Week 38

This week was so incredibly slow. But interesting.

We had an activity planned for this last Saturday: The Grand Night of Talent!

Hermana Alvarez and I decided to use this activity as an outlet to help some of our investigators feel fellowshipped, so we invited practically half the world. Saturday night came, we entered the cultural hall at 6:00, and we found a bunch of youth playing ping pong. 

First I had a tiny moment of absolute panic on the inside, then I calmed down and asked the Elders what was going on. They said that they had called the branch president and the ward mission leader and weren't getting any answers. Finally we got ahold of the branch pres. and he told us that he thought that the missionaries were in charge of the activity. But we asked the mission leader about a month ago if we could do anything to help in the activity and he told us that it was not our responsibility; it was the branch's job. So it was just an issue of miscommunication. I'm not bugged at anybody. But I did have quite a scare.

Luckily (and kind of sadly), not a single one of our investigators showed up. We had about 20 or so people show up, and 6 of those 20 were missionaries. We ran the show, and apart from two acts, the missionaries shared all of the other talent. Our branch president saved the day and he and his wife bought a bunch of soda and cookies and stuff because nobody had brought food, either. And that was what we had advertized. 

All in all, it was a fun activity. And what the attendees didn't know wouldn't hurt em. In their eyes, everything was pretty much running according to plan.

But my gosh. I seriously never want to have an activity that impromptu again.

In other news, last Monday I received a letter from Hermana Rajapakse and in it she included 50 rupees of Sri Lankan money. I wish I had taken a picture of it to send it to the blog, but I forgot. So next week. But it looks awesome. The money is so pretty that I wouldn't ever want to spend it if I lived in Sri Lanka. Haha

Also, Hermana Alvarez is learning SUPER fast. She's a real go-getter in the work and she has a lot of great ideas so that we can progress and find new people. Contacting with her is easy because even though she's shy at first, once we get going she just testifies and teaches like she's been doing this forever. 

Of course, she's still learning about the rules and customs of the mission (like we all do), but she adapts quickly. I've let her direct me around some of the more familiar areas of our sector and she can get there easily. 

In other other news, Hermana Alvarez and I have been contacting A LOT because we're still trying to find new people to teach. We currently don't have anybody progressing because they aren't keeping their commitments to read their pamphlets or scriptures, and they aren't coming to church. 

But we've found a lot of people who seem really promising. We've also made new goals to visit them more often and even do phone calls so that they can keep their commitments. We feel that more than anything, they just need reminders. Everybody works, so they forget.

We found a lady this week that has been a "future" investigator since week 1 with Hermana Peralta the last cambio. She was really mean at first and even insulted us a couple of times, but Hermana Alvarez and I went to visit her again. We were really friendly even when she was being grouchy, and finally she made a return appointment with us. We visited her this week and made funnel cakes with her. When she could plainly see that we are perfectly normal people and not the bogeyman, it was like she was a completely different person. We didn't have much time to teach her a full lesson in that occasion, but she told us to come back on Friday. So that's what we're going to do.

Fun fact! Did you know that in the Bible, the word "Bible" is never used? I thought that that was really interesting. It only says "scripture". 

We didn't find Marcelo this last week, and he didn't come to church. So our baptismal date fell through with him. But we both feel that he has a ton of potential and that he is super ready to receive the discussions. So we're going to keep trying to visit him and his family.

Also, Amador was sustained to receive the Aaronic priesthood yesterday!!!!!!!! It was such a happy moment. It's been amazing to watch him progress in the Gospel. Our ultimate goal is to get him to the temple. He's seriously the best!

Anyways, that's pretty much it for this week. Graaaaacias! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!! Chao!

-Hermana Darley

Also, thanks so much to the people who sent me letters this week! And thanks to the nursery kids for your beautiful drawings! They really made me smile! Thank you all soooooo much! I promise I'll keep working hard. :D Hahaha!

Photo of the trainees. (Hermana Alvarez is in the very front the furthest to your right.)

Photo of the trainers!!!! Wooooooo!