said because he knows he has to do it. I love this kid! He's only like ten years old! Anyway, he is buddies with Gaston and Matin and they can hopefully all be baptized together. During our lesson, we watched the Restoration and he really liked it.
The third and fourth fechas were with Hilda and Romina. Hilda is this spunky old lady. I love her! She reminds me of an older Abbey Tucker. Ja ja! She has that style and swag. Anyway, Romina is dating her son and the first thing we said was that we wanted to pass by Hilda to see how she was doing and then explained to Romina that we share a message about Jesus Christ and his prophets with everyone. She responded by saying, why don't you ever pass by my house!? Well . . .uh . . . Yeah, we were so surprised by this. As missionaries, always experiencing people denying us, it catches you off guard when they want the lessons! Ja ja! Anyway, They both accepted the baptismal invite and we are going to teach the family of Romina later in the week.
The fifth fecha was with Yanina. She reminds me of Emily Blair (Smith). She's super excited and willing to do anything basically! She had wanted to learn about every religion before she makes a decision, but then we told her that's not how she'll learn to know. We taught her that she needs to pray and ask her Heavenly Father because he's the only one who can answer to her what church to join. She has to quit smoking though. She got close once with previous missionaries, but she wants to stop. We grabbed her cigarettes, had her son rip them up, and then we put the packet under her bed so she has to kneel down to get them if she ever has a temptation. That way, she's all ready to pray and ask for help! Ja ja! I love that!
The sixth and seventh fechas were miracles! So, it started to POUR!!! The rain was crazy and we had no umbrellas and coats. We were running to a less active members house when I decided to stop under a tree. There was this couple on the porch there and they felt bad for us an invited us in. They were really nice! They gave us hot chocolate, cookies and let us teach them! The man, Juan, is a little skeptical of the message, but accepted to be baptized when he comes to know for himself that this is true. His wife, Selba, really enjoyed it! She'll be baptized with no problem. Juan has an issue with prayer. He feels that faith is to have a knowledge, or proof. He says we have to pray with faith. It is kind of confusing to explain. He basically doesn't want to pray unless it's a dire circumstance where you have to totally depend on the lord. I can't wait to teach them again!
The eighth and ninth fechas were with Romina's family. Rosa and Jessica accepted everything we taught! They had little girls coming in and out of the lesson the whole time, but we're going to extend two more fechas to two of them that are old enough the next time. They're all golden in this family!" Hopefully everything follows through!
Ten and eleven were on Sunday with Allejandro and Juan Jose. They were a reference from a man in the ward. Allejandro is pretty open to the idea of the gospel and is willing to pray and read. Jose is a little harder. He has investigated many churches and has a lot of knowledge of religious things. He has always wanted to have someone answer his one question. Why should I believe in your church? We told him to not take our word but ask God and pray about it like Joseph Smith did. That's the only way he can know for himself. But they both accepted to be baptized if they know it is right.
All I know is that the 22nd, 29th, and 5th will be busy days if all these fechas follow through! We have to get them to come to church! They're always forgetting that. Nine in the morning is too early for them . . .blah. Anyway, this week was interesting. The storm made all our dirt roads into giant mud slides! So much for trying to keep my shoes and even my pants clean! There is no way to avoid it. We just truck right through it all and now our shoes are always covered in mud! My pants have mud all over them too. I took a picture but, I can't figure out how to make this computer work. Another interesting thing is that the drunk people never cease to love me! ja ja! Yesterday, this guy grabbed my arm and kissed my cheek a few times. He called me Polaco! Which means Swedish guy basically! It's what they call any blonde, blue eyed, white guy. Since my hair isn't either dark brown or black, I guess I qualify! It's always so funny to meet people who actually love me here! They're always so excited to see a white guy!
Well, the only other thing I have to tell you is that we tied for MVP comp. of the mission this week!!! That's what happens when you have the hand of the Lord in your life. The only other campanionship that had eleven fechas and as many new investigators as us were our own zone leaders. They're great! Our zone goal is to have 14 baptisms this month, but they said, why not go for thirty! So, they said if our zone could invite 80 people to be baptized in one month, we'll average above thirty! Anyway, President is very happy with us. We have interviews this Friday coming up. I'm excited! But yeah, we're working our hardest out here! The language is getting easier and easier every day. It's hard for me to tell stories still, but I managed to tell this one family I'm from Columbia and they believed me! ja ja! And I joked with some people that I'm the favorite child in our family. Ja ja! Who am I kidding, you all know I am!!! JK!!!! I'm not. But thanks for all you do! I miss you all and love you even more! But the people are calling and I need to go baptize them! Chow! Chow!
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