Date
May 5, 2015
Area
Companion
Here Comes Autumn
Hola Mamá!
How was your week? Hows the family? I hope that all is well. I am way excited to talk to you next week. I keep forgetting about that. It seems like it was just last month that we talked! Time just goes by faster and faster!
So this week was all over the place. First of all, transfers. Yup, I am staying here in Reconquista! I was kinda surprised honestly, but I am was pretty excited to stay here. Saturday and Sunday I kept feeling like there is still more that I am supposed to be doing here, so I was kinda relieved to see that I was staying. So by the end of this transfer I will have spent 9 and a half months of my mission in this area.
So its been cooling off a TON this week. Just the other day it rained, and the cold just stayed after the storm. It has actually been cold! I had to open my suitcase and dig out my jacket! and we also had to pull out our little space heater.
So to answer your question, we are pretty much always contacting in the street. We do a LOT of door to door contacting....Lots of "clapping" doors and talking to people who are sitting outside on their sidewalk drinking maté.
On Saturday we had a branch activity. Karaoke. Just so you know, we totally got to have a karaoke party when I get home. It was really funny. People were reluctant at first, but it was great to see some of the members get really into it! 2 of the M. kids came. That was great. They are an inactive family that lives way out in Barrio Asuncion (one of the farthest places in our area). Thats the familia that taught us to make ñoquis last year! We are working on reactivating them.
So this week we taught this guy named E. He is Pres. B's nephew. He has heard a lot about the church from his family and he said that he has wanted to learn more for quite a while now, but just didnt get the courage to come forward. He understood great, accepted a baptismal date and has the best family in the world to help him. He works on sundays though, and needs to get married, but those are just minor obstacles!
This past week I did splits with Elder Naumann. We went to my area and found this lady and her daughter - I. and A. I. is a single mom with 5 kids and is really cool. Is was really cool that we found her because she works A TON! She is like NEVER home. The night before, when we were planning, I felt to write down to go by a couple apartments and contact them. I had never contacted before. Well thats where we found her. She just happened to have the morning off. Well we taught them, they accepted baptismal dates, and really really really want to learn more. A., who´s only 15 is super mature, and really wants to go to church. They used to go to another church, but haven't been able to because her mom works so much...but shes been begging her mom to go to a church. Well we went back last night and taught A. and her younger brothers and they were way excited to listen. Also A. said that on sunday they are going to come to church because her mom is now going to stop working on Sundays! Isn't that awesome!
So we have visited L. more this week. For some reason she just knew that I wasn't going to leave for transfers. We taught her more about the priesthood this week. That really helped her understand the Restoration better. She always has the question "which is the true church?" but doesn't ever seem to really understand the restoration...She kinda has doubts. She also told me this week that she was thinking about what she had told me about that one thought she had (that she would get baptized if i came back). She said that she's thought about that, but that she cant obligate someone to do something that they don't want to do (talking about her husband who doesn't wanna get married).. I kinda think that she knows that all of this is true, but is just a little scared to do anything about marriage. We have tried to talk to him a couple times, but it is hard because he is NEVER home. He works a TON! But we will keep trying.
So R. ... We are VERY worried about her. Please pray for her. We still haven't seen her since last saturday. We went by her house on Monday night and her mom answered the door. She quickly took us aside and told us that R. was in the hospital, and began to explain what happened. Sunday night, she tried to commit suicide. We were shocked when we heard that. Her mom, E., wasnt completely sure what had all happened because she was traveling and got home Monday morning to find that her daughter was in the Hospital. We went to the hospital with the mom right after, but the mom asked us to come back the next morning because the boyfriend was there and they were arguing or something like that. We went back the next morning, but she was with doctors, so we could see her. After that, she went to stay with her sister in another city for a couple days, and we haven't seen her since. We were shocked about all of this and are really worried about her. We realized that she must feel really alone. She doesn't study, she hasn't been able to find work, and she is always home alone...and we think that she has had problems with her boyfriend. Anyway, its been worrying to me. Obviously it made me remember my summer semester at BYU, and now I just want to be able to do everything to help her so that doesn't happen. Its hard to explain, but in a way, I kinda anticipated that happening...worried about it happening.... Pray for her.
I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. Although its not perfect, I am extremely grateful for a gospel perspective. I strive every day to see myself more like my Heavenly Father sees me, and it's hard to do, but we all need to do that. I love my Savior and I am so grateful for all that He did for me. I know that THERE IS someone who perfectly understands all the frustrations, the loneliness, and the pain that we experience in this life. I want others to know that too.
I love you so much! Thanks for everything that you do for me! You too are touching lives here. I hope you know that. Have a great week!