8-15-11

Monday: We woke up and just laid in bed for a while, talking to each
other. It was nice. I really prefer the homes with 4 missionaries more
than those with just 2. I`m really grateful that I have an awesome
comp. We went over to Santa Barbara`s chapel to watch some movies that
Elder Gomez has, that were approved by Pres. We watched "How to train
your Dragon" and "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief." They were
both really good. After that, we went back to Los Angeles to write the
family. Today, Daddy sent me an email that gave me some really good
advice on how to be more positive. He had some really good insights.
He told me to enjoy clean rain. It just evaporates. What if it
"milked?" That would be messy. He enjoys all of the little things that
he can see and hear. What if he went blind or deaf? that really made
me want to pay attention to EVERYTHING. There are so many things that
I take for granted. I bet that when I start to count my blessings like
that, I`ll be able to live a happier, richer life. It was a very
important lesson to me. I had turned into a pessimist in the Mission.

Tuesday: We had our distrizona this morning. As a District Leader, I
have to give classes to my missionaries. I always say a prayer before
choosing. And after I`ve chosen, I see just HOW the class was meant
for their investigators. I have a testimony of the gift of
discernment. As we were walking back to our sector, I thought of how
grateful I was, for my dry feet. Then, water got in them. then, I was
grateful that it wasn`t "milking." Then, it started to hail.haha. But
at least I don`t melt when I`m wet. :)I just thought it was funny.
It`s been raining for two weeks straight. I`m so glad I have my
waterproof clothes, and a warm bed to come home to. We had lunch with
the Bishop`s wife. she`s a really nice lady. We ran into Ricardo,
Burch`s other offended, inactive convert. He said he was insulted by a
Sister. He said, "Women shouldn`t even say things like that." We`re
really anxious to know what happened. When we dropped off the clothes,
we shared what Ricardo had told us, to see what Hna. Pinar would know,
as Relief Soc. Pres. She didn`t, but she said that this ward was
really proud and rude, and that gossip is really bad. I started
thinking of the great chance I have, to help (I found a great lesson
on gossip last transfer). We did contacts and visited an inactive
Sister. burch and I were guided by the Spirit, and she said shell come
to church on Sunday. We`ll call her Sunday morning anyway.

Wednesday: We studied our Scriptures and after a while, Burch got out
his Dictionary and started quizzing me on random words. I didn`t get
many right. I s`pent the rest of the morning making a duplicate of my
Scripture Shortcuts for Hna. Pinar and Elder Burch. When I gave it to
her, she was really happy. Elder Tavernier wants a copy, too. WOOT! We
had roast(cartilage-free!) and potatoes with ajì. The flavor of ajì
would best be described as "mexican horseradish." very good. We spoke
about temples and then I showed Hna. Pinar a website where she could
look at them all. Then we picked up the Permaneced list we`ve been
buggin the Bishop for, for the last week. We tried to visit the
less-actives, but either they "weren`t home" or they were honest and
told us to go away. We taught Pìa and Rina in the afternoon. Rina
didn`t pay attention much at first, so we focused on her. Pìa
understood and helped her mom understand. The only problem was that
Pìa, herself, didn`t believe in the first vision. Rina did! but we
left them the invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. As
we said goodbye, Pìa did the whole kiss-on-the-cheek thing. It`s
alright for the first time, but then you have to tell them, "no." It`s
just a cheek bump. No lips while you make the "muah" sound. Nobody
told Elder Burch that. He KISSED her cheek. He kept apologizing to me
for two hours. He felt so bad. I thought it was funny.

Thursday: I woke up this morning, to a phone call from Elder Lisonbee.
He called to tell me that he had a dream about me. We were driving in
his two-seater car, and I said, "I need to pick up my goat!" He told
me, "It`ll never fit!" Then he woke up. Haha. I love that he called to
tell me that. We did divisions today. I got to be comps. with Elder
Tonumaipe`a. He`s from New Zealand. Our first few appointments. fell
through, but then we taught Jorge. We haven`t taught him since 3 weeks
ago. We asked him if he remembered what we`d taught him last time. He
did, in great detail. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him. We asked why he
thought Jesus gave Nephi power. He said, "Well, if Jesus left, he`d
need a representative on Earth." He said he`d stopped a 30-year
smoking habit 6 years ago. I related how he felt after he stopped
smoking to how he`d feel after being baptized. He told us of some
really special spiritual experiences and how he thought he was being
prepared. We told him he was being prepared for baptism on Sep. 3rd.
He said that`d be fantastic! As I read the BOM in my personal study
this morning, I felt such a strong Spirit. I loved it. On the news,
students in Santiago are protesting that they need free college.
That`s SO dumb. It also showed a guy that was living in a supulcre.
Creepy. but today was a really Spiritual day.

