I have spent hours the last two days playing catch up. I hope I do not let myself get this far behind again. It's so much quicker to post more often.
Thank you for those who still follow our family. It means a lot.
Sept 6, 2021
¡Hola todos! Another week has come and gone. Well, I am just going to jump right into this email. Last Monday for zone p-day we went on a hike. We had to drive an hour and a half to reach mostly real mountains. It was gorgeous. Green as far as the eye can see. The hike is called “Yellow Branch Falls.” The waterfall was beautiful and the water was nice and cold. The hike was only 3 miles but I was dying on the way back. Being sick and hiking don’t mix well. After that we went to have dinner with a guy named Jose Luis. We met him at EC and he wanted to feed us and talk more about the gospel. We got there and he fed us rice, lentils & sausage, and salmon. For dessert we had this guava sugar thing over mozzarella cheese. Both dinner and dessert were interesting, but good. Jose and his dad are super nice. We found out right before the lesson that they live in the elders area, so we are going to have to pass him off to them.
Tuesday was our first DCM of this transfer. It was awesome! We got to know our new district and I just know this transfer is going to be a blast. For lunch we went to a place called Flockers. On the back of the building it has a mural of a fire breathing chicken. We ate outside on a picnic table. The chicken was good, but kind of expensive. I of course made a giant thing of fry sauce (the reason why I want to live in Utah…jk). Then we went and had a lesson with David. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He told us that he wants to be baptized!! There are just a couple of things we have to figure out… But we can do it!! Our next lesson was with Esteban. I had to drive through the pouring rain on the freeway. It was sketchy and I couldn’t see anything. We taught him about the Priesthood. We had EC that night as usual in Greer. It was super fun, but I was excited for what came after. I got to see Lynn be baptized over facetime. While I was at home recovering, I went and taught people with the missionaries. She was one of them. She is absolutely amazing and I am so proud of her decision!
We are trying to work with our part-member families a lot out here. So we spent one afternoon just going and visiting houses. A lot of people didn’t answer but we met one family. They are adorable and want to come to church. We are so excited to start meeting with them. The mom, Johany said that she loves a lot of the things that we believe in our church. At a different house there was a big dog and two puppies. We were kind of scared that we were going to get chased down, but they ended up being super nice and playful. While we were on our way to another family I really needed to use the bathroom. All the little ghetto gas stations were out of order. I got asked if I wanted to buy an uninhabitable building by a guy and I politely declined. I told him that I needed a restroom and he directed me to Krispy Kremes. They actually had a bathroom and we got two free donuts each because of our covid vaccine cards. Those donuts were worth the hassle. After that we drove to a dinner appointment. We shared our message and then kind of sat there awkwardly... She asked if we had eaten and we said no. So she gave us some of their dinner they were going to eat in a tupperware (apparently it wasn't going to be a normal dinner appointment). Utensiless again, we went to the church to eat. We used the plates and forks there. We went and ate on the floor of the young womens room. The food was good and it was fun. I'm grateful that S. Grant gave us it. Then we had a quick lesson with Jerlinson and then went to Wafflehouse with Gustavo. He is someone that we are also teaching EC. They only were doing take-out, so we took it out and ate it on the grass outside at 9pm. It was kind of like a late night picnic.
On Thursday, we went and had another lesson with David. He is just so nice. He sent us home with a bag of peanuts and he wants to take us out to lunch again. We decided on a take-out in a park. Then we went and had a lesson with Bella. She is super excited to get baptized. Hna. Hanson got chick-fil-a for dinner, and I didn’t get anything. We taught EC and Alex stayed after to talk to us. He gave each of us a kinder egg (the first one I’ve ever had). I got a toy car. He always has chocolate in his backpack. He has more sweets than I even have.
We went over to the Mejias on Friday instead of our usual Thursday thing. They fed us this soup called Posule. It was really good. It had these weird giant corn kernel things and pork. We ate it with lettuce, radishes, some hot sauce, and a tostada. I want to get the recipe. After that we drove over to Linda’s house. It had been a week since we had seen her. She told us that her daughter's boyfriend wants to be saved. So we went over and had a lesson. All of a sudden, Linda looked over at us and said, “Do you know the saving prayer?” We were like what? The saving prayer… We have something called baptism, and other things that we do for the rest of our lives. We explained that a little, but we will probably have to go into more depth later. Then we drove an hour to go visit Rosita. She was tired so we did a quick lesson on the Atonement.
On Saturday, we went to lunch with the S. Burton (our STL) and her comp. S. Harris. Of course they chose to go to Chick-fil-a. I have had more of it on my mission than I have in my entire life! I got a kids meal and with it came an ice cream cone. The perks of being a kid. Later, we finally had another lesson with the Sanchez family. It has been around a month and a half since we have seen them. They just haven't been answering us or have been home. I am hoping that we can stay in contact from now on. Then, the favorite part of our Saturdays came… la noche de fútbol! My team totally won. I made like 4 or 5 goals. They kept passing me the ball and I would slow it down and kick it into the goal. I am still a little paranoid that I will slip and get hurt again, but I am trying to stop that.
