August 2, 2013

Hola familia

I´ve now been sitting at this keyboard for a full minute trying to think of what to say, and I´m still coming up blank. This week was a heavy one. We had a really great Sisters´ capacitacion this Monday, and that was really great. Tuesday I went on divisions with one of the sister-leader-people (do yáll even know those exist? Well, they do. They´re the female versions of APs... kind of. They´re really hard to explain and they´re such a new concept that no one really knows exactly what they do, so they mostly just go on divisions with people as of right now). Anyway, we had an eventful day to say the least. She came to my area, and as soon as we arrived, there was a bit of comotion in the street, so we had to go somewhere else for a while. We went to the house of a menos activo I´ve been working with and she was quickly fascinated by the Muslim-Mormon. His name is Abél and he was baptized many many many years ago, but has since changed religions to become Muslim. We talked to him for a while, then eventually made it to lunch where the 20-ish year old daughter decided to make cookies (a rarity here because the people who have ovens usually only use them as pantries) and accidentally exploded the oven (it was a propane-powered stove-oven combo thing). After that, we went to various appointments where she developed a VERY interesting perspective of our area. hahahaa. We have some very interesting people living here, and we encountered some even more interesting situations. hahahaha. 

 

Wednesday when we switched back from divisions, my companion and I were finishing up our personal study in the shade of a tree (we live a half hour away from our area... once we leave the house in the morning, we generally don´t go back) when a bird decided to relieve himself right in my favorite section of the Doctrine and Covenants. hahahaa. I was mortified. I was petrified. Let´s just talk about how many diseases birds carry, and then let´s talk about how my scriptures are now a disgustingly horrible death trap. hahahaha. My companion almost died laughing. She just couldn´t handle it. In the process of divisions, we also found out, by means of a phone call and text message, that our most promising investigator (who was supposed to get baptized today) was not quite so interested in baptism as he was in my companion. These things happen in the mission, it´s just a bit of a bummer when you have to cut off communication with your investigator so abruptly. We passed him off to the elders; we´ll see what happens with him. 

 

Yesterday my comp gave me quite a scare. We were Buenas-ing an apartment when suddenly she looked over my shoulder, gasped, stiffened, and said, ¨HOLY cow! That man has a really big gun!¨ I grabbed for her to start running when suddenly we heard a quiet pop, then a ¨ping.¨ Turns out it was just a toy airsoft gun and he was trying to hit a stop sign. My companion was a little jumpy yesterday, so she didn´t realize that it was too tiny to be a real gun (also too plastic); she just got ready to run. hahahahaha. I don´t know how many times I told her, ¨don´t scare me like that,¨ but I´m sure she never wants to hear that phrase again hahahaha. 

 

People of note right now: 

We have officially reactivated a man who has been away from the church for 20 years. His name is Rigoberto (Rigo) and we´ve been visiting him for a couple of weeks. He was baptized when he was living in the Bronx in NY and fell away when he returned to Honduras. We got him to start reading the book of Mormon again, and began teaching him the lessons from scratch (that´s our game plan with all of our menos activos). We invited him to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and about a week later, he had a dream that resembled the first Vision, which answered his question and sufficiently convinced him of the truth of it all. He´s so excited about the church right now and I love it. :) We´re searching for his records from NY so we can get him ordained in the offices of the priesthood that he never reached. We need as many priestood holders as we can get! (by the way, did I ever tell yáll my area is a menos activo area? Our primary responsibility is not to work with investigators, but to reactivate menos activos. I guess all those years of visiting teaching really paid off! hahaha)

 

María Bonilla is really excited about the church right now too. I can´t remember if I´ve written about her, but she was a reference from this cute little tiny recent-ish-convert named Beti. She has already read through Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon, and we only began teaching her some two-ánd-a-half weeks ago! (What a change from Olanchito, where at least 50% of the people couldn´t read). She is super pilas and super great. We just need to really focus on her in these coming days, because right before their baptism week, people always have some huge challenge come up, and she seemed a little off when we visited her the other day. She´s really great and we´re hoping that she continues progressing. 

 

There are lots of other people of note, I just don´t quite have time to write about them. haha.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDRA! 

