Aventura de Chile!: Week 45

I've been so down in the dumps lately about just about everything. Especially contacting all day every day without being received. Yeah, I seriously felt like the most mediocre missionary in the world, but then the rainbow came out after the hurricane. We basically had a miracle explosion in the last couple of weeks. Thank you soooooo much for your prayers. They work!

First off, Hermana Alvarez and I were doing a nightly planning session and I was looking through the old investigators in the Area Book when we came across a lady named Ana who was receiving the missionaries before but they stopped visiting her for a long time.

So Hna. Alvarez and I changed our plans around a little and went to see her.

We called at her door, she answered, we introduced ourselves and she said, "Yeah, come in come in!" So we got to know her a little and she told us about her experience with missionaries in the past. She's a really funny lady. She reminds me of Madam Mim from Disney's "The Sword in the Stone". She looks like her, too. :D But taller. Anyways, she's adorable.

So a few days later, we did divisions, and Hermana Alvarez and Hermana Crapo (the coordinadora) went to visit Ana again. Hermana Alvarez invited her to baptism, and she couldn't even finish the question before Ana was like, "Yes! Yes! I'm ready! I'm turning over a new leaf for good!"

O_O Talk about mega-happy freakout moment. Ana has a baptismal date for the 24th of October. We are soooooooo excited! Ana has already come to church twice. And she actively participated in class so much that everyone thinks she's a member! Hahaha! And we already know that she has at least one good friend in the church - Andrea - because she saw her and got really excited.

We had our second miracle as we were leaving Las Garzas to walk to a lunch appointment when a drunk guy called out to us and asked us if we could give him 1500 pesos so that he could buy some wine. Hm. Most honest drunk guy I've met in all my time here. Typically they tell us that it's so that they can buy a piece of bread or pay for the light or gas. But this guy was up front with us.

From a reasonable distance, I asked, "Why do you feel like you need wine?"

He said, "To calm my nerves. I need the wine so that I can calm down and go to work."

I started asking him about his family and telling him about the Plan of Salvation. Hermana Alvarez was behind me analyzing the situation. Then she asked, "Hey, do you want to get rid of your addiction?"

The man looked at her and started to cry, saying, "I would give everything I have to be free from this addiction. I used to be a respectable person. I love my family and I'm a hard worker. But I lose all respect like this."

Hermana Alvarez asked him for his phone number and address and told him that we can get him some help. We're going to find the man's house this week and pass the reference.

Third big miracle was when a guy named Rodrigo came to church. His (I think 12-year-old) son Benjamin flagged us down and asked us to please visit his dad and tell him to go to church. And this Sunday, he came and he stayed all three hours. Benjamin was so excited I thought he was going to cry. He's normally a pretty happy kid, but I've never seen him THAT happy. He thanked us profusely.

We had a Branch Temple Trip planned for Halloween day this month, but do to the District Conference. it got cancelled. The branch president is scrambling to get another date worked out because we have ten people (Most of them are recent converts) who really want to go to the temple and have been preparing. So if they can't go on the 31st, they'll go at least a week afterwards. Ana is especially excited about the temple. :D

In funny news, Hermana Alvarez and I were heading to Chomedague by bus this last week and a stinking clown boarded the bus. I was thinking, "Don't touch me, don't talk to me, don't look at me, don't ask for money, don't etc. etc. etc." The guy saw that I didn't want to have anything to do with him, so he did a few jokes, asked everyone else for money and then got off the bus. Phew. Dodged a bullet there.

In lame news, I went shopping yesterday and I bought some peanut butter but the bagger guy didn't put it in with my other stuff. Soooo I lost my jar of peanut butter. Blaaahhhhh! I guess it wasn't meant to be... Oh well. Hmmm..... My peanut butter.

Also, I have to make mention of a little thing we have a thing in the mission called "Six months to sexy" that the sisters do when they only have six months left in the mission. The rule is, you have to use the last six months to be totally healthy so that you can go home lookin fiiiiiine.

Buuuuuut 95% of the Hermanas that do the challenge fail within the first week.

That brought about the invention of the other challenges:
Five months to foxy,
Four months to fit,
Three months to thinner,
Two months to too late,
One month to "what's the point?"

Then everyone just says, "I'm just gonna enjoy my mission!"

The end. :D hahahaha

Anyways, that's all for this week's adventures. Ciaooooo! LOVE YOU!

-Hermana Darley