We did a really good job this week of visiting our recent converts. Partly because they're the only ones who would talk to us! We saw Javier and David on Monday, Diana Cardoza and José on Tuesday, several on Wednesday, Annabel and Thomas on Friday, and Amy on Saturday. They are all doing pretty great.We had an awesome lesson with José about not being happy when you aren't keeping the Commandments. He finally realized that he isn't happy (because he has been refusing to live certain Commandments) and we committed him to begin the repentance process. It was a big step for him!
Today was also successful because we finally got to meet Erwin. He's studying to become a math teacher and already had a Book of Mormon from when he visited a church down in Homestead several months ago. Said he's too busy to talk with us, but we got his number so we will certainly be in contact! We also saw Alan who is progressing well. We started the Plan of Salvation and he had a ton of questions about Adam and Eve. We didn't get any farther than that, but before we ended he asked,"What happens after death and before we are resurrected?" We can certainly answer that! I love good questions!
The Fourth of July is interesting as a missionary. They say that holidays are a good time to catch families at home, but we couldn't find anyone! We had a not so good lesson with Eric (he basically said he'd rather continue to social drink and get baptized :( ) who needed an explanation of why he didn't have work. In honor of his first Independence Day, we threw some Pop-Its outside in the parking lot. Woo hoo.
We tried to find an old investigator but she was at work and we tried to find a recent convert at her work, but she had the day off! So, in summary, we didn't see anyone until 8 PM when we went to an FHE at Juan's house. Aracely gave a great lesson and Victor, Jacky, José, and Yina (all recent converts) were there, as well as Emmanuelle (investigator)! Before we left, we got to stand on the balcony and watch the fireworks! It was so cool to see them all over! Juan's ninth floor penthouse is my new favorite place! When we got home, we threw some more pop-Its with the sisters. We would have used the sparklers we had but we didn't have any matches! It was fun anyway!
Thursday we
did our weekly planning then went to harvest. We knocked on two or three doors
before anyone came out. But it wasn't just anybody, it was Bob. And he
proceeded to talk for almost an hour! He had some crazy ideas that are
the result of drug use, the medicine to reverse the effects of said drug
use, and way too much God channel. The cool thing was, he let us bless
him and he actually felt the spirit! He couldn't understand it, but he
definitely felt it. He is also a lonely old man who has AIDS and other
issues so he was glad to have missionaries come back and even said he'd
think about coming to church!
After ward coordination, we
drove up to Calle Ocho to see Arturs. Actually Arturs is Diana's ex-boyfriend from Latavia who speaks Latvian and Russian and very
little English (how do they communicate? I don't know.) He's come to a
baptism and church and has a Latvian Book of Mormon, so we finally got
to have a lesson with him. We went over the Restoration, which Diana had
already taught him, and set him with the date for the 28th!
Unfortunately, he didn't come to church on Sunday and Diana said he's
only meeting with us for her. Sad face. Friday was great because Bradley
invited us over for lunch. He will technically be the zone leaders'
investigator, but we love it when he invites us over because he's really
nice and his house is super cool! He said they almost filmed "Burn Notice"
there!
We went harvesting (in the blazing heat in the afternoon)
and we're challenged to set someone with a baptismal date. Only two
people let us pray with them one Maria, who goes to a local church called Rey Jesus, and
to Crystal, who had a distracting little boy, but accepted a baptismal
date for the 28th! It was so cool! I can't remember the last time
someone even accepted baptism at the harvest blessing, let alone a date!
We were super shocked! Hopefully her husband joins her!
Then we saw Thomas, who is always hilarious. He told us about Spiderman, and
how the worst part of the old one was how they try to make people think
Kirsten Dunst is attractive. We drew Helaman 9 with him and he managed
to use "I have a dream" in it. So funny.
Being way behind in
blessings, we went harvesting again. The second door we knocked was
Noni. She stood outside and preach to us for 45 minutes!! She told us
all about how sin keeps us from God and how we had the grace of Christ
to be saved, and how we need to read the Bible. At some point she hugged
me – a sweaty hug – and kissed the top of my head! Our only moment of
escape was when she went inside to get the book she had written about
inspiring youth to keep going! But, we decided that would be rude. She
also said that the elders were enslaved and that works are not necessary. We finally told her we had to go and she said a closing prayer and
we left. When we got home, Sister Lake and Sister Lire were freaking out
because there was a gecko in their room. It took 40 minutes, some
screaming, laughing, joking, and jumping, but we caught him and I took him
outside. They're literally hundreds of them outside, but it it is so
unsettling when they are in your home!
So today we did our
mandatory 45 minutes of Mormon. Org (you should check it out!) — Set out
to bless nine people. We are blessed a Hindu family, a cute – Catholic
woman, a Haitian man, and a banjo list, a female pastor, and a young
father who went to the church in Argentina. It took three hours because,
once again, we got stuck listening to Genova prophesy to us for 35
minutes about how change is coming and we will be preaching on TV and
radio and how God will impregnate us with abilities that we will need to have them multiplied five-fold and other similar
things. But she also told us we were angels sent to her and then she
gave us water and cold oranges. Best. Oranges. Ever. So it was worth
it!
We also got to teach me the restoration with Django
because she didn't really get it before she was baptized. She is super
sweet and made us cake and ice cream! Then we knocked doors for another
hour and a half and no one would even let us pray with them! Come on,
people! I'm beginning to see what it feels like to be a missionary and
other missions! And the most interesting day of the week:
Sunday.
Church was canceled.
Seriously.
The
YSA a branch was canceled because almost everyone went to the YSA
conference up in St. Cloud at the church ranch. So we did our best to
get our investigators and recent conference to go to the family ward.
Didn't work. We went to the Blue Lagoon ward with Diana (and no
investigators :( ). It was kind of nice to see another ward (bilingual).
Plus, we got a referral! We ate lunch under a gazebo at a park while it
rained and then we checked on the farmers, including Nancy who was
actually home this time! Yay! She also told us about going to prom in a
zebra hummer limo. Nice.
We drove down Joseph Serat's
(a member) home to have a lesson with Enmanuel. We again taught the
restoration with Jenga (third time!) and after two hours and discussing a
lot of questions, we set him with a baptismal date for the 29th! We
then harvested again and God blessed us with three more people to bless
so we could reach our goal!
I love you all! Have a wonderful day! Share the gospel! Love Hermana Sheffield
No comments:
Post a Comment