October 25, 2021
Well this last Monday we didn't do very much. We went shopping and prepped for Hna. Marvin’s birthday. I bought her a jumanji board game, so hopefully that will be fun. Later that night, we went and visited Luz and her family. It was a fun lesson with a puzzle to represent the Apostasy.
On Tuesday we had our DCM. It went really well. For lunch, we ate at a place called Broncos Mexican Restaurant. It was pretty good. I got a chimichanga. Then we went and visited some people. One wasn't interested and the other answered the door holding her naked child. That was pretty funny. We met a lady named Milvian. She is just the absolute sweetest. We sang her a song with the ukulele and she opened right up. She wants to learn more about God and English. She has the cutest daughter. Afterwards, we went to Colecio’s house for dinner. Hna. Colecio fed us Tinga. I love that stuff! It is chicken with this red juice/sauce over a tostada with sour cream and lettuce. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and hopefully their 8 yr old daughter will get baptized soon. Before English class that night, we stopped by this one house. We were set up a lesson with this one guy and then his friend came over. His friend wanted to do one as well. There was a heavy blanket of awkwardness during this whole thing. Later that night, I made two pies. I got out some frustration after an interesting call with Esteban. He is very confused and doesn't know what he wants.
We went and visited Doris on Wednesday. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was strong. It was cool to see Hna. Marvin progress in her teaching skills. Then we went and visited Caren and her family. It had been a little while since we had been in touch. They let us right in and invited us to their giant birthday party. As we were teaching, Angel (the husband) told us that he wants to get baptized! We are so excited to help him. After this our day fell apart for about two hours. We needed gas, wrong turns were taken, and people are psychotic drivers here. Hna. Hanson couldn’t take it anymore, while Hna. Marvin and I are cracking up hysterically watching this. We got ice cream from a place called Hounis, a Little Caesar Pizza, and finally gas. After that we went and had a pretty good lesson with Bella. She is having a hard time. She is ready to be baptized but doesn’t understand the word of wisdom fully. Jerlinson and Natalie invited us over again. It has been cool to see them reach out to us and invite us over. We are hoping that they will accept more of the things that we teach. Jerlinson gave us another one of his coconut things. Natalie said his favorite things all include some form of coconut and I’m not surprised. It was actually good. Then we went to visit Marla and Martin. Marla is a member and we have been trying to meet Martin who is not. Bro. Bright tagged along with us and the lesson went great. We got to know them much better. This weird looking cricket interrupted the lesson. All six of our legs went up at the same time.
On Thursday, we went over and had a lesson with David. He had been asking for another apple pie and he kept his no drinking coffee for a week plus challenge. So Wednesday night I made him a pie and it took FOREVER! It turned out delicious because I made a couple adjustments from the time before. He was super happy and gave us hot chocolate to drink with it. He wants to be baptized sooo bad. We are setting up a time for him to meet with President Monson. Afterwards, we went over to Milvian’s house again. We did a really good Bible study. We taught her some English. Hna. Hanson was nice and gave Ashley (her 10 yr. old daughter) some art supplies. Then we went and visited Lucero. One of the babies was laying on the couch right next to me. He kept kicking me with his feet. I started to play peekaboo with his blanket and he loved it. Over a couple of minutes he was laughing and normally he is silent. I just want to hold all these cute Hispanic babies. For dinner, the Mejias fed us this meat dish with rice. It was really good. I was having a hard time finishing that. Then they gave us a tamale and this pecan pudding stuff. I left very full. After we taught English Class, we taught Daniel. We taught him about the priesthood and it's organizations. The longest part of my day was the hour-long call. He called us and just kept going and going. I was so exhausted by the end.
