Week 37: and that journal is now a full week behind
Pics: break-out #2. we´re STILL trying to find out what I'm allergic to. Maybe certain fruits, nuts, or ibuproufen. ha ha it was a goodie, tell you what. I went Asian-style for a moment.
Big group picture: welcome luncheon for the new missionaries. I was hiding in the back because my allergic reaction was beginning, and I had some idea of what it must look like... so I didn´t mind hiding as they (lovingly) mocked me. ha ha :)
And, after the divisions, gotta end up with Hermana Tolliver, as usual. :)
Talking to a small child... very animated-ly....
Teaching said child to walk... or attempting. Maybe missing Elliott and those days, what?
I´m surviving in the journal by noting things in my agenda during the day. But let´s be honest.... I am close to sure that almost never will I be caught up completely. I´m going to copy the format of Sestra Compara (shout out to over there in Croatia/Serbia/whichever AMAZING country you are in this week, in whichever language, too! Letters may never ever arrive, but here´s a li´l shout out that will!)
Divisions: So, Tuesday in our district meeting our leaders said we´d be having divisions this week on Friday. My previous area, Los Castaños, is in my same district. My hand shot up. I don´t even know if they had a plan on who would go where, but I just, in a moment of excitement, decided I´d go to Los Castaños. ha ha Looking back, maybe I should have patiently listened to hear if there was more of a decided plan instead of just taking charge and volunteering. Oops. Everyone (well, the 4 hermanas in our district, at least) know that I LOVE Hermana Miriam and my baby girl, Maria Fernanda. In fact, Maria Fernanda sent a little note of love to me through Hermana Guzman and Hermana Herrera--the hermanas in Los Castaños. And they had an appointment with her for Friday, so.... yeah, I was SO there. Divisions were great! Loved being in the old stomping ground; really nostalgic to be walking back there. But also, apart from my beloved Hermana Miriam, Maria Fernanda & family, I LOVE my area now. I just jive how they jive. I GET it. Laughed the whole day with Hermana Guzman.
¨Nursing Week.¨ There are some times that Hermana Tolliver, as the nurse, is a lot busier. This would be one of those weeks. Lots of sickers. Sickies. Sickers, let´s call them. So, we´ve been running around San Pedro to doctors, x-rays, pills, and the good stuff. Oh, and that includes my Benadryl days. So, we were at a luncheon on TUESDAY to welcome in the new arrivals that came randomly in the change, and that allergic reaction came again. Yeah, this time started at the lips and moved up to the eyes. We were in an appointment, teaching as usual, and I felt a little out of it, but it wasn´t until we left the appointment that Hermana Tolliver looked at me straight on, and said, ¨We´ve gotta get you to the house.¨ And then proceeded to laugh. I mean, it was hilarious that my eyes were almost swollen shut, and I hadn´t noticed it much during the appointment. Benadryl followed, sleeping in a member´s car as they did divisions, sleeping in the maid´s bed as we went to visit a different member.... yeah, a blur, really. Something about Benadryl, sleep, still swollen, more benadryl.... waking up, cucumber on my eyes, sleep, and then by WEDNESDAY afternoon it was normal.
Carlos & Carla. Okay, I love them. A couple married, separated for a time. I have seen slowly as we taught repentance with Carlos, and he confessed to us what he wants to change: ¨I want to stop smoking, stop drinking, stop suffering.¨ The sincerity of his words. My heart broketo hear it. Yes, because of his actions he is suffering. But still, every. single. person. has the right for the Atonement to heal them. Of feeling his spirit brighten as we´re with him. I don´t know HOW to explain this gospel. How to explain the changes he is making, and can continue to make. But the changes are there. A desire to go to church, to pray. Not smoking nor drinking for the 3 days after the lesson, when before it was his bread & butter. I just want him to heal. Want him to let this gospel change his life. Get back with his wife. Treat her like Miriam´s husband now treats her----like gold.
Carla is so intelligent, so.... mature in how she looks at life. She asked us for counsel the other day about she & Carlos. The counsel.... let this gospel change you. The principles that we learn on Sunday that sometimes we roll of the tongue like it´s nothing: charity, forgiveness, repentance. We say the words in a sing-song voice. Let´s apply it.
Miriam & Maria Fernanda: I have a missionary lovecrush on these two. When I was able to just give my little girl a hug again, my heartmelted. Her letter to me said that her heart hurts that I´m not there. Okay, ADORABLE! Miriam is progressing so much. They presented Maria Fernanda on Sunday in church---she sat in her chair, all grown up, they gave her a blessing, and she hopped right up afterward and strutted back down to sit with her mom. Just like an adult. They told me the whole congregation chuckled at her. I could absolutely picture that happening at home in Primary, mom. :) Miriam said that now her husband sends her messages telling her he loves her---something that before he started going back to church, NEVER happened. This gospel is saving them. I remember the times when it was between leaving him or staying, and now.... now they´re feeling the love of the gospel radiate in their home.
