The time goes by so fast on the mission. I had an awesome week though!! I really love it here.
I'm
going to use some of my email to reply to Emily Cabbage's questions from
a few weeks ago. Sorry it took me so long to reply. Email time goes by
quick! But I was happy to hear from you and hope you and your family are
doing well. Have you moved to Spokane already?
First was about the families we teach here. We teach
the coolest people. Really. We have some awesome investigators and less
active people we get to serve and work with everyday. Story time. Last
week we contacted a family on the street who has a taco stand we pass
several times a day. Not like a normal taco stand... like tacos de nasty
stand. Its called carnitas here. But the meat is like all swirly like
intestines or there's the flat flubbery stuff and other random chunks. Its smells too. They were so so nice and agreed to meet with us
again and hear about our message. We passed by again and Alfonso wanted
us to try one of his tacos. We were terrified. But luckily we had just
eaten so we didn't have to make up an excuse that time. We kept avoiding
it all last week til Tuesday after our district meeting we were walking
back and he called us over and we couldn't ignore it. My companion
confessed that she was vegetarian and then they asked me. Well I couldn't
lie so I said no and agreed to try one. They are honestly some of the
sweetest people ever so I felt bad making up excuses. His face lit up
and smiled big. How many do you want? Three.. four? Oh... One... two..
is good. He pulled out the swirly flubbery nasty meat stuff and chopped
it up with a huge knife and slid it onto a couple tortillas. Then they
throw on some onions and lettuce salsa and lime and handed it over. I
added extra lime hoping to drown out the texture and smell. At first it
really wasn't that bad. Then the meat started falling out and my stomach
started churning. I choked it down with a smile and as he was helping
another customer (yep people buy them) I snuck the fallen meat in the
trash bag. I was SO proud of myself and handed him the empty plate so
relieved. And then! He put on another one. My heart broke. My companion
saved me by saying we had to hurry to an appointment. I asked to take it
on a paper plate so I could eat it on the way. Phew. We went back to
the house and took some pictures then threw it away :) Later when we
described it to the Elders they said they were pretty sure it was
brains. But they were proud and bought me a mango :)
I could taste the taco the whole day no matter what
else I ate to cover it up. It was so gross and my appetite was gone.
Later that night we had our first lesson with their whole family.
Alfonso, his wife, Myriam and their two boys. Alfonso began describing
his love for God and the Savior and how their family prays together
every night. I couldn't help but smile. This was the family we had been
praying to find. I must have been smiling pretty big cuz he stopped and
told everyone to look at me.
He referred back to the first day we contacted them
in the street. My comp was talking with his mother and he started going
off about his whole life story and his faith. I was trying hard to
listen but my Spanish skills are still in the works so mostly just
smiling and nodding. Out of no where he asked. How do you feel? I
paniced a little bit cuz I had no idea what was going on. I was like uhh
right now? or about the gospel message we share? He replied. No. How do
you feel all the time? Yes. I can answer that! I then bore my testimony
to him of the Savior Jesus Christ and of the hope and joy that comes
through living His gospel. And that I wanted to share that joy with the
whole world. He didn't really say anything back so I wasn't sure if he had
understood my broken Spanish. My comp was done talking so we left.
Back to the lesson. He began to share with his
family what I shared with him that day. How hope and joy can come
through the Savior. He told my companion and I that our hearts were
clean and pure and he could feel it from the beginning. He told me that
when I told him I wanted to share the joy of the gospel with the whole
world there was a light around me and he decided that he needed
this joy in his life. My companion and I smiled. They were prepared to
hear our message. I had never been so touched and suddenly that brain taco didn't taste so bad anymore.
We had their trust and were ready to share :) They
accepted our message and now we are just trying to get them to quit
working on Sunday so they can go to church and get baptized.
I'm getting low on time but another cool family we found this week asked
for us as we passed by their shoe store. Lots of families here live
together. Like Grandma and Grandpa with their kids and grand kids all in
one house. It's pretty fun :) The grandpa, Roberto, is pretty deaf so he
is hard to teach. And his wife, Ana Maria, is half paralyzed so she can't
communicate very well and can't write either. But she can hear and
understands us very well. Yesterday we taught her the Restoration and
she began to cry when we shared the first vision. She is so kind and an
inspiration to me.
The other questions were about the food....
The
ice cream here is way good!! We eat tortillas with EVERY meal. But they
are way good too. We get lots of cactus and beans and chicken. Usually
fruit for dessert or rice yogurt stuff. Lots of soups. Lime and salsa
with everything! I really like the food here :)
Children here...
Since lots of families
live together the kids get to play with their cousins lots :) They do a
lot of things like we do in the US. The other day a little girl was
watching Enchanted just in Spanish. The children in are ward are
adorable and love the missionaries! Yesterday we had a testimony meeting
and I was shocked how many children got up to bare their testimony
here. There was a line on the stand. It was really cool.
Well I better get going! Hope everything is going well at home! Love you and talk to you next week!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Rhoten 2
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