10-4-10

Monday: Today was a really cool day. We got to go with our investigator to a pretty waterfall named "the princess waterfall". It was really special and pretty. It even had a secret cave behind it that we went into. That`s how we spent our pday, as well as saying goodbye to some families for Barajas.

Tuesday: Today was a fun day. Well the beginning wasn`t so fun, because I had to say goodbye ot Barajas...and carry his fat suitcase. But we got to the terminal and just sat there until Elder Hawker got there. He broke out a mate and all the elders flocked to him and socialized. But the time eventuyally came when Elder Barajas had to leave. He started walking away confidently, carrying his bags with ease. I realized I wasn`t going to see him for two years and began to get teary. I really teared up when he got to the bus and looked around at me. I was about to have a really beautiful moment. But Then Rodriguez tackled me and said the Spanish equivolent of, "Hey dude, shut up and pose so I can take a picture." I had a moment, captured on digital film even, But the beautiful part was gone. things were pretty uneventful after that. I read "Jesus the Christ" for a while and talked with missionaries. One Sister has a brother that was married in the temple 5 years ago, and now he and his wife are aetheist. She said their hearts are pretty hard. I told her about the miracles of Elder Barajas`s mom. I think it helped. In fact, I was about to have another moment when it was suddenly (and randomly) ruined when I looked to a nearby bench at the bus terminal to see a woman breast-feeding her baby in public! I almost gave myself whiplash, I looked away so fast. Everñyone else was surprised I lasted so long without seeing one yet. Elder Argueta arrived eventually, and he`s awesome. He GETS it like Hawker does! We came home to unpack, and left soon after. We just visited some members tonight. We talked to hna. Sonia, listened to Hna. Maite`s baptism history of her family, and visited Robin and Bilha. In all of them, he just had something in the way he talked and focused that made him appear in control always. And when he taught, it was with a simple humility that seemed to reverberate with a quiet authority that was not to be questioned. And as I thought about it, those are the perfect qualities of the Savior. Whether he was humbly teaching, cleansing the temple in a righteous fury, or patiently suffering: He was always the master. I`m excited for this transfer.

Wednesday: Sometimes, in the mission, there are times when you just want to go out and baptize the world. Right now, I want to take a nap. Today was the first day of the "week of Sanctification." As the first week of the transfer, we do 200 contacts instead of 140. Elder Barajas and I never completed it. I couldn`t really do anything to help because of my lack of experience and the language. So obviously we fell short. This week, because of conference, we only have 3 days to do all 200! So after we got out of our Distrizona meeting, we went to lunch. Elder Argueta LOVES Hna. Veronica! They just talked and laughed together like old friends. Then we came back, got our stuff, and headed out to do work. He doesn`t know the sector very well, so I had to choose where to start our butt-load of contacts. We did it right near the house, because I have ver done it before today. So we went up and down the streets touching all the doors and inviting people to conference. It was really cool to say something other than, "come to church" like everyone else, and say, " a prophet of God is going to give us a very special message, just like in the old days and you can test him yourself!" And Elder argueta has the same work ethic of Elder Hawker. So contacting was really fun to do today, to have the opportunity to learn from him. He gave me some really good advice to live by. I can`t remember what it was at the moment, but I`m sure a little red flag will go up sometime. We visited Pedro and Cristina and Argueta loved them too. we went there so we could get to know their neighbor a little bit who I`ve seen on and off. We`ll teach her the restoration on Friday. then we went to the Millahual`s to celebrate Argueta`s birthday. He certainly earned it. He really likes Octavio. Those two had a really good time tonight. Last night, Argueta thought the Millahual`s were odd. There were, so I gave them this second chance. Now he loves them. We`re going to do even more contacts tomorrow. Ooph! I`m so excited to get into bed!

Thursday: So I woke up this morning and improvied some dumbells out of a propane tank and a broom handle. It weas perfect. I was dismayed to find out that I had left my "Jesus the Christ" at the bus terminal and couldn`t read it anymore. This morning, we also had the unique privelage to go to the Stake Center, and teach Theology classmates of Fernanda. She`s not studying theology, but she invited all her girl friends to come ask us questions. It was a really cool experience to be compared to the other churches, and have the ability to answer EVERYTHING. Plus some things they had never heard before. I really liked talking about the gift of tongues. Some churches here believe the givt of tongues is in effect if someone starts screaming, "hoop-hoop nanny-nanny blahblahblah!" at the top of their lungs. That`s called a mental case of the crazies. I told them I had only been speaking spanish for a few months, and they thought I had a few years under my belt. I have to admit that my metaphorical chest swelled a bit at that. We had lunch with Hna. Anlli, whom Elder Argueta liked a lot. Then we did a TON of contacts and walking. We knocked on a lot of doors, but nobody "was home", so we couldn`t count them. We worked hard with not a lot of results, and I was worried we wouldn`t make it in time. Usually, my internal clock is right on. It has been my entire mission. And in that moment when I thought we were low on time, We actually had a whole extra hour. Maybe I lost track of time, but I`m never that far off. Because of our diligent, hard work, we were blessed with the ability to finish. We helped an old lady carry firewood to her house. that felt good. We had our ward meeting, before leaving to teach Jeniffer. She received the first lesson very well, I think. She was very receptive. On the way home, Elder Argueta gave me helpful advice on how to improve in things other than teaching. He doesn`t want to be asked permission or anything. I start the lessons. I choose where to go. He wants to prepare me. I`m so grateful for this chance to learn, change, and grow.