Alejandro & Mary. I learned a BIG lesson this week. A lesson which rocked me. We had two investigadors who frustrated me. (Missionaries can feel frustrated? Sinner! I know, and for that I´m half tempted not to tell the story because it shows my lovely weaknesses. But, here we go:) They frustrated me because they didn´t understand. Like... the intelligence level was such that there was sometimes that emptiness in their eyes. When you try to explain, but you can tell they don´t understand, that their mind is just somewhere else, and no matter what you do, it´s just not with you completely. That kind of frustration. Where we went to teach because we HAD to. Because the elders who were here before kept asking us, because ward members wanted it. The appointments just left me anxious and antsy. Progression: 0%. To me, sure, we could meet with them, but it wasn´t a greatdesire. Well, we had an appt. to go with them to the house of a member that lived close. Got to their house to get them, and they said they couldn´t go. (My thought: ¨Shocker!¨) Then she told us, with a little bit of emotion, that they had been searching all day for a new apt, that their landlord told them they had to move out. (My thought: ¨I hope the new house is in a different area so we don´t have to teach them.¨) (I know, MEAN! Just wait a sec, mkay?) Then we went inside to help her make tortillas for a sec. Then her husband and daughter (who the daughter is a member--15 years old and firm in church, seminary, everything. For that we´ve stayed as long as we did). But something was different. With this news, they were a lot more receptive. This lesson was DIFFERENT. I realized something: I HADN´T LOVED THEM. Yes, I´d come, but my heart wasn´t there. I hadn´t loved them. Hadn´t given my heart to these children of Heavenly Father. I hadn´t seen them how He sees them. The lesson was amazing. Teaching the Atonement to a man who had no idea what it was. His daughter, who is 15 years old, teaching to her parents something that means the world to her, that she wants them to be a part of. To asking how to pray, having a true desire THIS time to do it. I had tears in my eyes as I tenderly watched him practice his prayer before offering it, wanting to do it right. Lesson: I need to LOVE every one of them with every last bit I have to GIVE.
Miracles down here in San Pedro Sula.
Divisions! Packing up my pack-pack to go spend a night in my former area, Los Castaños. SLEEPOVER with Hermana GUZMAN!!! Love her! We laughed the WHOLE time.
Big group picture: welcome luncheon for the new missionaries. I was hiding in the back because my allergic reaction was beginning, and I had some idea of what it must look like... so I didn´t mind hiding as they (lovingly) mocked me. ha ha :)
And, after the divisions, gotta end up with Hermana Tolliver, as usual. :)
Talking to a small child... very animated-ly....
Teaching said child to walk... or attempting. Maybe missing Elliott and those days, what?
Secretary Sister Francisco with Hermana Veirs, the mission president´s wife, doing blog...
Some of the hair-cutting pictures get released
The trio---before the cambios. In the hospital. Sad that that place is so familiar for us. The joys of being the companion of our wonderful nurse. It´s truly fun.
Some of the hair-cutting pictures get released
The trio---before the cambios. In the hospital. Sad that that place is so familiar for us. The joys of being the companion of our wonderful nurse. It´s truly fun.
I´m surviving in the journal by noting things in my agenda during the day. But let´s be honest.... I am close to sure that almost never will I be caught up completely. I´m going to copy the format of Sestra Compara (shout out to over there in Croatia/Serbia/whichever AMAZING country you are in this week, in whichever language, too! Letters may never ever arrive, but here´s a li´l shout out that will!)
Divisions: So, Tuesday in our district meeting our leaders said we´d be having divisions this week on Friday. My previous area, Los Castaños, is in my same district. My hand shot up. I don´t even know if they had a plan on who would go where, but I just, in a moment of excitement, decided I´d go to Los Castaños. ha ha Looking back, maybe I should have patiently listened to hear if there was more of a decided plan instead of just taking charge and volunteering. Oops. Everyone (well, the 4 hermanas in our district, at least) know that I LOVE Hermana Miriam and my baby girl, Maria Fernanda. In fact, Maria Fernanda sent a little note of love to me through Hermana Guzman and Hermana Herrera--the hermanas in Los Castaños. And they had an appointment with her for Friday, so.... yeah, I was SO there. Divisions were great! Loved being in the old stomping ground; really nostalgic to be walking back there. But also, apart from my beloved Hermana Miriam, Maria Fernanda & family, I LOVE my area now. I just jive how they jive. I GET it. Laughed the whole day with Hermana Guzman.