Friday: We woke up and did exercises to this awesome Joseph Smith
tribute CD I found on Monday. We were playing soccer in our
livingroom. it`s alright. IN a Missionary apartment, "livingroom"
means "small, concrete, box-like room without any furniture." I marked
my Bible and we bothread about helping people keep commitments. When
we invite people to make commitments, we`re inviting them to repent.
We did contacts in the morning, after an appointment fell throught.
Tonumaipe`a "bird-manned" me a LOT. I`m going to play that a lot when
I get back. While we were doing contacts, we ran into Ivon, a member.
She took us to a market to buy us ice cream and cookies. We had lunch
and then ended our divisions. Elder Burch said that he was relieved to
be back with me, because Tonumaipe`a`s comp`s Spanish was awful. He
likes being with me `cause he knows I`ve got his back. We did contacts
during the whole afternoon, trying to find some new people. We
couldn`t. But it`s alright. At 8:30, we went to visit Ricardo. He told
us of some nasty rumors about him that are going around church, that
one of the members let slip. He was very offended and appalled. but
he`s had a true conversion. He said he won`t go to church this week,
but he will soon. He`s only been a member for a matter of months and
these members are just horrible examples of christ. Burch was ANGRY!

Saturday: We had a pretty good day, today. we woke up and did our
studies and everything. Contacts in the morning were kind of a bust,
because the people wouldn`t even answer the door. That, or they ALL
were out, running errands. After all, it was a Saturday and the first
sunny day (without rain) in three weeks. It was so beautiful. We were
out tracting in our short-sleeve shirts. It was about 70 F. Gorgeous
Spring weather! We had lunch with Hna. Ivon. She`s an English
proffessor that knows how to cook American (north) food. That said, we
had some delicious enchiladas! they were absolutely amazing. For
dessert, she made Pazuki--which is choc. chip cookie dough covered in
vanilla ice cream, laid ina cake pan. I had 3 bowls. I LOVE cookie
dought! We finished up our contacts for the week today, `cause we`ll
be in the countryside tomorrow. 3 people let us into their homes. We
got to teach a lot, today. We visited JOrge tonight, to teach him
about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He accepted everything. He wants to
repent and get baptized and take the Sacrament every week. He`s such a
good guy. He reminds me of a Spanish John Goodman. Hwe`d read the
chapter we`d left him, and he showed us his favorite parts. He said he
felt the Spirit while he read it. We visited Hna. Gloria, to see how
she was doing. She`s fine--didn`t even mention being offended, and
she`ll come to church tomorrow.

Sunday: We got going to Church, and realized that it was really REALLY
cold weather for just wearing a suit. This WArd is really gossipy. We
heard, today, that one Brother almost called the Mission Pres. to tell
him that we were wearing seaters. I mean come on! "heaven forbid,
they`re trying to stay warm!" It`s not even against the rules. The
Mission Pres. wears a sweater, along with every missionary in the
Mission! Jorge came to church, 20 min. early, which is saying
something, considering we moved the hour forward. He had to sit on his
bench alone, `cause these members are anti-social and we had to pass
the Sacrament. But as I realized this, a nice member went to do it. We
had lunch with Hna. Roa. She`s so awesome. She invited her adventist
neighbors over to listen to us. I knew it would be a bad idea to talk
about the Restoration, so we taught the Plan of Salvation. Afterward,
they asked about the Sabbath Day. Here we go. I taught well (my comp.
didn`t know how to prove it was Sunday, so I used a Scripture chain
I`d found in my study). Then she just went off on all these "proofs"
that were REALLY biased. I showed her 1Corinthians 16:1-2, which says
the members of the church met every 1st day of the week. She wanted to
fight. We presented our beliefs and answered her question. And we
didn`t argue when she was practically foaming at the mouth as she
screamed, "Saturday!" in her enthusiasm. whew.