And at 8:03...my mind exploded.
That´s from Brian Regan. Yes, I´m still attached to Babylon. Don´t judge. But you are never going to believe what happened this weekend. I´m hardly believe it.
First off, I would like to apologize for last week. I was a bit in a downer mood, super frustrated with me onesie, and not very happy. But that´s not important, I had a one on one talk with Heavenly Father, figured out I´m prideful (shocker, I know), and am currently in the ¨fixing it¨stage of my life. But that´s not why my mind exploded.
I could tell you about how in this last week we had some really awesome lessons. But I won´t. I could tell you how I´ve decided if I were stranded on an island and a genie said I could eat only two things for the rest of my deserted island existence I would choose arroz con leche and empanadas and be happy for at least two weeks before starting to want something else. But that´s dull..... actually, this portion of my letter was supposed to be cooler, but I forgot my notes at home. We had interviews this week and we watched this bomb.com address by Elder Holland. Which was given to missionaries, so I don´t think you get to see it. Bummer.
No, I will, instead focus most of my letter to the ridiculous weekend I had, starting Saturday morning. It goes a little like this.
Once upon a time, I was a prideful little ninny. But I was working on it. And Saturday morning I was reading my scriptures like a good missionary. I´m actually doing this new thing where I´ve started reading the Book of Mormon from the back, and then going forwards. (i.e. started with Moroni, then Ether, now I´m in Mormon, etc.) This idea started a lot with the ending of the MTC, everyone talking about their ¨last thoughts¨ and what you would want to say to people. Anyways, so, I´m reading the last chapters of Ether where Coriantumr has his army and is fighting against Shiz and it´s essentially the end of the Jaredite nation. At the beginning of ch 15 Coriantumr realizes he´s exterminating his people and writes a letter to Shiz saying he´d be willing to do anything to stop the war and save his people. Shiz wants the life of Coriantumr...shoot. So the battle commences, everyone dies. The thing is, Coriantumr was PRIDEFUL! Ether told him all of this would happen, Ether told him his entire people would be destroyed and he would be the only one to survive. He had the chance to repent, but he didn´t because he thought that he knew better then a profet of God. For shame Coriantumr. So, I was reading this, and realized I´m a prideful ninny, AGAIN, and decide I have to do something I don´t like to do. I need to talk about my emotions with my companion (ugh, soul-baring). But, I don´t want to be like Coriantumr so I swallow my pride and ask for a companionship inventory instead of companionship study.
And whenever I swallow my pride, things never go the way that I thought they would. I always think, oh, I´m going to be able to share my thoughts, we´ll talk it out, and figure how to work better. But no. It seems like everytime I´m about to talk about my feelings, and how I´m frustrated with myself and or others, and things need to change, the person I want to talk to always starts going off on how great I am, and that they see me working really hard, and how it´s incredible how much I´ve grown in the few weeks I´ve been here, and she sees how much potential I have. blah blah blah blah blah. And I´m just sitting there thinking.... you couldn´t have told me this yesterday? Que el diablo! My life, really. I can´t explain it. The point is, We end up talking it out, I don´t talk nearly as much as I thought I was going to. But I try to explain how, oddly enough, I don´t actually like interrupting people when they talk, and I don´t like trying to interject things when I don´t know what the conversation is about, and that I´m actually quite comfortable with silence. In the end, I get at least some sort of confession out, I´m feeling a lot better, I know a little more about how I´m doing, and the expectations of a new missionary.
So, we go to our lunch appointment where I get to eat share the ¨weirdest meal¨my companion has ever had on the mission. Mondundo. Any one like to take a gander at what that is? I shall tell you. Cow intestine. Now, before being told that there is something a little off with our meal I had thought it was calamari. Not a huge fan, but I´ve eaten worse things in my life. And then the mom leaves for a bit and my companion puts like three pieces on my plate. Ah....I see, my companion doesn´t really like it. I didn´t mind it so I ate hers. The trickiest was the last bite because it was still on her plate. I had to wait for the perfect timing where neither daughter nor mother was looking so I could sneak it real quick. It took me forever. Hermana Jones was almost afraid she was going to have to eat it. But no. Aren´t I such a great companion? (something´s just aren´t that rough. Just don´t make me eat the nasty green olives. Ugh, they taste like fermentation, blugh).
After, we go to fill up the font for my first convert baptism! Woohoo!! And having quite a few return missionary relatives I´m ready for the pre-baptism chaos. Which includes but is not limited to a) the pilot light to the water heater not working (you need matches cuz the flint piece thingy don´t work) b) running to go get our newest investigator who walks slow BUT is a your-momtian!! Fallyn, didjá hear that? I found one. Well, kind of. I hope Fallyn reads these. She´s actually from the Dominican Republic, which shares the same island as Haiti. So, I think it counts. She´s great, and has a different accent, which means I can understand her. (side note: of all the different types of people, I can´t understand the people from Argentina. I understand Peruvians best, they are actually my favorite. I wanted to go to Peru, Peru came to me! Score.) Anyways, she walks slow cuz she´s old, and wanted to buy us facturas (we of course said okay!) but we show up to the church at 6:04, the baptism starts at 6. But it´s okay/not okay, cuz c) our baptizee isn´t there yet. She´s just a little late though. So it´s okay. The funniest part was watching my companion flip out. I was fine. Whether she showed up or not we had no control over at this point. And regardless, the church is true. But she did. Great baptism. We go home, prep for Fast Sunday.