Sunday: spanish Sacrament, baptism, Esteban, lessons canceled, miracle w/Samaniego & tacos
We had a seperate Spanish fast and testimony meeting this Sunday. We didn’t have as many people as last time, but it was still special. Linda and her family went to the English part and they loved it. We are in the process of passing them off to English missionaries. Her husband and brother-in-law speak Spanish, but they haven’t wanted to join any of the lessons. During the testimony meeting, David got up and bore his testimony. It was really cool. He told us again in front of everyone that he wants to be baptized and loves reading the BOM. Straight after church we had a baptism. The elders baptized this sweet lady that has been trying to get baptized for a while. It was really neat. Then we went to Esteban’s house for a lesson. He was acting differently than normal and was contradicting himself a lot. He went off on a crazy story about his past. I understood pretty much all of it, but the reason why he was telling it was confusing. In the end he said he still wants to still be baptized. The rest of the lessons that we had for the day were canceled. We took a note and dropped it off at Bella’s house when I thought that we should go visit this family. Hna. Hanson and I had been to their house twice to meet with them and the Mejias and they didn't answer. We went over at about 9pm and rang the doorbell. They didn’t answer, so we knocked on their door that was slightly ajar. Their dog came out and they let us in. We got to know them a little and they fed us our second dinner of carne asada tacos. It was one of our little miracles that happened during the week.
Something funny that happened this past week was I was pretty sick. This cold or virus that I had took me down in the mornings. I was exhausted and I couldn’t sleep. I would wake up with a super sore throat or other things. My nose got really runny and my ears clogged up like when you are going up a mountain with the elevation. Because of my nose running I had to sneeze a lot. They weren’t the cute little kitten sneezes. I probably got whiplash from them. Hna Hanson asked me if I was sneezing my brains out and I just thought it was the funniest thing ever. I am almost all better now which is awesome!
This week I started reading the Bible with the Institute Student Book. I have learned a lot and I have only made it through the first ch. or so. I just wanted to invite you all to study the Old and New Testament. They include lots of things that can help us understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am super excited to see what I learn next.
Hope you all have a great week. Les amo!
This week was a slower week than most, but a lot of good things happened. Last p-day we got together as our district… and we went fishing! I wanted to go again so I could actually catch a fish and then I would be satisfied. We got to the place at 7:30am. Elder and Sister Shaw (some senior missionaries) have a river right by their house. After lots of moving around, fish stealing my worms, and partial patience, I caught two fish🐟🐟. I count the second one more as my fish because I casted the line. The first one I caught was will a dinky pole that couldn’t reel it up to where I was. One of the elders had to grab it out of the air and hand it to me. We finished our fishing trip at 10, went to the store, and got home at 11:30. It was kind of nice having 6 hours to chill. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and they were delicious. They take forever to make, but they are worth it in the end. Later, we went to Lucero’s house for a lesson. She is just the sweetest and she loves having us over. We taught her about the Atonement and she wants to learn more. Her granddaughter Gimena was being crazy and started to curl Hna. Maxfield and Hanson’s hair with a fake tiny curling iron. It was adorable.
Tuesday was DCM again. I want to share a couple of things that were shared with us. (1. Count your blessings (2. Don’t look back at your mistakes for too long. (3. Build this day on a foundation of solid and happy thoughts. (4. Don’t clutter your life with unimportant things. (5. Live today as if it is your last. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. (6. Laugh at yourself. (7. Never neglect the little things. Always give the extra 5 minutes. I am going to try to do these 7 things in my life. This week I am going to work on #7. I want to invite you all to choose one and do the same. I promise that you will be happier and feel better than before. Also, here’s a talk that I love that relates to it. "Believe, Obey, and Endure" by President Monson.
Believe that remaining strong and faithful to the truths of the gospel is of utmost importance. I testify that it is! www.churchofjesuschrist.org |
Afterwards, we went to lunch at a place called Ike’s burgers. I wasn’t feeling super hungry so I ordered a chili dog. I won’t be ordering that again😂, but the fries were really good. Needless to say my stomach wasn't very happy. I'd go back and get something different. Then we went to David's house. President Monson had us ask him some specific questions and it was interesting… I have partially become an expert on legal stuff. I now know the difference between probation, parole, and supervised release. My brain felt like it was going to explode. The things you become experts on in your missions that aren’t missionary work. After that we went to visit some people we are “teaching.” We have never actually had a lesson with them. They didn’t answer the door so we knocked their grandma’s trailer which is right next door. They actually answered! We met Karen who is 18 years old and Maria the grandma. We talked to them and they invited us over for pupusas. I have never had them before, but I’ve heard that they are the best things ever.
