Food
here is hard, as is water, but it is not impossible. We return to the mission
home for a new missionary meeting in Santiago on Tuesday. I hear there will be
ridiculous amounts of delicious food. I am living for Tuesday. Haha.
I met the bishop and
most of the members of my ward pretty rapidly. We are small in numbers now, but
I´m hoping that will change drastically before my time ends here. We work a lot
with the members and less-actives in the ward. I don´t know if I mentioned it
before, but we are not allowed to contact in our zone. That makes things
slower, but I love visiting the less-active members. (I´m going to abbreviate
any names of members, simply because I don´t know the rules about that stuff.)
A is one of my favorites to visit because she has a great love for the Book of
Mormon. We assign a chapter and she marks verses that she has questions about,
or that she just really likes. I love our discussions and I always feel the
Spirit when we talk. We were visiting A2 earlier this week, and her daughter
and a friend came in and participated in our discussion. A2 is less-active, and
her daughter (who has her own family) is not a member. Their friend who was
there told us that her family went to the LDS church for a while, but stopped.
She also mentioned that she has eleven(!) siblings. As we wrapped up the lesson
and she gave me back the somewhat ragged copy of the Book of Mormon I carry
around (this is also a mission rule), I kept thinking about her and her
family´s history with the church. My companion was talking to some other women
who had walked in at the end of the lesson, so I turned to her and asked if she
had a copy of the Book of Mormon. She said no, and when I asked her if she
wanted one, her face lit up with a big smile and she said she did. I gave her
my copy, and she was so appreciative. It was such a special moment for me and I
am really hoping we will have another opportunity to teach her. Bishop J went
out with us to visit some other less-active members on Saturday. This
apparently never happens, and it was really special! Another member from the
ward came too, and we met a lot of people. Bishop J reminds me of Bishop Hansen
in some ways, and his family is really special. We had home evening with them
on Monday, and it was a wonderful experience. Sunday was my first time
attending the ward, and you will never guess what happened- right in the middle
of the Sacrament, a parade- complete with marching band- started going down the
street! Right outside the chapel. The windows were open because they don´t have
AC, and it was pretty funny. The best part was watching the faces of the
Bishopric. Haha. Yesterday, we walked in to a tiny little tienda to buy a snack
for my companion, and someone asks, ¨Are you English?¨ It took me a moment to
even understand the question, let alone that it was directed to me. I turned
and saw a lovely middle aged woman looking intently at me. I responded that I
was American and we began conversing in English. She is from England, but lives
here for part of the year. She was SO nice and invited us to come by any time
to talk! What a random treat! I am really looking forward to talking to her
again soon. Maybe even about the gospel... haha.
Speaking of helpless, we
had a ratón (mouse) in our house last night!! I saw it as we finished planning,
so naturally... we called the Elders and made them come kill it. Luckily it was
in the foyer, so they could take care of it quickly and there was no issue.
Although I felt a twinge of sadness because that little mouse looked so scared.
Then this morning there was a FROG in the shower! Luckily Hermana Veras found
it, and not me. Hahaha. I trapped it, though and took it outside.
Well, I need to go. I
love you all so much and will learn how to type faster!! Have a wonderful
Thanksgiving and eat copious amounts of food on my behalf! All my love!!!!!
Hermana Harden
No comments:
Post a Comment