FAMILIA!
Wow. The family reunion sure sounds like it was quite the party. I could
visualize it all pretty easily in my mind. Especially all the kids everywhere.
Ah the nostalgia. But there is no better place for me right now that to be here
on my mission. I am so glad that no one went to the emergency room. I figured
that things would be a little nuts, but I am so proud to be a part of a family
that had 175 members present at a family reunion- AWESOME! It sure sounded great
:) Oh- and I am absurdly proud of the Larry and Roger Christensen families for
winning dodge ball. VICTORY!
I am so grateful for this time to be here in Washington DC South. When I
opened up my mission call to Peru I never thought that I would get the chance to
see the Nation's Capital's Fireworks on the fourth of July. Talk about awesome.
We went to a member's house and were able to see all of them. Let me tell you,
the capital can sure put on a firework show. The coolest was when they put up
fireworks that spelled out U S A. Yeah, who knew that they could actually do
that. Not me. But what was the coolest part of that was being a missionary. The
member lives in an apartment complex and right next to her apartment is a little
patch of grass that we could watch the show. Right before they started, a bunch
of other people from the surrounding complexes came out to sit with us. One
woman came and chatted with us for quite a while. She was from Honduras and just
the nicest lady. We invited her to church and she said she'd come. She didn't,
but at the same time, it was a really cool chance to be able to use something
like this to preach the Gospel. I think it is really funny how into the forth of
July the Hispanics get.
Our ward had a picnic on the fourth. Boy do they make good food. The salads
are especially delicious. It was super cool to get to know the members too. One
of the members in our ward ran up to us when she got there and said, "Hermanas!
I invited one of my friends to the picnic and she is bringing her novio. You
need to talk to them!" Obviously we agreed. The friend arrived and we chatted
with her for a moment and then the novio came. When he walked over to us our
jaws dropped. It was a man that we had street contacted twice during the past
few weeks. We had given him a Book of Mormon and pretty much taught him the
first lesson. The problem was that he was leaving the state for 3 months and we
wouldn't be able to contact him (so he said the day before the 4th) Apparently
he was leaving the next day, but we got to talk to him some more. He is so
awesome. His novia will still be here though and we can most definitely take up
some of the time to visit her in the next week.
I did not think that I would make it to transfer time. Wow that is sure
crazy. I just really hope that I can stay in Bella Vista. I feel like I finally
got my feet under me and we know the area, the ward and have some of our own
investigators. But as we all know, we have very little control over that kind of
thing. We will do what we have to do and be where the Lord wants us to
be.
Just a funny little thing- We met a man who's name was Rey David. Which
means King David. We didn't ask what his last name was, which was silly of us
cause I'm sure it was probably awesome.
We finally put someone on date for baptism. His name is Hasan and he does
not speak a lick of Spanish. He and his family are from Turkey. The bishop asked
us to teach him and prepare him for a youth conference that the stake was having
to PALMYRA NEW YORK. His girlfriend is in our ward and he has been attending
mutual almost every week for a few months. He wanted to go to the Conferencia de
Juventud con la estaca, but the bishop wanted him to be seeing the missionaries
first. So we have been teaching him for a while preparing him for the
conference. He is so wonderful and so prepared to hear the Gospel. I especially
loved talking about all the neat experiences that he was going to have because I
could give him specific details of the trip that they were going to have. When
he got back from the conference we were in a lesson with him and asked him about
what his thoughts and feelings were. He said that he really wanted to be a part
of this Church. So on that note we launched into the baptismal invite to which
he exclaimed, "Yes! I was just waiting for someone to ask me! I will do whatever
must be done." WOW. I could hardly believe my ears. The problem is that our
mission president has asked us not to teach English speakers (The test is if
they need a Spanish or English Book of Mormon). The only reason we were doing it
in the first place was because bishop asked us to. But, we will pass him to the
English Elders in his area and we will be attending his baptism if we are still
here.
Over the past few weeks there has been a weird sound in the trees and
stuff. It's like a high pitch hum/buzz sound. It is awfully erie and has been
creeping me out. One night I turned to Hermana Rane and asked what that awful
sound was. I said that it sounded like a swarm of locusts buzzing our way, and
that it kinda freaked me out. She turned to me and said that the sound was
actually a swarm of cicadas (I don't know how to spell that). They are really
big really gross insects that live up in the trees. ICK. Apparently they are
only here once every 5 years or so(lucky me right?) - but they are just super
duper nasty looking. I hope you get a chance to google a picture of them cause
they are icky.
We did some service for a lady in our ward the other day. She is super
duper pregnant, in fact I think she's due this month! She needed some help
cleaning up and painting for the baby's room. The whole time I was thinking of
Buggy and Katie and Kym. I wish that I could be there to help out my beautiful
sisters for their babies. You three were definitely in my mind the entire time.
If you need help with any of that kind of stuff (to quote Elder Nelson....) "Ask
the missionaries- They can help you!". The thing is, is that hopefully you have
a name and address of a friend to share the Gospel with. They will just LOVE
you.
Les Quiero muchisima! He visto muchas bendiciones en la semana pasada y
estoy muy agradecida a mi Padre Celestial por todos. El Evangelio es verdadera.
Yo se con todo de mi corazon.
(sorry for my more or less pathetic Spanish, but I am still trying to do
better. Someday I'll impress you with my incredible Spanish abilities, but for
now, take what you can get cause it is all I got.)
Hermana Christensen
PS the subject of my email makes sense. It always is rainning here. We went
to a National Park today for a hike, and there are A LOT of other things. :)
Plus, I just love the Cowsills
No comments:
Post a Comment