...your
sunscreen melts off your face like wax. And if you don't wear
sunscreen, then it's just your face melting off your face... And "It's
not even Hot yet!" At least that's what they keep telling us. Yay....
Haha, Welcome to El Centro ;)
Haha,
I'm sorry I give you nerve-wracking titles. Hopefully that was a little
less. But really, It's hot. Almost got to 110 yesterday, and we made
the mistake of deciding that was the perfect day to walk 10 blocks to a
house that the people had moved, the same people that when we got back
to the car and looked at their address to write down that they had
moved--had a note that said, "They've moved..." Yay for updated data.
Haha. We had to stop half way back to the car and get a Respada. It's
like a snow cone, but they add fruit in it, or ice cream, and have crazy
toppings. It's was a needed reposo. (break, rest, etc...) It was HOT!
But we had fun joking about how hot it was, and being super greatful for
trees, shade, and clouds. Hey, at least we were getting exercise!
Yep,
I sang a solo. We had 2 firesides on the same night, one in English.
One in Spanish. It has been hard to go without chocolate, and I think
we've been compensating it with other junkfood. I think I gave myself a
food como headache the other day. Not good...
Doing
this compromise has really made me respect those people who do give up
their guilty pleasures too. It is hard cause sometimes people make us
desserts, and we can't eat them because they are chocolate. But every
time I think about giving in, I think of them, and how hard they are
trying too. They are a lot stronger than me! But because they can do it,
so can I!
Haha,
maybe give the letter to Kenneth to translate. He might be able to
understand what I was trying to say a little bit better! You spell Nephi
like Nefi. I think that's super funny that you couldn't figure it out
at first, and poor Maria couldn't help you there! I hope it helped her.
Do you want me to write the letter to your Primary class in Spanish? ;)
Sounds like You've been really busy! Please show me pictures! I need to
get in the habit of taking more too! I just don't think about it!! I
really want to take pictures with the ward members and my investigators
too!
Okay, I guess it's my turn now... It's always hard to think about what to say!
We
had some really great, feeling-like-a-missionary moments this week! But
there is a back story to the first one. Last week we were up in
Holtville looking for a referral. When we went it was late, and she
either wasn't home, or didn't want to answer the door. So we started to
walk away and we see this lady unloading groceries from her car. Hna
Huefner calls out, "Hey can we help you with those?" The lady turns
around a bit startled and says, "Oh, lo siento, no hablo ingles!" Hna
Huefner reverts into Spanish and says, "esta bien! Puedemos ayudarle con
eso?" The lady seemed really happy we spoke Spanish and let us help her
take in the groceries. And then she introduced us to her family, and
they invited us to come back and were just super nice, treating us like
we were part of the family. The lady's name was G. S.
As
I walked away from that, and on our way home, I just got the strong
impression that these were people that I knew and loved. I've talked
about this before, and how I don't really understand these feelings or
promptings, but I do feel like I knew them. Seen their faces before,
been with them, loved them, I don't know. A lot of dejavue moments here.
So we
went back this week on Friday. Just G. was home this time. (I
can't remember the date, but we went back before and taught her and her
daughter-in-law, and then met the husbands a little later...) We went
over the Book of Mormon with her. We talked about how the gospel has
blessed our lives, and we invited her to be baptized. She understood
what we were asking, and talked about how she's thought about it, and
how big it is to make the switch from one religion to another. It was
amazing, because she has been considering what we taught her about the
restoration, and then came the really cool part, that was really special
for me. She pauses and says, "You know, this might sound really weird
to you, but I have dreams a lot. I once had a dream where my brother was
in an accident, and he got in an accident. So sometimes me dreams
happen. And I've dreamed about, being here with you. Being taught by you
and listening..."
And
I'm thinking, just you wait until that baptism dream comes along! But I
honestly wasn't surprised. The feelings that I got were just as strong
and powerful, probably more so when she said that. I fasted this Sunday
so that she would remember, that she would get one of those dreams
again, and not be afraid, and know that this is meant to happen. So
yes.. Cool missionary moments.
The
other one I wasn't as well prepared for, so it came as more of a shock
to me. We were going to visit N. and D., but on our way we saw a
family outside taking in the shade. We started talking to them, and
they actually let us in to come talk to them. We taught them the
Restoration, and at the End we challenged them to pray specifically to
know. The man didn't feel comfortable, so the woman prayed instead. When
we looked up at the end of the prayer, there were tears running down
the man's cheeks, and when we asked if we could come back, he gave a
firm, without a doubt Yes. (well, technically "Si!") But it was cool for
me to see. I didn't think it was going to go anywhere, nor did I
actually participate too much in the lesson. But I left being in awe of
how the Lord works in mysterious ways, that "seem small unto the
understanding of men."
I've
also been studying patterns of faith in the Book of Mormon. It's been
really cool to see the faith of Nephi and the Brother of Jared, how they
went, "not knowing beforehand the things they should do." This is
something that I want to learn how to do as a missionary. To have the
faith in God that my faith becomes my knowledge, like the Brother of
Jared, "who had faith no more," but a pure knowledge of God. This is His
Work. We try so hard to figure it out ourselves, but just like that
Family we found, and I had no idea what results would come from it, He
did, and it is just humbling to know that I have no idea what I'm doing!
Well,
I hope you are all doing well! This work is going forth. No unhallowed
hand can stop the work from progressing. It is definitely hard, but I am
understanding that all He is asking us to have Faith, and let Him work
miracles through us. Keep the Faith. As my companion says, See Miracles!
Con muchisimo amor,
Hna Howell
No comments:
Post a Comment