On Wednesday, we went and had another lesson with Lucero, and her two daughters. We taught them about the rest of the plan of salvation. It was funny because they didn’t agree on how salvation works so they started arguing. Then Hna. Maxfield said she had something she wanted to read (from PMG). She said, “Our prophet said, 'In God’s eternal plan, salvation is an individual matter; exaltation is a family matter.'” The room got quiet and they had the “oh I get it” moment. I wanted to laugh so bad, but I didn't. That is the spirit! They all want to learn more and have us come over again. Then we drove to Hno. Rivera’s house to get help with the part member family list. We went down it and he told us everything he knows. They gave us some more bulk food probably from costco. They are just the sweetest. We visited Arlen and got to know her better. She invited us to her son’s 15th or 16th birthday party this next Wednesday. Then we had a lesson with Jerlinson again. They gave us a coconut candy that was different and coconut water. I have decided I hate cocunut water. It is pretty disgusting🤢. The after taste is the worst. They have a really hard time understanding that we were with God before this life and that when we die we go to the spirit world. This has always been a testament to me of God’s love for us. On the way home we got a call from Luisito, so we did an impromptu lesson.
So, I’ve talked about David a little in my emails. The other day he dropped us, which means he told us he didn’t want us to come by anymore. It was super sad, but he texted us the next day on Thursday and asked us to come over again. We knew that was going to happen. But it showed me how much I want people to have the gospel and that I should be working harder. We went and visited Maria right after that. She thought we had forgotten about her. We sent her some texts but forgot she can’t read. I was sick and didn’t want to get her baby sick. We retaught about prophets, the priesthood, and the Book of Mormon. She is so excited to listen to it and wants to learn more!😁We had dinner with the Mejias and they fed us those potato and carrot enchiladas again with arroz con leche and a slice of pineapple for dessert. We went and taught English Class. I’m always learning new things and finding out the things I need to study again in Spanish.
We went over on Friday to Karen and Maria’s house for Popusas😋. I thought that we were going to be the only people there, but we weren’t. It took forever for the popusas to cook, but it worked out to our advantage. We started talking to a woman and a man next to us and it turns out he is a member! She wants him to go back to church and he wants her to go, but they both don’t want to go… kind of confusing right. We got to know them better and they gave us their number and address. They told us that we could come over anytime. We got our pupusas and they were heavenly. Pretty much an El Salvadorian pizza pocket. We ate one that had chicharrón and another one with queso. I forgot to mention that Maria is blind😲 and still is amazing at making them. I hope to have those skills when I get older. Then we drove up to Gaffney for our lesson with Esteban. We talked for a whole 5 minutes and he asked to cancel. He wasn’t feeling well, so we rescheduled for Sunday. Then we went and had a lesson with Bella. We were there for around 2 hours! Hna. Ramirez was just talking about things that are going on in her life and she taught what we were going to teach. It was pretty awesome. Bella can’t wait to get baptized and sealed to her husband.
Something has been in the works for a couple of weeks and it finally happened on Saturday. Phelippe and Jorge finally came and visited us from Charleston. They said that the 2+ hour drive was nothing. They took us out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. I got steak of course, mashed potatoes, and chili. I left the restaurant very full. They wanted to go with us somewhere so we took them to meet David. We stopped by his work to say hi. We all talked for a minute and Phelippe shared how the missionaries showed up on his doorstep. Hopefully that will help him. Then they headed home and David went back to work. David texted us later and said that he had been thinking about moving when we showed up. He said we answered his question that he should stay! We then visited a lot of houses that didn’t answer. When we got to this yellow one, a lady answered the door named Ivonne. She told us that she thought the missionaries forgot about her. She invited us to come over in a couple of days and teach her. To end the night, we went and played fútbol. We played for a while and then it started to get dark. It is really hard to play when you can’t see. A guy named Rene was on my team. He has told us a couple of times that he wants to come to church, but has had to work. He told me that his family goes to church and to the temple in Mexico! We are going to start teaching him. Right before we left, Alex gave us some more chocolate. This time it was a chocolate marshmallow clown called a Paleta Payaso, I think.
