1. Are the repairs on
your house finally finished?
YES! Well, no. He did fix the bathroom and now we
have a functioning shower and everything, lol, but they are going to change a few
of the ceiling tiles because there is mold and fungus on them. So when it stops
raining they are going to send somebody to fix those. But the house is all good
now.
2. What kind of shampoo
did Erin send to you? Have you used up all of your bar shampoo and
conditioner? Do you still like those?
I only used up 1 shampoo and 2
conditioner shampoo bars. I don't like the conditioners as much so I still have one but I don't use it. And the shampoo I really do like. When all my hair started falling
out I bought one for hair loss and have been using it ever since until just now
when I got these ones from Erin. I don't know what brand they are... one is
purple and the other one looks like a salon bottle and is white. I don't know. But they smell really, really good.
3. Did the second box
of gifts for Fam Melendez Castro arrive yet?
It didn't get here yet... maybe
tomorrow... I don't know . But I sent them a few of the toys and things that
Andrea sent me.
4. I'm sure I know the
answer to this, but have you heard from Josselyn yet from the MTC?
Nope... I
was going to email her this week but I forgot her email at the house so I am
going to email her next week and see who she is doing.
5. How are D and
her family doing? Did they go to church yesterday?
They didn't come to
church... We actually had stake conference and it started at 2 pm. The stake is
a little spread out and they don't have a stake center yet so we don't all fit
into the same building. So they divided conference into 2 sections. One at 9 am for Choloma and the other at 2 pm for us in Puerto. The same conference just done
2 times. And we thought it was weird that they didn't come and so we stopped by
afterwards and there must have been some family issues or something. Hno F didn't come out to talk to us but we did visit with D.
6. Did you end up
dropping O?
Yup.
7. How is P doing?
Well, she got a job which is great and not so great. So the two citas that we
had with her this week fell through. But she came to the English classes this
week which was good. She still doesn't know about baptism. We want
it to be something she wants to do because she feels the desire to get baptized. She hasn't been
home for the citas. Darn work! But we will see what we can do this week and if
we can meet with her.
8. What did you do for P-Day
this week?
We cleaned and I tried to melt the ice thats frozen in our
freezer... washed clothes. We tried to take some pictures but I don't know if you
will like any of them for the Christmas card. My camera isn't the best, lol, and we went to eat at Wendy's as a zone and now we are here
writing. Hna A bought Crocs. I saw a new style that I liked a lot! Maybe
to wear to work when I get home. They were like ballet flats without holes and
had like a little bit of fur on the inside. I really liked them.
9. What miracles
and tender mercies have you seen this week? Answers to your prayers?
So we have
visited an Hermana S and her "husband" this week. They are so
sweet. They are really, really humble. We first met her selling shoes in the
street and she was crying to us. We
have seen her like 5 times since then and we took it as a sign to go visit her.
So we started to visit her and her husband and they have so many good
questions. They have gone to so many churches and just haven't found what they
are looking for. But they are very humble. And they have been giving us
everything they have. They crocheted a cover for Coke bottles to sell and gave
us one each. They made lunch for us, a little soup of rice and cabbage with
tortillas, she gave us shirts from the ropa that she sells. They are just so
kind to us and truly give us of everything that they have. I don't know if it's a
miracle or a tender mercy, but I feel truly humbled and blessed to have found
them and I feel that they are like the parable of the man who gave all he had
to buy the pearl of great price. They are truly giving us all that they have,
sharing with us because they recognize that what we share with them is from
God.
10.
Does M have e-mail?
Well, I imagine that she does now to communicate with
Josselyn, but I don't know what it is. They might just be using one that her son
has. She doesn't have Facebook or email.
11. How
has someone else blessed your life this week?
People have been giving us a ton
of stuff this week. We got eggs, soda, shirts, food, etc., a bunch of stuff
and it's been really nice. People don't let us come back to visit them but at
least they send us off well.
12.
How have you served someone else this week?
I have to play the piano for the
ward choir now... yea me. And, well, I don't know if this counts as service (lol) but
the goodie bags that you sent for the district all broke in the package. They are
ripped open and not pretty anymore and to buy bags here is expensive and so I decided to make bags... so I worked on making decorative bags this week. And a
family let us help them cook so we made tortillas this week!