 

Mumsie, :)

I will try and see if I can smuggle a picture or two to yáll next week, but I make no promises. As much as we didn´t carry our cameras in Olanchito, we carry them even less in SPS. But I will make a concerted effort. As far as the mission home goes, we almost never go there. If we have nursing things, we usually just meet the sicklings at the mission office and then take them to the hospital or clinic. The mission home isn´t really so much of a visiting place yet (maybe once they´re settled in more). The poor things live on the 20th story of a condominium complex called Panorama. It´s really beautiful, but it feels like a hotel. Sister Dester was saying it doesn´t feel like a home, but it´s safe and it´s nice, so that´s good. It´s very modern by worldly standards, which to the normal human means it´s weird. For example, as you´re waiting for the elevator, you stand by a wall that is covered in hand sculptures that stick out from the wall, making all kinds of signs and gestures. Weird. I know. 

The summer reading program sounds busy, but it always seems really fun. I forgot that summer is almost over for yáll. I just live in eternal summer. The seasons are thus: wet and dry. Sadly, I´ve arrived in each of my areas just before their respective hottest times of the year, so I´ve just seen hot hot and hotter, but it´s great.

The time in SLC sounds like it was really fun. I´m jealous that you got to see the family, but I know if anyone deserved it, it´s yáll. 

Don´t you even worry for a minute about your shortcomings and weaknesses. As far as I´m concerned, you´re the greatest Mumsie in the whole world, followed only by Eileen. Our shortcomings are what make us great, not because our shortcomings are great, but because we become great through overcoming our shortcomings. Don´t believe me? Just ask Ether. If you´re ever feeling weak, remember that God intends to make your weaknesses into your strengths. He´s given us weaknesses because He wants those things to be our defining and exalted characteristics, so you just keep being a good lil Mumsie and you´ll be fine. Remember that I love you.

 

In the words of Jeffrey R. Holland:

“Don't you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come.”

Eileeny-doodle-doo! :) 

Howdy, m´friend. I´m glad you got to see everybody. :) My mom sent me a picture with you, Brian, and Andrea, and when I showed it to my comp, she pointed to you and said, ¨I bet she´s awesome! She looks so much fun.¨ It was a rather tranquil pose you were all in, so I asked her what she meant, and she just shrugged and said, ¨I dunno, I can just tell she´s great.¨ There you have it. haha. 

That´s cool about that book. It´s something I´ve noticed a lot about the members of the church. A lot of people have desires to share the gospel, but don´t know where to start, or feel intimidated by the possible consequences. It´s one reason I love going out with the members. Being with us gives them a reason and a justification to be bold and outgoing. We´ve had several times where we´ve left with people just to listen as they share the message with their friends. They know what they want to say, and they knwo what their friends need to hear, they just need a little bit of backup to get things going. hahahaa. I remember feeling that same way: not knowing how to bring it up, or not wanting to come across as pushy. The more I´ve preached, the more I´ve come to realize that true friends share the gospel, because it is the greatest blessing we have, and if we truly love people, we´ll want nothing bu tthe best for them. It´s super awkward, yes. The life of a missionary is the life of the most awkward human beings one can possibly imagine. However, the life of a missionary is beautiful because the awkwardness is for the salvation of souls. Thanks for being such a great member missionary and for always being such a great example and support to me. Love you lots! Hope you have a great great week. :)

Faja!

Sounds like you had a hectic weekend to say the least. hhaha. I can imagine that it was very stressful, but these things happen, and this too shall pass. I find that the most stressful, but also the most memorable and wonderful times are the times we share with family. The members of our family are the people specifically chosen to help us become the people we need to become, so be grateful for their quirks and shortcomings, even if it´s bothersome in the moment; they´re just brushing some marble dust off the good ol´ statue. It´s also been said that our families are the people selected for us who will help us fight off the world and the adversary more than any other combination of people. Let their ¨little bit of crazy¨ beat off some bad guys and all will be fine. hahaa. 

I´m sorry work´s been crazy. That´s always stressful, but I know you do great stuff, so no worries. 

This is getting a little cut short cause i still ahve to write the president, but I love you oodlie doodlies. Take care.

 

I´ll love yáll forever,

I´ll like yáll for always,

As long as I´m living,

My family you´ll be.

 

(and let´s just face it... I´m countin on yáll bein my family even after that whole mortal livin bit is over, so cheers for that)  

 

Hermana Bayles

(fun puzzle note: My first name is in the word Hermana... the letters are just a little scrambled and there´s an extra HA for all the laughing I do.)