Esteban and Bella came to church yesterday! Arlen translated the meeting, and she said she is going to do it from now on. Wooo hooo! I can translate, but I am not the best at it. Some context: We were told by President Monson that we need to go to the Young Single Adults’ (YSA) ward to see what it is like. So then we went to their sacrament meeting. It brought back all my memories of YSA after high school and BYU-I. I’ve heard two reasons of why we were asked to go. The first one: So that we understand the importance of passing off people 18-30 to the YSA elders. The second one: So we as missionaries aren’t afraid of going to YSA after our missions. After it got over, we left and zoomed to Gaffney. We had Hna. Rosas join us and she brought Rosita. She is an interesting one. She looked at me and told me we had to have more people join the lesson. She pulled me to Esteban’s trailer, knocked, and then pulled me in. She then proceeded to invite Esteban’s roommates to join the lesson after she called them all joven and guapo. I was a bit uncomfortable, but in the end two of them joined us. We taught them about the Atonement out by the fire that was dead. We all left smelling like we had just went camping. We went to Bella’s house and she didn’t have time for a lesson, but we were there for 20 minutes anyway. Hispanics like to talk and they get carried away. We rescheduled the lesson and then drove the Shively’s house for dinner. For the thing Hna. Hanson and Maxfield have been waiting for a week… homemade Cafe Rio. It was really yummy. I tried the ranch sauce and I still don’t like it. The conversation that happened for dinner was an interesting one. Sister Shivley is hilarious and told us all about delivering babies. Her baby Ruby is 6-7 months old. I now know things that I didn’t know before even with my child development classes in college.😂 I love their little family! Afterwards, we raced to our last appointment with Isabel. When we got there she said she had just put her kids to bed. My comps. were about to reschedule when I asked if we could show her a quick 2 minute video. She let us in and we talked for a minute. After she watched the video she told us that was exactly how she had been feeling and that it was what she needed.
Something funny happened two weeks that I forgot to write about. We were just leaving this guys house after dinner and he went in for a hand shake/ hug thing. I started to pull away and turned and he was sooo close to kissing me. Ok not that close. Hna. Maxfield said his lips were puckered.😂 He wasn't actually trying to make a move, it is just the crazy thing hispanics do. They give you a hug and either a air kiss or a kiss on the cheek. We all started laughing, even him.
Well that is the end of my novel for the week. Les quiero! Ustedes son las personas mejores en todo el mundo!
Hola Todos!
Last p-day we didn't really do anything. We went to Old Navy and Ross. I just walked around because I don't have that kind of money. Budgeting is the key. The focal point of our night was going to visit Luz and her family. We actually got to see Mia this time. She is super shy but adorable. They fed us empanaditas and rice with these pea things. It was good. The Empanaditas (Puerto Rican empanadas) were really super yummy. They were made with ground beef and possibly potatoes. Derek was loud as usual. We taught him about prayer and related it to sandwiches🥪. Sandwiches have two pieces of bread. One slice to start it and one to end it. All sandwiches aren't the same because you can switch up the toppings. Pray is like that, it starts with "Dear Heavenly Father '' and ends with "In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." What we say in our prayers is different every time. We give thanks for our blessings, ask for help, questions we have, and so much more.
On Tuesday we had DCM again. It was super fun. Hna. Hanson gave the discussion on finding. In missionary work, teaching with the spirit is really emphasized, but sometimes we forget about finding with the spirit. There are people ready to learn, we just have to be in tune with the promptings of the Spirit to find them. I'm going to try and become better at doing this. Right after something funny happened, the elders found rotten milk in the church fridge. From February and May...they decided to throw the carton up like a bomb and run. We were standing when the wave of rottenness hit us. The elders started gagging. (They cleaned it up after) Then we had a pizza buffet. We each brought a pizza and cooked them. For dessert we had the Caramel dip and apples I brought. After we had lunch we went straight to the doctor. Hna. Maxfield had an infection in her middle finger from a sliver. She got it out, and everytime she showed us it looked like she was flipping us off. Then we went and taught Lucero and her daughters the restoration. They didn't have any questions and are going to read the Book of Mormon! Then we went and taught Bella about tithing. Sometimes it is hard to pay tithing because we don't know if we have enough for our bills and to pay it. That is where we need to have faith that our Heavenly Father will help us if we make the sacrifice. Hna. Ramirez helped us teach it. I'm so grateful for the members out here and their testimonies. We have been trying to become friends with the Huipe family. It just hadn’t been working. For her daughter’s birthday we gave her a picture of Jesus and some candy. The mom posted about it and it made my day. It was the miracle we have been praying for.
We went on exchanges on Wednesday. After 1 year… I was finally able to be with my MTC companion Hna. Stewart (on the day that we hit a year!)!! My companions went to West Columbia and she came here. It was good to see her again. I just love her so much!! Our day together was super crazy. We had a 2 hour drive to get her and back. Then we went and made bracelets for some people we are teaching real quick. We went out and visited some people and had a lesson with Maria. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ with cut out footsteps. It was really cute because her 6 yr. old Diego joined in. He is just adorable and loved it! We invited her to be baptized and she said she would think about it. She knows it is an important thing and she just wants to do it for her own decision. Finally my favorite part of the night came. Arlen’s son Israel turned 16, so we went to his birthday party. We had pizza, cake, and this mexican soda. It was super fun. We were able to get to know Israel better and give him a bracelet that I made and some donuts.