¨Nursing Week.¨ There are some times that Hermana Tolliver, as the nurse, is a lot busier. This would be one of those weeks. Lots of sickers. Sickies. Sickers, let´s call them. So, we´ve been running around San Pedro to doctors, x-rays, pills, and the good stuff. Oh, and that includes my Benadryl days. So, we were at a luncheon on TUESDAY to welcome in the new arrivals that came randomly in the change, and that allergic reaction came again. Yeah, this time started at the lips and moved up to the eyes. We were in an appointment, teaching as usual, and I felt a little out of it, but it wasn´t until we left the appointment that Hermana Tolliver looked at me straight on, and said, ¨We´ve gotta get you to the house.¨ And then proceeded to laugh. I mean, it was hilarious that my eyes were almost swollen shut, and I hadn´t noticed it much during the appointment. Benadryl followed, sleeping in a member´s car as they did divisions, sleeping in the maid´s bed as we went to visit a different member.... yeah, a blur, really. Something about Benadryl, sleep, still swollen, more benadryl.... waking up, cucumber on my eyes, sleep, and then by WEDNESDAY afternoon it was normal.
Carlos & Carla. Okay, I love them. A couple married, separated for a time. I have seen slowly as we taught repentance with Carlos, and he confessed to us what he wants to change: ¨I want to stop smoking, stop drinking, stop suffering.¨ The sincerity of his words. My heart broketo hear it. Yes, because of his actions he is suffering. But still, every. single. person. has the right for the Atonement to heal them. Of feeling his spirit brighten as we´re with him. I don´t know HOW to explain this gospel. How to explain the changes he is making, and can continue to make. But the changes are there. A desire to go to church, to pray. Not smoking nor drinking for the 3 days after the lesson, when before it was his bread & butter. I just want him to heal. Want him to let this gospel change his life. Get back with his wife. Treat her like Miriam´s husband now treats her----like gold.
Carla is so intelligent, so.... mature in how she looks at life. She asked us for counsel the other day about she & Carlos. The counsel.... let this gospel change you. The principles that we learn on Sunday that sometimes we roll of the tongue like it´s nothing: charity, forgiveness, repentance. We say the words in a sing-song voice. Let´s apply it.
Miriam & Maria Fernanda: I have a missionary lovecrush on these two. When I was able to just give my little girl a hug again, my heartmelted. Her letter to me said that her heart hurts that I´m not there. Okay, ADORABLE! Miriam is progressing so much. They presented Maria Fernanda on Sunday in church---she sat in her chair, all grown up, they gave her a blessing, and she hopped right up afterward and strutted back down to sit with her mom. Just like an adult. They told me the whole congregation chuckled at her. I could absolutely picture that happening at home in Primary, mom. :) Miriam said that now her husband sends her messages telling her he loves her---something that before he started going back to church, NEVER happened. This gospel is saving them. I remember the times when it was between leaving him or staying, and now.... now they´re feeling the love of the gospel radiate in their home.
Alejandro & Mary. I learned a BIG lesson this week. A lesson which rocked me. We had two investigadors who frustrated me. (Missionaries can feel frustrated? Sinner! I know, and for that I´m half tempted not to tell the story because it shows my lovely weaknesses. But, here we go:) They frustrated me because they didn´t understand. Like... the intelligence level was such that there was sometimes that emptiness in their eyes. When you try to explain, but you can tell they don´t understand, that their mind is just somewhere else, and no matter what you do, it´s just not with you completely. That kind of frustration. Where we went to teach because we HAD to. Because the elders who were here before kept asking us, because ward members wanted it. The appointments just left me anxious and antsy. Progression: 0%. To me, sure, we could meet with them, but it wasn´t a greatdesire. Well, we had an appt. to go with them to the house of a member that lived close. Got to their house to get them, and they said they couldn´t go. (My thought: ¨Shocker!¨) Then she told us, with a little bit of emotion, that they had been searching all day for a new apt, that their landlord told them they had to move out. (My thought: ¨I hope the new house is in a different area so we don´t have to teach them.¨) (I know, MEAN! Just wait a sec, mkay?) Then we went inside to help her make tortillas for a sec. Then her husband and daughter (who the daughter is a member--15 years old and firm in church, seminary, everything. For that we´ve stayed as long as we did). But something was different. With this news, they were a lot more receptive. This lesson was DIFFERENT. I realized something: I HADN´T LOVED THEM. Yes, I´d come, but my heart wasn´t there. I hadn´t loved them. Hadn´t given my heart to these children of Heavenly Father. I hadn´t seen them how He sees them. The lesson was amazing. Teaching the Atonement to a man who had no idea what it was. His daughter, who is 15 years old, teaching to her parents something that means the world to her, that she wants them to be a part of. To asking how to pray, having a true desire THIS time to do it. I had tears in my eyes as I tenderly watched him practice his prayer before offering it, wanting to do it right. Lesson: I need to LOVE every one of them with every last bit I have to GIVE.
Miracles down here in San Pedro Sula.
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