Friday: Today was tiring. We walked a lot. But we had good experiences too. When I woke up it was cold, and I was shivering so much that I had difficulty doing push-ups and exercising in general. But I had a fun study session theorizing about the urim and thummim and the Holy Ghost. but I just felt so inadequate in the comp. study. Elder Argueta had a whole bunch of counsel to give me. I don`t mind receiving instruction on how to improve. Who wouldn`t want to change for the better? I just hated how MUCH I realized I have to change. Things that Elder Barajas and I did that I thought were normal are things we shouldn`t be doing (i.e. spending so much time with members). Which I hate, because they`re things that I should have realized. I just felt very unsure this morning. but we got the list of members and headed out in search of the streets of less-active people. Elder Argueta doesn`t know the area, so it was up to me to lead, and lead I did. We walked and talked to a bunch of people to invite them to hear a prophet`s voice. We visited with non-members. And we found one or two people (5 actually) who seemed genuinely interested in coming, and we put follow-up appointments with them. Then we taught Nestor. Elder Argueta said, afterward, that he`s practically a gift. We went though the baptism interview and he did awesomely. But he had a question. He had been reading the Book of momon (what a stud) and was wondering about tattoos. We found out he had 32...in color. They`re beautiful things of Japan he got becuase of Tai chi. We said he was alright. we did a lot of contacts and taught some people we had found on Wednesday. Some didn`t have time, but we`ll follow up with them. At the end of the night. I told Elder Argueta that I had had a problem with my self-esteem a while ago, and that I had searched to find myself, and I did. He said I didn`t seem like I had problems. I think Heavenly Father has already been helping me! I`m changing.

Saturday: Today waws a good day. We got up, and did our individual studies before doing some practices. Apparently it`s something we have to do every morning, and I haven`t done it for a while. But I gave it a shot and taught my comp. that was eager to make it difficult for me. I struggled with the language, and with the lesson itself even more. I felt like I didn`t have the answers to his questions. In the end, I felt like garbage. And on that not-so-happy note, we did divisions with Querihue to help them pick up some investigators. I went with Lane Lisonbee from Highland. He`s a super cool missionary and person. We talked and joked on the way and the investigators didn`t even "have time" to go until tomorrow. So we took a micro to the Stake Center ande listened to Conference in a little room where we coul dhear the broadcast in English. Elder Holland went first. He thanked the "helpers" of the church, who may not have had the chance to be leaders. But he also said some randome things and one of them reminded me of Daddy. His parents made sacrifice`s during his mission so he could have a good start when he got back. He expressed great love and affection, that I wanted to give to my Daddy. I wanted my parents to know how much I loved them. But I coulnd`t, so I cried and prayed to heavenly Father for comfort. Another talk spoke of a daughter apo9logizing to her Daddy. Her Daddy was touched by her love and faith for the Gospel. I just wanted a little daughter of my own to tell her, anyone realy, how much I loved them. I just wanted to love someone. It was so strong, that, surrounded by all my hapy friends with the same goal, I felt alone. I just didn`t have what I felt I needed. So in the interval, I excused myself to a room apart from everyone, and offered a prayer of earnest desire to share my feelings with my father. *shaky sigh* it was a very intimate and sacred experience to present myse3lf before him and tell him of my personal feeliongs of sadness, but mostly the appreciation and grattitude I had for the sAvior and how he knows my pains, and I don`t have to worry myself. I asked for help with my burden, and tonight Elder Lisonbee and I had a very personal talk about ourselves and feelings we needed. Through that talk, Heavenly Father gave me a new friend.

Sunday: Today was the second and final day of General Conference. Thankfully, I had some leftover peanuts to enjoy during the sessions. I didn`t really want to be with Elder Argueta today, so I studied near Elder Lisonbee, and we passed the time well, occasionally having a friendly exchange of words. As we went to conference, Elder Argueta and I spoke constantly, and the language was not a barrier. In fact, when I greeted a brother form the ward that I had not seen since the past Sunday, he said that mhy Spanish had greatly improved. We listened to conference with open hearts and minds. Something that I noticed about President monson, because of his talk last night, as well as today, is his mannerisms seem to have changed. He spoke noticeably more emphatically and instructively. and something just seemed darker about his message of warning last night. I don`t think he smiled once, as is his wont. but he was much brighter today, and I enjoyed his talk on grattitude. I came out of the English room to talk with Argueta. He said Nestor had called and said he couldn`t come becuase he would be in argentina until November. I panicked until nestor walked out of the nearby bathroom, ruining the joke. He had cried at Pres. Monson`s words, and had felt "pierced." WOW! We enjoyed the evening with Nesotr, and he even showed us some youtube videos of his tai chi studies. Afterward, A
rgueta told me he gave up. That he had tried to help me, but would now stop working. I still have no idea what he`s trying to teach, but I just became senior companion. I still don`t know how to do this stuff! My trainer was a little lazy. Ugh! I don`t think I like argueta very much. His methods of helping me are just humiliating at times. But Elder Lisonbee and I had cokies with Chocolate milk while we talked about home and random activites on our to-do lists. He`s a good man with a great sense of humor. I`m grateful for his help Heavenly Father has given me.