Thursday morning I made an apple pie. We were going to do a picnic with David last week with a pie when he dropped us. But that all changed and he wanted to do it again. Hna. Maxfield was going to make it but she didn't have the time. It was a project indeed. It took lots of juggling and innovating, and what came out was a square pie. I didn't have a round pan so I did what I had to do. I made two little muffin ones and they were good. We ate them with pumpkin spice hot chocolate😋 (my favorite thing about Fall other than the leaves changing). We ended exchanges and met in the middle. We got Wendy's for lunch and then stuffed ourselves again with pie at David's house. He bought us little china plates. Then we went to the Mejias’ house and stuffed our face with tacos. They were soooo delicious. After that, we went and visited the part member family that we met while eating pupusas the other week. They are so nice and hilarious. They gave us pie and some hot chocolate. (I ate pie three times and hot chocolate twice that day.) We are going to their house for dinner next week.
We went and taught Maria a quick lesson on Friday. She said she hadn’t decided about baptism yet. She really wants to come to church with us. Then we went and taught a part member family. Her name is Johany. She wants to come to church and take the lessons! She invited us to come over the next day and teach her again! Then we went to the Huipe’s house. She texted us and asked if we could still come over. She confirmed the appointment! We showed them a little video and then we drew pictures of things that we are grateful for. Then we went to visit another part-member family. Her name is Humberta. She is a hoot. I will write all about her next week.
On Saturday, we ended up teaching all her kids that sandwich analogy. Then we went to a wedding. We met this lady named Maria across the street from another Maria on the same road as Maria with the baby. We went to her wedding reception and had free food. We kind of got attacked passive aggressively by some of the people sitting at our table. I told a lady that her english was really good and she went, “This is my country too.” Ouch. Maria wants us to come over after her honeymoon. She also just got baptized, but we are still going to teach her. Then we played fútbol and I about died. I am still not in shape yet.
Yesterday, we woke up at 5:30am to trek across the country. Hna. Hanson taught a guy named Danny who got baptized in July while she was here. He passed away at the beginning of September. We drove 3 and a half hours to get to Conway by 10am. Perks of a trio is I was able to take a somewhat nap in the back. We went to church and then the viewing at 1pm. The funeral service was in a Methodist church (I have now been to Pentecostal, Evangelical, Shabbat, & Methodist churches. Welcome to the South!). I got to see some more missionaries, so that was super fun. Driving home was hilarious. We were all tired and sick of driving. We bought candy Saturday night for the drive. My comps. told me they didn't want any of my snacks, they lied. I shared anyway and Hna. Maxfield apparently loves sunflower seeds too. When she wanted more she said, "My tongue is going through withdrawals. (And in her best scary/gollum voice) Give it to me." We went by someone's house later that night. We stopped by and it was kind of sketchy. It was dark and we couldn't see their house number. We asked if Griaciela lived there and she did. It was a bit awkward at first but it got better. We explained we are missionaries and told her how she possibly filled out a website. She remembered doing that. We set up a lesson for next Sunday a lot earlier. Juan told us that sometimes people sell drugs in that trailer park and it isn't super safe at night.
Hola todos! Muchísimas cosas locas pasaron durante esta semana y media! This is going to be a long one, but most of my emails are.
Last week on Monday we did something super fun for p-day. We woke up at 4:15am (not the fun part) and drove a hour and a half to a chapel on top of a mountain called Pretty Place. It is this chapel that doesn’t have walls and the pews face out towards the mountains/hills. We watched the sunrise and it was sooo cool. I was freezing but it was worth it. I should’ve realized the sister I asked about the weather doesn’t get cold. After it was over we drove back a hour to go play games at a church. I got chick-fil-a for breakfast and it was actually pretty good. Then I played chair soccer for the first time in 6 months! I was nervous but it was fun. I think I’ll keep staying away from basketball. Afterwards, we went to Bella’s house. She had told us that she wanted to postpone her baptism a couple days earlier. After talking to her, she still wants to be baptized. She just told us she hasn’t fully gotten rid of coffee. We told her we could help with that. Sweet Arlen came with us and then stayed and talked with Bella after we left. Bella will be baptized just in a couple more weeks.