13. Have
you been able to talk to more people this week?
Yeah, we have actually. It has been rainy and everything but we have been able to talk to more people
which is good... and our dats (statistics) for this week don't even show that we talked to
anyone which kind of upset me but we know that we were talking to people so
whatever. People seem to listen to us but we just can't get news... it's like it's
fine if we talk but to come back and visit NO. So that's a hard thing about
Puerto. But we are working in pretty much one little colonia because the
people are more open... TriH se llama. And it's where Paola lives. Most of the
people have seen us there but it's in a mountain and it's a 20 minute walk
there (minimum). But it's a lot like Copan so we like it up there, haha.
14. What
was the best thing that happened this week?
There was a lot going on in the church this week! On Friday there
was a stake choir who came and did a program about Christ with just hymns (and
a little bit of dialogue in between). It was just so nice to hear people sing in 4 parts and with a piano
player. And on Saturday we had Stake Conference. And Sunday we had the other
part of Stake Conference and the Christmas Devotional. It was sad because no
investigators came to anything but for us it was nice. I really enjoy church
meetings.
15. What
was the funniest/funnest thing that happened this week?
Last P-Day there was a
guy who got on the bus to sing and collect money and I was sitting in the very
front seat and he saw that I was a missionary and proceeded to dance right in
front of me... good times. But one of the elers was telling jokes yesterday but
they were in Spanish so i don't think they would be funny in English... OH... and
there is a recent convert of the elders who has a huge crush on me and he told
an old lady in the ward this week that he really likes me and that he thinks he
could marry me. It was hilarious... we were cracking up.
16. What
was the spiritual highlight of your week?
I don't know... I really liked stake
conference. Getting to hear President Dester speak is like the best. I liked how he
talked about one of the priviliges he has as a mission president is to see the
change and transformation in each of his missionaries. And it's true.. we reakky do leave as different people.
17.
What did you learn from your personal study this week?
I'm reading Jesus the
Christ and it's just sooo dang good! I never know what to share though en serio.
It's just too good. It's just amazing to me how they rejected the Savior. How He could
live among them and just be hated by them and yet still love each one.
18. Do
you know that I love you and I miss you?
Always
19. What
was the best thing and the worst thing you ate this week?
A family
that gives us lunch every Saturday made the best taco things! They were a
normal tortilla of flour and they put shredded chicken sauteed with carrots,
onion and green pepper inside with like mozzarella cheese and folded it like a
burrito and then fried the outside of it. To serve they put sauce on top and
cheese and shredded cabbage and it was delicious. The worst thing... I don't really know. The food wasn't too bad this week. Hna A got a cockroach in
her food this week.
20. What was the most
beautiful thing you saw this week?
People are putting up more Christmas
lights!
21. How are the English
classes going that you teach?
They are going well! With the rain there are few devoted students, but it's going really well.
The teacher doesn't even come so I pretty much I just teach but they all say that
they like me as the teacher anyways.
22. Have you heard
anything from Pres Dester lately? I'm thinking I'd like to send them a
Christmas card...what do you think?
I think that you should send them a card. He doesn't write to us individually anymore but as a whole. Everything he says
is so spiritual. He was at stake conference yesterday and the day before
and Sister Dester gave us chocolate. it was so American! But we have a
multizona on wednesday so I am really really excited for that!
23. Looking back on
your mission, what has been the highlight for you so far?
I don't really know..
I think that it is my time with Hna V and that we were able to find and
teach Hermano Jorge. Wow. That was such a great 2 changes. We worked so hard
and were able to see miracles. I always think back on how awesome Jorge is.
But I don't know... a highlight I guess is just being able to change. I realize
that I really am not the same person anymore.
24. Did they get the
problem with your mission money card straightened out?
Yeah, my card works
again!!!! yay!
I got letters from Donna Friar and the Opotowskys. Thank you so much! I love getting mail!
I hope you all have a good
week!
Love you!
(I asked Alyssa to send some pictures we could use in our Christmas card, so that's what most of this week's pictures are)
Our bathroom
Working on making new goodie bags for my district
My hair is getting so long! I curled it one day this week but the curl only lasted about 5 minutes...until we went outside in the humidity.
The Coke bottle covers that Hna S crocheted for us
'