Friday was Hna. Marvin’s birthday!! We had such a fun time. For breakfast we had blueberry muffins. She wanted Arbys for lunch. The Arbys that we went to first wasn't even done being constructed so we drove to another one. The lobby was closed… but we found a really cute park to eat in. It had ducks, geese, a big pond, a bridge, and a gazebo😍. We ate and I just wanted to stay there all day. The trees out here are starting to change colors and I am so excited!! I remember how beautiful it was last year. Some of the trees are turning red and purple! Afterwards, we went to see Hermana Zapata. We told her we didn't have time to eat. When we walked in the table was set. We ate dinner with her and Gloria. Hna. Zapata told us that she is going to come to church again! After that, we had our actually dinner with the Mellors. They fed us French toast, bacon, eggs, hash browns, grapes, oranges etc.. For dessert we ate ice cream. They are just the cutest family ever. Very loud and fun children. It reminded me of growing up. There was show and tell, dress up, and 3 unexpected hugs from their middle child. He wanted to keep my watch and charm bracelet. Afterwards, we raced over to our lesson with Reyna and Luis. They gave us three carne asada tacos. We taught them about prayer and set up another lesson. They said we are going to have pan dulce and hot chocolate this time. Throughout the day we ate SO much. I felt like I had gained 10 pounds and I probably had. We went to bed very very full.
We went out to lunch with Macario on Saturday (We didn’t eat breakfast because we were still full!). He finally got home from Tennessee. He came dressed very nicely. When we walked in the hostess didn't see my companions so she asked, "party for 2?" Very quickly I said, "4 people!!"😅 We ate Mexican food of course. Macario ate a really spicy pepper and was sweating the whole time (and he said it wasn't hot, sure). We gave him a Book of Mormon and explained it to him. Then we went to two Mexican birthday parties. We went to Caren’s first. Anthony is turning 8 years old soon and Ashlyn is turning 12. It was awesome. They did it in Doris’s house and the living room was covered in decorations. They were playing Shrek 2, loud music and they had a disco ball. We ate tamales, rice, and some other things for dinner. They honestly brought enough food to feed 50-75 people. We gave the kids their presents and they got so excited. Never underestimate the power of chips, chocolate, and a picture of Jesus. Then, we went to the birthday party for Hermana Ramirez’s sister-in-law (the lady who told me to smash Sally’s face in the cake). We had to leave for futbol night for an hour. I kicked the ball around and star-gazed for a minute. After that, we drove back to the party and ate dinner again. We had tacos with chicken, rice, and beans. Dessert was a giant piece of tres leches cake. We drove home full (like the day before😂).
Yesterday went really well. I translated sacrament meeting and that was interesting. I wonder how much the people understood what I was saying. David, Daniel and Hermana Zapata came. During the sacrament I was really sad. These two families had told us they were coming and they didn’t. I just want everyone to receive all the blessings that they can. Afterwards, we went and had a lesson with Esteban. We aren't going to visit him for 2-3 weeks so he can figure out what he wants. Then we went and visited a lady named Irlanda with Hna. Rosas. I could not for the life of me understand what she was saying. Maybe it was a consequence of my food coma from the days before. Hna. Marvin was fighting to stay awake during it. Hna. Hanson and I talked after how we both didn’t understand. Later, we went and visited a guy named Jesus. He was really nice. We followed him from Walmart to his apartment in our car. It was gated so he had to let us in. What started as us thinking we were just teaching him changed to teaching him and his 3 cousins. They were waiting outside because they forgot their keys to get in. It went really well and we are going back next week. They said they are going to make us tacos. Turns out, one of the guys went to an English class three months back when we had first gotten here. We didn’t remember him… a little awkward. After that we went and visited someone else. It was even more awkward! They were eating at a table outside. We asked them what they like to do and the sister said be borrachos. That was hilarious. We taught them about prayer and are going back. We don’t know how interested they actually are.
I wanted to share with you all the study that we did with Milvian. We read Matthew 4:17-20. It is when Jesus is calling some of his 12 apostles and they are out fishing. In verse 17 the first words that Christ said in his ministry were, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repentance is the process of us becoming better people and more like Christ. Some of the questions I thought of while reading 18-20 were: What are some of our nets? What can we do to leave them behind and follow Jesus Christ? I just want to invite you all to think about this. I need to do it too. :)
¡Les quiero! ¡Espero que tengan una semana muy buena!😊