On Tuesday we had our last DCM of the transfer. Hna. Maxfield gave her first discussion and she did great. We talked about the importance of extending invitations. Our purpose as missionaries is to, “Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.” Our purpose is to invite people unto Christ and help them follow Him. Invitations are key. For district lunch we went to a place called Willy’s tacos. I was kind of ify about it because I eat hispanic food all the time, but it was really good. I got a taco called Mother Clucker.😂 What’s with the names! It was actually quite delicious. It had chicken lettuce, bacon, queso, and some other things. I would get it again! Then we went and taught David. We told him we only had 30 minutes for a lesson and he talked for most of it. It is a good thing he actually reads the things that we give him because he talks so much in our lessons. We taught him the Word of Wisdom. After that we drove straight up to Gaffney to teach Esteban. He was just not understanding the Law of Chastity so we left a little frustrated. Later that night we went and visited the Calecio family. Their daughter is 8 and hasn’t been baptized yet. They are soooo sweet. They gave us this pan dulce called concha. I ate most of it and then finished it later with some hot chocolate. Esteban gave us right after we got home from English Class. I then proceeded to teach him the Law of Chastity again because my comps didn’t want to. I answered all his questions and now he isn’t as confused.
We taught Lucero and Gaby again on Wednesday. We taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited them to be baptized. They agree with us on the importance of it. They want to think about it first. Then we went and ate a really early dinner with the Mejias. When we finished Hna. Mejia showed us how to make Masa (dough) for tortillas, sopes, empanadas etc. It was super fun and pretty easy, you just can’t make the dough too dry or wet. After that we went to go visit this family that Elder Oliveira gave us. We went over and no one answered (we saw a face of child in the door). We were in the process of writing a note when they pulled up. They were really excited to see us. We talked to them for a minute and got to know them. Caren and Angel are the parents. Then all of a sudden Caren asks us if we want to go visit her family that aren't members. We were like SURE! So we went over and met Doris, Jordy, and Gimena. We got to know them for a minute. Then we sang "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today" with a ukelele with them. It was super fun. We invited them to meet again, come to our ward party/fútbol, and to church! They are super excited to meet again! To finish off our night we finally met this guy named Wilson. We taught him in a Circle K parking lot. It was very different than what I have done before. It was cold, so I will prepare for next time. He likes the lessons and he wants to learn more!
We finally had a Spanish Conference in person on Thursday!!! I have only done one during training over zoom. It was so good and I learned so much. It was out in Columbia, so it was a little drive. I really liked that at one point we started about focusing on prayer. If people understand prayer and how they receive their answers to it, they will see when they receive them. Praying to know if the things we teach are true won’t be as hard. God always answers our prayers. Sometimes we are just to caught up in the things that are happening in our lives to see it. For lunch the fed us this giant taco and flan. It was good, but not the same as authentic food. Then we went and taught Johany again. Her son Josue wouldn’t let us in so we kind of forced ourselves in. We taught him and then the whole family came in. It was funny because they didn’t want us to leave. Afterwards, we went and taught Silvino in the church. We taught him about prayer and then gave him a church tour. He is super sweet and we are hoping that he will accept to be baptized. He asked us about fast offerings, so we explained that and the difference between it and tithing. He stayed for English Class and it went great. As usual, Esteban called us after it got over. We retaught his tithing and fast offering for 30 minutes.
On Friday, we went and taught Maria again. If you remember from a couple previous emails 3 Marias live on one street. Before we went over for the lesson we went and visited Maria E. Not sure how interested she is, but she said she is coming to church. I am not to fond of houses that have lots of animals I’ve realized because we leave smelling like pee or them. Then we taught Maria with Hna. Ramirez. Such a good lesson!! Hermana Ramirez was able to come, and it seemed like they got along super well. We talked about the sacrament and what it represented. After that we followed up on the book of Mormon, and Maria said that she had been listening to it and listens while she is cooking. Hermana Ramirez testified of the bom to her, and Maria mentioned something about how she had a dream or a memory about what is talked about in 3 nephi 11, but hadn't ever read that chapter before. Hermana Ramirez was really taken back and thought that was cool. She offered maria a ride to the church, and said she could help bring over DVDs/ etc that could help her understand better. Maria said how she was so confused by all the churches and was wanting to know which church was true and said thankfully we came to her. Then we ate dinner with Hna. Zapata after so long. She is doing good. We are trying to get her back to church, but she is scared of covid. Afterwards, we went to our ward party. We had a hoedown. It was super fun! We ate bbq, beans, macaroni, and cake for our second dinner. Caren and Doris and their families came! It was super awesome. We square danced with them and played soccer. It was a blast! Then we went and visited Isabel Huipe. We shared a scripture and talked about going to Pretty Place. We related how the world is cold and dark but the sun always rises. Our lives may fee or be cold and dark, but Jesus Christ will always be there. Nothing can stop Him from bringing sunshine and warmth.
