Thank you so much for my valentines! I greatly appreciated all of the gifts! And the chocolate was greatly appreciated.
As for the rest of my week, it has been highly entertaining. I know that sisters at the VC have been talking about how to have Greg gain some weight and really, the solution is to go serve a spanish speaking mission state side. Because they feed you. A lot. I have had a couple of days this week where I have had about 5 meals within a few hours. Not that I don’t like the food, okay, that’s a lie. I like some of the food. Other food is questionable as to how well prepared it was. As in cleanliness. One day, we went to Tia Rosa’s with a family that Hna Hernandez and Lopez had lived with, and was fed two meals after that within the next 2 hours. Some members get confused as to what days they will feed us and so we get a couple of meals at the VC. Sigh. If I don’t gain any weight on this mission it will be a miracle. Oh, and I ate cactus for the first time the other night. I tried to pretend it was green beans. It didn’t work. But I had fired platanos matchos (sp? bananas) with sour cream, sugar and cinnamon. Not so bad.
This week we had zone conference. Which actually includes 3 zones. It was all morning Thursday where we learned about our mission goal of having 1500 baptisms this year. Oh dear. That’s a hefty goal. So Pres. Ellsworth encouraged us to have a Nefi (Spanish for Nephi)-like experience and pray to see the same vision he has. Times like this I get very overwhelmed with the amount of work that we have to do. Partially because of the VC. We spend half our day there and don’t have time to visit people the say I would like. Pres Ellsworth says that every companionship should baptize every month. No pressure there. I hate it when people make it sound as if you don’t reach this goal, you’re a failure. Other than that it was grand. I got to talk to Beth Tanner (old college Roommie) for a while. We have the hardest time not calling each other by our first name.
I have had some interesting experiences at the VC this week. First off, I have finally been able to confirm some PMRs! That’s an accomplishment for me. One of the people I confirmed is named Ginger. She works with LDS people and was referred by some people she served at PF Changs. I finally got a hold of her after 3 weeks and she is going through a rough spot but was finally like “I don’t know if this is what I need know but God has always given me what I need, when I need it.” Yeah. That was a great day in the Call Center. The other was a 15 year old girl that had gone to seminary with some friends.
I also got an MTC call, which is a rarity. Its when someone calls the number on the pass along cards. Anyway, Thomas, was an interesting fellow. And I had a headache through all of this btw. We talked for about an hour and I’m not exactly sure what about. He started saying that he wanted to learn more about the mormon faith and throughout the conversation I discovered that he has read the BoM and D&C and A marvelous work and a wonder. And he really just wanted to debate. So I was very confused about the whole thing. He ended the conversation saying that he felt prompted to tell me that I was not yet too far that I couldn’t feel the Spirit. Gee, I haven’t heard that one before. So felt horrible the rest of the night feeling that I failed in my calling as a missionary. I probably should have called him to repentance or something to that sort. I really didn’t feel like making calls after that so I found a talk by Pres. Benson about absolute truth that made me feel somewhat better. Odds are I’ll see him sometime after this life. It will be an interesting conversation then. (maniacal laughter fading in the background).
We have a new Art Exhibit in the VC! It’s art by Walter Rane about the BoM and it is absolutely amazing! I love it. I helped Elder White and Hna Hernandez hang up the art work and that was a pain but when people are OCD you do what they say (aka Sister White). Sister Dyer was in charge of the layout and music for it and I think she did a pretty good job. I eventually send you pics of that…
Well, sometimes I can hardly believe the drama that my investigator gets herself into. Cristina is going to be the death of me, I swear. This 32 year old is acting like a teenager! But I really can’t blame her. She raised herself and her little sister. She doesn’t know how to live any other way than to find some man to take care of her. Ricardo is just being used. Cristina wants to get back with Adrian and Adrian kinda does too. Except that Cristina apparently did something that really ticked him off. He was going to get her a ring for V-day but since that event I guess it’s a no go. Cristina and Adrian are playing the ‘if you want to know something about me talk to the other person’ game. That’s not how it works with us.
We’ve had some good lessons with Nancy and Manuel. Hno Pimienta came with us to one lesson and played with the kids for awhile.
We had a snow ball fight with Leo. Don’t ask how we got the snow.
Pres Ellsworth and Elder White came and talked to our Branch on Sunday about missionary work. That was great experience. We had dinner after words with Pres smith and his family and the family of Elder White, and Pres Ellsworth and the other missionaries and us. It was homemade Carne Asada Pretty darn good!
On Saturday we have prep meetings and for those that are going home we do something called a spot light. So I did one for sister Hernandez. I got different dollar store Items to talk about different things about her life. For example, I got some shot glasses to represent each member of her family. Ugly earrings of her favorite color, a picture frame for her desire for time control and so on. It was hilarious according to some people.
So yeah, that is my story for today! I love you so much and hope to talk to you soon!
Love, emily
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