So on Saturday mornings, we now have preparation meetings at 7 at the VC, where we go and learn different things. For example, they are trying to get us more motivated to make our phone calls. Well, lets face it, no one likes to call people and invite them to talk to missionaries. Mainly we get discouraged because no one answers their phone. It's a long process. So we had some of the sisters talking to us about that. We learned more about the life of Joseph Smith and that was fun. We show the Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration movie all the time so it only seemed fitting to learn more about him. We also have talks from our senior couples. They are just like sacrament talks and we love them. I love our senior couples. Yesterday, we have 6 hours scheduled for phones. It was so not fun. After a couple of hours, I was done for a while and went out and talked to sister shaw (sister to sister white) and talked to her about the talk she gave during the prep meeting. She has gone thru a lot and still is amazing. Then I went and talked to the Romrells (friends of the whites) and elder Romrell couldn't believe that I was an introvert. They like me. :) It pays to be nice to people. The Senior couple on duty let us leave the VC to go get some food. I have discovered that I love Floutas. Pretty much rolled up tortillas with meat in them, with sour cream, salsa and some cheese. I love it.
So, one of my phone calls was quite funny. I have been trying to find a card for over a month for someone. Paul Rodriguez gave me a referral but he wasn't sure if she was already a member or not. So I finally found the card, called him, and found out she was a member. He still wanted me to call her and ask her for referrals. So I called and talked to her for a long while. It was hilarious. She is 29, works at Victoria's Secret, has never gone to college (because it wasn't for her) and wants to publish her memoirs in a book called, 'you never forget the first time.' Awesome, right? So we chatted and she was really cool and wanted to look me up on facebook. Alright, you go for that. I called Paul back to let him know how it went and he was like, well, she must have really liked you, she said that was personal. She must have liked you. Yep, people like me. But that phone call totally made my day.
I had a tender mercy at the VC the other day. I was feeling like a horrible missionary. I didn't want to do my phone calls, I don't participate in lessons (you try speaking up when there are 3 missionaries, 2 of which are native speakers, and some investigators and possibly a member. I feel so 3rd wheel) So I walked around the VC and helped with the Cristus. 10 minutes before we close, a young lady walks in and she knows what she wants: to listen to the Cristus narration. No problem, I can do that. In the few minutes that we talked, I learned some things about her life, but I really learned how she knows how to stick the the Savior. She probably learned it the hard way, and is still struggling to do the right thing, but she knows where she needs to go and what she needs to do. While we talked, I was able to feel like I was an actual missionary and could share whatever scripture/piece of advice I could. I appreciated that moment. She will do the right thing, no matter what. It may hurt, but she knows what she must do.
Entonces (meaning "soooo...." or "anyway" in Spanish), Last p-day, I finally went to the much talked about Tia Rosa's. Its an authentic Mexican place and where Elder Carter worked before the mission. We enjoyed the music, actually speaking spanish when ordering food, and the place was beautiful. Real tile floor, pictures, paintings, I loved it. Anyway, some kind soul paid for our food. We had a lot of fun taking pictures outside it afterwards. :)
We finally did a service project. Sister Jolly loves the VC. She puts together our Christmas stockings and does a lot for us. She always decorates the VC and is quite busy. She is divorced, so we went over to her house, and we cleaned it up for her! She does weddings, and other special occasions so we just helped her out some. I cleaned one of the bathrooms with sister Shaw and we had a blast. We got done really fast too. In and out in 45 minutes. That's what happens when 25 sisters come clean your house. :)
On Thursday we had exchanges! Sisters don't have exchanges as much as the elder's do. Which is fine. It seems like quite the hassle. Sister Hernandez and Lopez went to Hna Vause's area, and sister Dewitt came to me. So I took her home with me after our VC shift and it was like a sleep over! Except not really. I haven't worked much with the spanish sisters so I had to get to know her a little bit. Her grandma just passed a way a week ago and she goes to BYU-I with her sister. We had a good time together. Like any companionship, it would take me a while to get used to her. But we had a day full of lessons and it went really well. We taught Adrian, and we planned on teaching him the word of wisdom, but he had a question about adultery and so we taught the law of chastity instead. Luckily, we planned on giving him the little folleto (or "pamphlet" in Spanish) to read so we just used that. He didn't tell us initially but he got the words chastity and castrate confused. It was hilarious. I spoke quite a bit of spanish that day too. Sister Dewitt was surprised at how good I was. Earlier in the day we were walking around one of our apartment complexes that we go and visit, and one of Cristina's friends was moving to the complex next door. Well, lovely lady Gail, is a chain smoker but has a heart of gold. She helped us out a lot when Cristina was in jail. So we helped them clean their disgusting apartment. I thought it was hilarious but sister Dewitt's face said otherwise. It didn't help that she had a guinea pig. They never cleaned. But that's okay. The man that was helping her out was like, can I donate? We were like, no, but you could come to the VC! So that's always fun.
Cristina has had 3 of her 5 court dates. She got her big one over with and she has 3 years probation. The judge was nice and gave her a year of credit, so cristina will get off of probation March 2013. And you can't get baptized until you are off probation so it will be a while. She is getting so stressed with things. I think I explained the love triangle to ya'll last week and so things are still up in the air. Amanda (her daughter) came over for the weekend. Cristina slept through one of her community servce and almost missed court. Sigh. She is so tired and stressed. She had to go to the hospital for a kidney infection and she got fired. Not so good. So she is back on job search. I love learning about the legal system.
Adrian is getting baptized on saturday! Way exciting! He has progressed so rapidly. Hna Dewitt was jealous that we had such a good investigator. So hopefully, if all goes well, he will make it to the fount. He even came to church in a suit! He's so cool!
Otherwise, we are having a hard time meeting with people. Nancy and the kids are always sick. Denise refuses to open her door still. But we have found a Part Member Family and have a return appointment. The work will move on. The goal of 100 baptisms for the branch will happen as we have the members help. We had a meeting with the ward missionaries and that was very productive. Most of them are RC (recent converts) and a few RM. A couple family guys and lots of willing helpers. We enjoy having company.
We had an Ice Cream night as a trio. I was getting ready for bed and was like, no, I want to be a fat kid tonight and eat ice cream! So we all pulled out our pints (hna lopez her half gallon) and ate for a while. I love my comps. We have good times together. A lot of times i'll just be with Hna Lopez and we get to talking. I try to make her laugh as much as possible. She needs too. A lot of times she just laughs at me because of the way I do things or the noises I make. She is such a sweet heart.
The other day Hna Hernandez pulled me aside as a part of her trainer responsibilities and we talked about phones and what I could do to improve. Well, after a long while and a couple of roll plays (which I hate) I figured out that I don't like doing them because I don't know what to say. All I was ever told was to go and make phone calls. Um, yeah. So sister hernandez and I wrote down questions I could ask to get the conversation going and to then move it to a religious conversation and then an invitation. So it was pretty cool. Hopefully I will be more dedicated in making those stupid calls. Bah! Why was I ever called VC!?!
Oh well, it mattereth not. I love being a missionary and I hope you all have a wonderful, cold week!
Love, emily
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