Saturday morning we drove all the way out to see the Sanchez family. The elders were there and they didn’t answer. So we drove 40 minutes to have a lesson with Lucero and her daughter Gaby. We did a Book of Mormon read with them. We read the first chapter and related it to their lives. It was cool because Lucero made a comment about it. She related it to herself without us even showing her that one. As we left she gave us some yummy layered cake, cookies, and tamales. Everything was delicious. After that we went and visited Brother Bright. He is going through a super hard time. His wife doesn’t have much longer. She is in the last stretch of her dementia. Even through this grieving he told us he is so excited for when he can come out and help us with lessons. Then we raced to the church for a baptism, again not ours. The elders were baptizing this cute African lady named Zuhura and Hna. Maxfield was going to play the piano. Zuhura said her name and then Elder Davis baptized her because he couldn’t remember her name. Her name was really long. It was pretty funny. Then we raced back to the Sanchez’ 40 minutes away. This time they actually let us in. It had been ages since we had seen them. We had a really good lesson. We read 2 Nephi 31 with them (with the elders) and I was able to teach Mia about the restoration. She is so sweet and has such a desire to learn. They just need to actually answer our calls and the door. Then we raced back to the church for fútbol night. It wasn’t as fun as usually but I have a nice battle scar now. I was trying to steal the ball and I totally kicked Alex so hard. It was an accident and he was fine. I made a goal and then the pain set in after my adrenaline left. It hurt! I have a giant bruise on my ankle now.
On Sunday, we had ward coord. and then church. I am super pumped for this trunk or treat that they are planning. After that we went to Esteban’s house and about died. He told us he didn’t want to be baptized after we sat there for a hour plus while Hna. Rosas shared her testimony and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We didn’t know quite what to do after that. He totally flicked away the baptismal preparation card we gave him. Then we went to that lady’s house with the part wolf dog. We talked to a guy across the street and he let me try and pet his dog. The dog’s name was Bishop and he bit me. It was a good thing that I was wearing a cardigan and that’s all he got. We went in with it to knock on the door. The daughter answered the door and was not nice at all. She told us that she wouldn’t be responsible for what would happen. Inferring that Sam would attack us. Dog’s aren’t my favorite animals right now. Right as we were getting into our car they pulled up. So we got out and went for our lesson again. It was a bit awkward at first but it got better. We are visiting them next week. Not sure how interested they are, but we are going to see. Then we taught Wilson again in the Circle K parking lot. It is very interesting doing that. He is super nice and we hope that he is going to come to church. Esteban called us later that night and was a totally different person. He still wants to be baptized and wants our help. This made us happy but we didn’t know if he was going to say no again.
On Monday, we taught David again. He is not totally sure about baptism quite yet. Which is okay because we don’t know if he could be baptized very soon anyway. Then we taught Johany. She didn’t have very much time. I was just glad that she didn’t start breast feeding her baby all of a sudden. Kind of interesting when that happens in lessons. She was watching 3 babies including hers so we told her we’d come over the next day. We then decided to go and visit Doris and her son Jordy. We hadn’t seen them since the hoedown. They were home so we taught them about prayer. We are going to watch General Conference with them hopefully. Doris’s husband Ricardo is a member and seemed excited about it. Then something happened that I have been waiting 2 months for, we got to have dinner with the Ramirez family. She fed us that yummy steak, bacon, and bean soup again. It was heavenly with her hand made tortillas. After eating 1 ½ helpings, we went to go teach Silvino. We taught him about prophets in a video call. He loves what we are teaching him.
Yesterday we went and taught Maria in the morning. She is just the cutest. Hermana Ramirez came with us and helped. She is just so amazing. She let Maria borrow a DVD player so she could watch “The Testament.” Maria told us in her last lesson that she heard in some Guatemalan history about 3 days of darkness. I’m excited for her to watch that because it is one of my favorites. Hna. Ramirez invited her to watch General Conference at her house! and to go to Sally’s 13th birthday party! Then we went back home for lunch… and we got a call from president. Hna. Hanson and I are still training, BUT we are getting a new trainee. Hna. Maxfield is moving 20 minutes away to Inman. She is going to be comps with Hna. Marcheschi (I would love to be comps. with her). So she won’t be too far away. I was making cookie dough when we found all of this out. That soothed my stress. Esteban called us and asked if we were going over, so we did instead. Hna. Rosas came and it was like a total flip of a switch happened. He is now on date to be baptized on the 10th of October! He got his heart port taken out and he wants to be baptized as soon as possible! I am so excited!!! Bambi and a cat joined in on our lesson. I got some funny pictures.The rest of our lessons canceled or weren’t there so we visited someone. They also weren’t there. On the way to English class we got Krispy Kreme doughnuts. My vaccine card is paying off. Then we got Popeyes for dinner. Dinner for 2 fed us three. English class was fun, even though only one person showed up. We acted out things like charades and it was super fun.
I’ll let you all know how transfers go and all about my new companion next week. Also, something I realized today is that Hna. Hanson will be my companion that I have had for the longest. I am looking forward to another transfer with her! Hope you all have a great week!
Yo sé que ha sido como cuatro o cinco días desde mi último correo electrónico pero sintió como un año. My phone hasn’t been working very well, so that is why it is sending so late.