SUNDAY:
Go to church, and are unsure where we are going to be eating for lunch. Not a huge problem, just that if we weren´t going to be eating at a members, we would be fasting for the whole day (we had started our fast a little late because of the baptism so we figured this would be fair, but you can´t say no to members, you need to be on their good side). This isn´t a huge problem but at the beginning of Sacrament, this lady named Raquel asks us about lunch, when we tell her we don´t have one she invites us over for lunch. Now, let me give you a little background on Raquel. Her husband is a member, she is not. She´s been coming to church for 2 years, wants to get baptized, but her parents are very catholic and she doesn´t want to get baptized without their permission. She also is very familiar with the missionaries and the purpose of missionary work (aka. baptism). So, usually she avoids us. Before this moment, Hermana Jones had never been invited to her house. So, something fishy is going on. But we say yes, duh. And then sit with Maria Del Carmen as she gets confirmed in sacrament meeting (which is really great. This lady has absolutely no support. 10 brothers and sisters, all hate her, her friends think she´s crazy and she had to quit her job to be able to get baptized. Her faith is incredible).
After church: we head over to Raquel´s apartment and on the way Hermana Jones kind of gives me a heads up to the situation, and we both start thinking of ways to set a baptismal date. (we were thinking, as soon as you get your parents permission, two weeks after that). We didn´t want to be to pushy, but at the same time, this is important. So, we knew we were treading on thin ice. We show up to lunch, and the husband is cooking dinner, when Raquel sits down and is talking with us, and says, ¨so, I´ve been thinking about it, and I´ve talked with my parents. They´ve given their permission, I was thinking about getting baptized in July¨ My companion looks like she´s about to drop out of her seat. Serious?? Where did that come from? Apparently she had to duke it out a bit with her parents but she had been talking with the Bishop and he helped give her the faith and courage to go through with it. So, we´re sitting there talking and it comes up, you know, why wait for July? We´re having a baptismal service next week. You can get baptized then. And I chime in ¨yeah, and if you get baptized with someone else, there´ll be less people focusing on you. Share the spotlight.¨ (she didn´t want anyone to know she was being baptized, and no fiesta, she said that like 17 times). And she says ¨okay¨ dun dun na nah! Baptism next week. So we go over the baptismal interview questions with her and then call up our district leader to set up an interview time. Tuesday is our best option. But we also need the mission president so we call him, and he says the earlier we do it the better. So we talk to Raquel, she says we can do it today. Call back the district leader, ask him if we could do it today at 6. We´re good to go. The husband at this point is BEAMING, he´s the happiest of the lot, and freaking out in the background and he up and calls the Bishop and tells him what is going on. And then gives the phone to Raquel who´s all ¨oh, hey Bishop, yep, I´m getting baptized....so, how are you? do you have a lot of homework?¨ I was laughing so hard. This girl does not like attention.
So Hermana Jones calls the Mission President back up and tells him when the interview will be. And during the phone call she´s telling President Gulbrandsen, you know, she´s ready, she´s been ready for over a year now. She could probably be baptized today. To which the President responded ¨.....okay. Do it, if she´s ready today let´s baptize her. Well, follow the spirit. but try to do it today¨ So we ask Raquel, what would you think of being baptized today? and she said ¨...Okay, that will give less people time to get there¨ score! Went in with a dinner appointment came out with a same day baptism! What´s up! Take that in your ¨I want everyone to live in misery, sin and depression¨pipe and smoke it Satan. whoopah!
So we left to go fill up the font. Interview was at 6, people started showing up for the baptism at 6:30, baptism started at 7. No problems. And like EVERYONE showed up. We had so many people there. Marcello (the husband) literally had been on the phone since we decided she was getting baptized to the start of the baptism inviting everyone. It was such a great show of support. And though she didn´t like the attention, Raquel was really touched. It was a beautiful baptism, and the Bishop gave a beautiful testimony afterwards. And then, Hermano Llerena (who just happened to be called as the ward missionary leader sunday) leaned over and asked, hey is she getting confirmed today too? Now, that´s the perogative of the Bishop so we all turn to him, who says he´s okay with it but needs to get permission from the Mission President. So the whole audience is like ¨well! Call the mission president!!¨ So, of course, he did. Right then and there, got permission, we confirmed her (¨we¨, priesthood leaders did) and we were done by 7:40. Of course it took another hour for everyone to leave the chapel, But very fast. wonderful feeling. And Hermana Jones and I were just glowing for the rest of the night. Minds Blown.
And the best part is. I know I had nothing to do with it. Missionaries really don´t do much. We were just at the right place at the right time. I didn´t even have a chance to bear my testimony or anything. I literally, showed up, ate her food, and then helped fill up the font and kept her nerves steady. Well, I did more then that, I talked a bit about how she needs white clothes but as far as teaching and prepping for baptism. Nada. But it was such a great service, and both Raquel and Marcello are so happy right now. And it was just a great experience. It really is a marvelous work. I´m glad I was able to be a part of it. miracles happen daily. You just need to be obedient. That´s one thing that I tried to teach to a recent convert (she cut me off so I didn´t get a lot of words out). The windows of heaven are open and pouring out blessings to all who choose to receive the blessings. When we choose not to follow commandments we cover our cup. The windows don´t shut. We choose not to receive. But when we do, the blessings are amazing, the peace, the joy. It is wonderful, and yes, trials come, but, it doesn´t matter. Vale la pena. Value the pain. It´s always worth it. And in the end, Jesucristo had it worse anyways. If the perfect man was able to deal with all the mockery, physical, spiritual and emotion pain that he had to go through. We can handle life´s short trials. God has promised us blessings.
And don´t be prideful. It´s a hard pill to swallow, but look at the blessings you get from it. :)
Hermana Reed
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