Gringo Days

¿Qué hay? Woah, Monday again. Crazy how that works. Time is so weird. Two years is so long. 16 transfers is not long. If you have 3 transfers left in your mission, that's like 4 months, but like 3 transfers is not a lot, lol. Only missionaries will get it, but it works that way. Transfer time is short, month time is long. The days drag on and the weeks fly by.

Last P-Day, we went to our now recent convert Carmen's house when P-Day ended at 6 pm. When we were there, she was getting taught such a good lesson. We had an amazing lesson. The lesson part isn't the point of this story; it's the after lesson. Lol, we were about to finish our lesson when her son says, 'Ma, hay un cangrejo' (mom, there is a crab). So we were like, 'Whaaa, a crab in your house? It's going to be all tiny and cute.' No, this was a huge crab, one that has a built-in shell. So we poked it with a few sticks to try and get it out (it was hiding under a cabinet after a while). Then her son gets a paint roller, drags the crab out, and starts chasing it, trying to hit it with the paint roller. And he's like 50, yelling random Spanish at this crab. It was so funny. Everything is so much funnier when you don't understand the language (it's getting so much better, actually). Then the crab went and hid under the gate, so that was awesome!

Going on, Carmen was baptized this Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! ¡Felicidades! So there's so much funny things with this that I will get into. 1) I got to assist in my first baptism this week, which was Carmen's baptism. I loved being able to help the Lord with His work and be a tool in His hands, an instrument (Alma 26:3). Lots of the kids and people keep asking if it's my first baptism, and that is such a wrong word usage. It isn't my baptism; it's the Lord's. My Spanish and my knowledge of the gospel and Elder Christensen's didn't convert her. The Spirit did. We just did what the Lord needed from us, and He did the rest. Carmen's conversion is so cool. This lady was a referral (which means she signed up to do a Bible study, meet with missionaries, learn how to pray, get closer to Christ, etc., from an ad from Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc.). She was a referral we got in April, right when my comp got here. Him and his companion at the time, Elder Dunn, gave her a Book of Mormon and taught her a few times. Then she was marked as uninterested (from not answering, telling you specifically, etc.). So she later in June referred herself again for a Bible study. And my comp and his other comp, Elder Ogden, went and taught her a lot. She seemed to be interested, but not a lot. Then I came. Me and Elder Christensen taught her, and she got taught all the lessons again. And you could tell after like 4 lessons after I got here, her heart changed, but we couldn't get her on date for baptism. Then we had exchanges, and Elder Hurtado got her to agree, and she fasted and prayed and was baptized. I am telling you all this because when I was asked to baptize her (by Elder Christensen), I thought it was unfair because he had been there the whole journey. And then that thought hit me. This isn't his convert; this isn't mine, nor will any convert be my convert. She had 5 different missionaries assist in her journey. God needed all of us for a different reason, and we may not know why He needed all 5 of us to help prepare her and be a tool in His hands, but it's remarkable. It took 5 elders to assist and get her on the covenant path. I am super grateful I was able to use my priesthood to baptize our ward grandma; she's so sweet and funny. She gave us 5 breadfruits on Monday, huge breadfruits for tostones, and it's awesome. Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just love that it wasn't mine or Elder Christensen's or Elder Hurtado's or Elder Dunn's or Elder Ogden's that converted her. It was the Holy Ghost. He told her what she needed to hear; we were just the tools in the Lord's hands.

Also, Carmen's neighbor Barney (white blind guy that only knows English and also hates our church; he only knows the rumors, lol) Carmen invited him to her baptism, and apparently, he threw something and stomped his feet and yelled, 'I AM FURIOUS,' because he thinks we lost her salvation, lol. What a nerd that guy; he's something else...

Carmen also had 4 ex-husbands, so we had to use 4 papers for her record, lol.

Sunday was an extreme exercise of my priesthood. After Saturday using it to baptize, I had to pass the sacrament because they don't have enough youth. Then I helped in the confirmation of Carmen. Then after church, we stayed in the bishop's office for an hour and a half because he needed us for blessings. We gave our other recent convert, Remberto, the Aaronic Priesthood, and another lady a blessing of comfort. I had so many priesthood things yesterday; it was insane and such a variety of blessings and things. I am so grateful for the priesthood and being able to use it. It is such a blessing that this church has the Plenitud del Evangelio.

I acquired a new skill called making piña coladas. Our members taught us how. Now I make them 24/7; I'm pretty cracked at the piña colada making, lol.

Tuesday night, the power went out again. 'Se fue la luz!' Then the AC was out; I sweated, but it came back in an hour, so gracias a Dios.

There was so much that happened this week. We were street contacting and got dumped on by rain; that was fun.

I carved out a fruit to make a bowl with. Se llama... I don't know the name, to be honest, but it's cool. It smelled like an Expo marker, lol.