Last Wednesday was really fun. For p-day we went to downtown Greenville to a place called “Falls Park on the Reedy.” It is a reclaimed waterfall in the middle of the city. It was gorgeous and I can’t wait to go back. We signed journals and just enjoyed nature in the middle of the city. My phone heated up and turned off (it is broken and I need a new one) so I stuck it in a plastic bag in the river. It survived and started working again. Then we went to see the Huipe family. They are so much fun. We made origami roses with them. We related it to God’s creations and how we are his favorite. He loves us so much and wants us to be happy. All of us are different for a reason. Later, we had a lesson with Bella and invited her to watch General Conference.
Thursday was transfers so we drove to Columbia. Hna. Maxfield got all packed up and ready. Instead of going to Inman straight away she went to Charleston because her new companion has covid. We went to the training meeting and then finally met Hermana Marvin. She is just adorable and has so much energy. We went and got chick-fil-a. We had a phone call lesson with Esteban. What we have taught him is finally sticking!! Then we went to the Mejias for dinner. They fed us empanadas and taught us how to make them. They also taught us how to make arroz con leche. My amount of recipe videos are growing. Afterwards we had a lesson with Silvino before English Class. He is a sweetheart and loves learning. We are going to invite him to be baptized super soon! English Class was really fun this time. We honestly learned more Spanish than they learned English. Alex taught us new words. Falto mucho con mi Español.
On Friday, we went and had a lesson with David. He finished another painting that is super awesome. Then we raced over to Caren’s house. We actually got to teach them a lesson this time. They are just the sweetest. We talked to them about prophets and General Conference. They said they would come to watch conference on Sunday… they didn’t actually come, but that is okay. They gave us a ton of tamales on the way out. Later that night I experienced my second Hispanic birthday party. Hna. Ramirez’s daughter Sally turned 13. We had this pork in spicy sauce with tortillas and pizza. Hna. Hanson and Marvin were dying from the spice and I was totally fine. I have apparently acclimated to the spiciness here. We needed to leave but they started to do the cake and asked us to stay. Sally was right next to me and her aunt was telling me with her hands and eyes to smash Sally into the cake. I caved into peer pressure and did it. I got her good! I felt super bad after, but kept telling me it is tradition. If I wouldn't have done it they said someone else would’ve.
Saturday morning we watched the first session of Conference by ourselves in our apartment. It was funny because Hna. Hanson was just chilling underneath her desk, I was on the floor, and Hna. Marvin was lounging on the couch. After that, we went and watched it with the Mejias. They fed us Pizza and this squishy bread for dessert. Spanish is super hard to understand when you are tired sitting on a comfy couch. I learned a lot even through the brain fog. Then we went and had a lesson with Silvino. The Mejias shared really strong testimonies about the gospel and talked about how it. We are super excited to keep teaching him. To end the night we played fútbol and my team got creamed. I am not the mvp. The pizza was not sitting well in my stomach.
Here are some of my thoughts about General Conference. It was amazing as always. I loved everything about it. It always helps me went I get to hear from a prophet and apostles of the Lord. I loved the talk from Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He said something like, “Do you want to change your life? Change your day. A day has the same format of your life. You start doing something and end it doing something else.” I sometimes have the problem of procrastination. I think I’ll just do it tomorrow, but it never happens. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow so we need to change today. One theme that I saw was how much God loves us. He loves us more than we could ever imagine.
Sunday morning we broadcasted General Conference in the church on a tv. We thought that we had it figured out but we didn’t. We ended up having the tv’s sound off and Hna. Hanson’s phone playing it in spanish placed in a cup to amplify the sound. Esteban, Hna. Rosas, and Daniel came and joined us. Then Bishop Andersen came to meet Esteban and talk about his baptism. We translated and figured out what time it is going to happen. After that, we spent the next 30 minutes planning his baptism. He is so excited and can’t wait. It has been cool to see a transformation in him. For the next session we went to the Ramirez’s house. Maria, Deigo, and Valentina her baby watched it with us. It was super cute because at the end Maria was waiting for more. We talked about temples with her and she really likes them. For dinner, we went to Bishop’s house. He fed us tacos that were actually really good. His family is just so sweet and absolutely hilarious. We played this funny egyptian dice game with his son Gavin. I am so grateful that our ward is so supportive and always willing to help us out.
Hna. Marvin is hilarious and I just had to include this thing that happened. My stomach has been acting weird for the past couple of days. I come out of the bathroom and Hermana Marvin goes,"If your dukey is cray cray, don't forget the spray spray (after I sprayed our Hawaiian air freshener). Then she looks straight at me and said, "I have diarrhea pills, stool softener, probiotics, and gas-x. I have all the poo pills."😂
That is all for this week. Love you all and hope you have a great week!
