Where to begin?
This
whole week has been just a little weird since i now only have one other
companion instead of 2. As much as I miss sister Sandberg I am really
enjoying being in a duo again, there is definitely a reason we go 2 by 2
instead of 3 by 3.
Lets see if I can just hit the good stuff.
So
we have been teaching these two 16 year old brothers (not twins... they
are just less than a year apart so are both 16 for about one month).
Fernando and Osmar. They are awesome! Fernando always has a lot of
questions but he seems to be a bit more nit-picky and curious than
anything. Osmar is the quiet one but he listens and he understands a
lot. They are both progressing. Their parents are Christian but don't
like organized religion. I know that we need to find a way to start
teaching them together but so far they run away when we come (not cuz
they don't like us, just cuz they don't want to distract us.) We had
Fernando at church yesterday which was a small miracle. We teach them at
least 3 times a week and they are eating it up. They know that we're
not trying to convince them we are just trying to give them the means
whereby they can get their own answer and let God convince them. Its
kinda nice teaching in English....
We also are teaching Evelynn and Marvin. They are
friends of some of our spanish members and they also came to church
yesterday with their three adorable kids who are all under the age of 4.
It is still hard to teach in Spanish. I can get the words out but there
is something about language and poetry that is hard to express in a
different language. Idoms and saying and all those things really help
people understand and relate. But! its the spirit that teaches not our
words so... I guess we'll just keep practicing. Unfortunately they
aren't married and it sounds like they're mostly looking for a church
for their kids... we'll help them see that its good for the whole
family.
Here's a little blurb from my Presiden't letter about some tender mercies we had this week.
The coolest thing happened on Friday. We had absolutely NOTHING scheduled. We'd tried so hard but no one had time for us that day. So we just went out and tried to find people. We were looking up some old names on our Area org but no one was home. Finally at one house we knocked... and there was no answer... but across the street there was a man in his garage. We said "Well we're here for some reason, might be him, lets go." So we went and talked to him. Turns out he has a member friend who is actually our branch president's son and currently on a mission. At first he wasn't interested in anything we had to say but as we started talking with him instead of at him he opened up and said he'd give it a chance. We gave him the Book of Mormon and the restoration pamphlet and told him to call us when he got an answer. Later that night he called back! We were floored. Unfortunately we were in the middle of a teaching appointment so we set up a time to call him back. We still haven't been able to talk to him since. Its been hard because I feel like maybe we should have stopped everything to talk to him at that exact moment... I was really stressed about it for a while, thinking that maybe we'd done something wrong and now he'd missed his chance. But I remembered what you taught us about how the atonement can make up for what we mess up and I knew that if I did mess up it would be okay, he would find his way back to it eventually. besides, his friend gets back at the end of this month so... I'm sure they'll be in touch.
Then Yesterday we had plans to go to a baptist barbecue, a contact on the street had invited us. Anyways, we got there and no one was really there... we sat down for a minute and wrote our testimonies in a book of mormon for this contacts birthday present and then went to go ask where the party was. The first person we talked to ended up not knowing anything about it. But we got to talk to her for about an hour and teach her pretty much the whole doctrine of Christ. She has a pretty messed up life and knows that she is putting other things and people before God and she doesn't like that. Her name is Sonja. We got her number and she got ours and hopefully we'll be in touch soon. If not... well we planted an awesome seed, as sister peacock put it "we planted a tree."
Family talking to Sonja was a miracle. It was like
all those stories you hear about people the missionaries find. She
actually said stuff like "i feel like something is missing" and "I feel
free talking to you guys, usually i'd just brush people off but, i don't
know, with you I feel comfortable." It was amazing! We are definitely
starting to see some awesome things happen in Riverhead.
Hmmm... what else?
Mom!
Thank you so so SOOOOO much for talking with and Helping Brother Blom.
We saw him later that day and he totally rubbed it in that he'd talked
to you. Haha. They are so good to us. Last night our dinner plans fell
through so we just texted him and were like... "You got any left overs?"
haha. He told us to get our butts over there as fast as we could and
then told us we better always tell him if we're hungry and have no food.
His daughter Maddy just got back from France and she wants to be a
photographer too. We get to talk photography and it makes me homesick
for my camera. Haha. Its fun.
I think that's all i got this week! I am coming to
love my mission more and more every day. I have started to feel the joy
that comes from helping other people change and gain this eternal
happiness that we have. Its all that really matters family. I am so
happy to be here and so happy to be a representative of Christ.
Tania! What is going on in your life? last I heard
was an undercover cowboy and now nothing... are you too busy dating to
write? Haha. I'm kidding but seriously, what is going on with you!?
Caleb, did you get my letter? I can't wait to get your reply!
Boys! I can't wait until you all attack me at an airport someday. I love you all and miss you so much.
Love
Sister Maren Hale
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