That´s the theme of this week. Do you all remember the movie the aristocats? When the ducks come in. ¨Amelia, if I walk any further I´m going to get flat feet.¨ ¨Abigail! You were born with flat feet!¨ And then they errupt into giggles. Well, If I walk any further I´m going to get flat feet, but I wasn´t born with them!
The reason we´ve been walking around so much is that President Gulbrandson has asked us to concentrate on past investigators. I don´t even know how to properly translate that. Investigadores antiguos. You can understand that right? Whatever, the point is. We´ve been walking around a lot. But we´ve found a couple that look really promising. And I´ve gotten a chance to work on my speaking skills, I get better and better every day!
Now for some stories. First. My birthday was great. My companion surprised me by taking me and the Familia Llerena (my favorite, shh, I know you´re not supposed to have favorites) to an ice cream shop we both like. I literally had no idea what was going on until we got to the store. Because I don´t usually know where we´re going or why, although I´m usually certain that the gospel is going to be involved. I was wrong this time. The greatest part was when they pulled out the candles and placed them in the ice cream. Jolin! They even sang in English so I could understand. *tear* it was really fun though. Except, then my companion decided it would be cool to tell everyone that day it was my birthday. Do you know what latino people do when they hear it´s your birthday? They give you something to eat. Literally. I ate sooo much. And all of it was sugar. By the end of the day I just wanted to cut off my face so that when someone offered me a snack I could be like ¨Welp, can´t eat it. I don´t have a face. Sorry.¨But to no avail. ugh, it´s a good thing we´ve been walking so much this week.
Story number two. So every saturday we go to the Familia Caterenas for lunch. They are a Peruvian family, and the mom makes wonderful meals! I love it every time. And before hand we had invited a recent convert to the lunch (well, someone did, I don´t know if it was us. Would that be rude? I don´t know) and we were going to teach her the first lesson, and one of my goals for the week was to start lessons and get the ball rolling. So I knew that. Here´s the glitch. I woke up Saturday morning mildly sick. Breathing was difficult, and lets just say swallowing wasn´t that joyful. And for the first time, I had a hard time eating. Really all I wanted to do was throw up. But I couldn´t explain that to the family, because I couldn´t remember the words in spanish. Anyways, meal ends. And Hermana Jones gets out the pamphlet for the first lesson and kind of throws it at me. That´s my hint to get the lesson started. But the people are still talking and with the minor headache that I have I´m not sure what´s going on. So, I wait for a pause......and wait....it takes about 5 min for there to be a pause. But eventually, there is one. So I start in ¨okay, well today we´re going to go over Lesson one from the missionaries. And if it looks like I´m scared out of my mind, it´s because I am and I don´t really know what I´m doing.¨ Which I figured would be okay, because everyone was a member there right? And they knew I was new, right? Well, since I´m telling this story you know that´s not true. So I ask, what is your relationship with God? And one of the Hermanas at the table starts talking and two sentences in I hear ¨and as you know, I´m catholic....¨oh. I didn´t realize she wasn´t a member. Dangit! So, now, my already confounded mind starts panicking. I need to change the lesson to include someone who doesn´t believe. It´s rough. And then they got sidetracked by my spanish speaking abilities. And I was upset because I didn´t want them talking about me and how I could or could not speak spanish. I just wanted them to feel the spirit. It wasn´t the best lesson I´ve ever had. But then they gave me a banana so it was okay. I do like bananas.
And last story: So we have a recent convert named Raquel who is literally a little crazy. She´s got a few mental issues. But she really is very nice. And she speaks rapid Spanish every time. But she´s so cooky so I love her. We´ve gone over to her apartment a few times and she just loves to talk. She´s actually having a bit of a hard time right now and through the grapevine we´ve heard that she´s drinking. She doesn´t know that we know, but we´re just trying to help her as much as she can. The porteria (kind of like the live in manager) lives above her apartment and says some nights he can hear her screaming at God. We just try to love her.
Anyways, so we go over and talk for a bit. And then Hermana Jones gives me ¨the nod¨ aka: we´re ready to start the lesson and we´ve finished talking about Babylon. So, I clear my throat and get started. It´s funny, because Raquel pretends to be shocked and looks at me, and I´m pretty sure says something like ¨oh, Hermana Reed is going to be teaching? I´ve got to see this!¨and then pretends to put on her glasses. She may or may not have heard me speak much up to this point. But I start the lesson, and it´s going pretty good. She´s a recent convert so I tell her how I know God loves me and that I have a testimony of the blessings that he has given me, and then I ask her what blessings she´s seen in her life. And that´s when I lose understanding. But Raquel goes on for 5-7 minutes. And there are some good pauses, I let the Holy Ghost teach, but it was just nice, not to rush it. And through all of her talking all I really picked up on was something about learning. So, I went off of that. And I was able to bear my testimony on how I´m learning every day and it´s a blessing from God that we can learn. And he doesn´t expect us to be perfect, this time is a time to progress and grow. But when we have confidence in Him, we can do everything we need to. Hermana Jones then taught about the different dispensations, The life of Jesus Christ and the apostasy. And then it was my turn to teach about the Restoration. And this is the best part (in my opinion). I taught the whole thing using imperfect and preterite perfectly! Which I know may not seem like a big thing, but to me it is. I was able to bear my testimony of the power of prayer, and how we can use it in our lives. And the power of miracles. I was a walking miracle, that I could even speak spanish as well as I could. I have been blessed, and my life hasn´t been perfect, but God is there every time I have a trial. All of that. All in spanish. And she understood. She even helped me out with a couple of words. But it was okay. All is well in Zion.
It was a great lesson. And we had a member there who was able to close us off with a good prayer. And it was a great way to end the week. The church is true! And then on the way down from her apartment she pointed out that my chest was red from nerves. And I was like ...thank you. I know. It happens a lot. Gracias por su tiempo. The latins do that a lot. Point out when white people blush. Because they don´t see it. With their darker skin, it just isn´t as noticable. And since I´m very white....well, it´s noticeable. okay, moving on.
Thanks everyone! Love you tons.
Hermana Reed
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