Well, another week has come and gone in the
CCM and I only have two more! WUT? Last week began with the rest of pday, when
my comp and two other girls in my district walked down to the GIGANTIC mall,
Paris. (try not to say that super gringo pls and thx.) But stupidly, I wore the
same shoes I had worn the two days before, even though they had been kind of
hurting me! I was in a store trying on some soccer shorts, because it gets so
FREAKING hot while we play futbol, and I decided to look at my oncoming
blister. It was bleeding! LOL It hurt really bad and I had to limp home like a
mile and a half or something. But it was a good day nonetheless :) the problem
was that the next day I was supposed to go contacting for an hour and I couldn’t
find any shoes that didn’t rub up on my blister. On Thursday during lunch I
went and asked Hermana Brady and she and Presidente helped me clean it, dress
it, and we found a random pair of tennis shoes that didn’t hurt my feet too
bad. So I got to go CONTACTING. It was really fun! We got a couple of contacts,
but mostly we talked to a bunch of people who wanted to talk about God and
Jesus Christ, but nothing more because they are catholic. We had a lot of
people who only wanted to talk about how amazed they were at our Spanish when
we had only been there for three weeks, so we tried to use that to our
advantage! The next day, Friday, was easily the hardest day I’ve had so far. I
was stressed out about my foot and I was in pain, we had been practicing a
teaching exercise that was so hard for me, and I was just feeling really
inadequate, and Presidente Brady hadn’t decided yet if I would be allowed to go
proselyting out on the streets that night because I would have to be on my
foot for so many hours. Anyone who knows me knows that I wear my emotions on my
face, and I was having the hardest time keeping it together. Eventually I just
started crying in the bathroom, and my sweet companion just hugged me and let
me cry. After a minute she started to talk to me and that calmed me down, and
then I felt better. I mean I felt stupid because I was crying, but that was a
good experience for us a companionship. President Brady bought me a pair of
crocs, and said I could go proselyting. The day proceeded to be easily my
favorite day as a missionary so far.
PROSELITISMO-
So we were going to be split up from our
companion and put with a Sister in the Este mission. I originally really wanted
to be put with a super experienced Hermana, but it just goes to show that the
Lord knows what we need better than we know for ourselves. I ended up with a
sister who had been in the CCM with me four days ago, Hermana Kelly. Kelly was
someone I really looked up to while she was here, and she had kind of taken me
under her wing. It was such a relief to be with her. Because she was so new,
she had to stay with her trainer while we rode the micro (city bus) and her
trainer was paired up with Hermana DJ. They asked how I was doing, gave me some
advice, and I felt so much better knowing that one Hermana in my district is
now aware of me. DJ has been working really hard to try to give me some
positive reinforcement. Then we split and we talked to sooooo many
people, literally everyone and it was a BLAST. We handed out tarjetas (I can’t
explain in English, maybe ask Grandpa??) and there were so many people who I
did NOT think would be interested in our message, but they WERE. Everybody
wants to know how to be happy in this life!! One really weird thing about Chile
is that they all have these massive gates around tiny little houses, so you
never actually knock on the door, you just scream A-LO and they come out. One
guy was working on his car behind his gate and Kelly said we should go talk to
him. We found out that his relationship with God was really important to him,
and Kelly asked if we could come back some time and share our message about
Jesus Christ. He said, "well, how about now?" um, YES!?!?!?! Kelly
started talking about Christ and who He is to us, what His role is in our
lives, and a scripture came to my mind. I pulled out my little LdM and shared
2Nefi 25:26. I testified that the Book of Mormon teaches us about Christ, and
that reading it will bring us closer to Him than anything else. I gave him the book
and invited him to read it. He started to cry, and he just kept saying,
"gracias, nunca he tenido un libro de Mormón. Gracias, he estado buscando
algo en my vida hace muchos años. He estado pidiendo una respuesta mi vida
entera!" o algo así, no recuerdo perfectamente. Unfortunately, José
travels for a living and he never stays in one place for more than a few days.
We promised him that if he would diligently search the scriptures and pray, the
Lord would find a way to teach him the gospel. It was SO AMAZING. Because
of that experience, we ended up late and I was going to miss my bus back to the
CCM. We were basically running, and because I was wearing only stupid freaking
crocs, I ended up stepping on a broken jagged pipe sticking out of the ground
and proceeded to bleed in my croc while running to catch the micro. DONT FREAK
OUT MOM. Nurse DJ has been helping me treat it and all that, and she assured
me that if I recently had a tetanus shot, I’ll be fine. (I did recently get
that shot right?) That was a really funny experience, and it was amazing
because it didnt matter that I was in pain, we taught someone about Christ, so
it was worth it!! My foot has not hurt since. When we got back we found out
that one of the new north American sisters went home :( My district sang in
Sacrament meeting, we sang I know that my Redeemer Lives, a couple verses, unison,
English, accompanied and a couple verses Spanish, parts, a capella. H. Collins
just played the hymn with us. Everyone should go and try to find David A Bednar’s
talk given to the Provo MTC about the character of Christ. Because of that
talk, I have made a goal to turn outward, when the natural man in me would turn
inward :) I’m already so much happier. My companion and I finally did
companionship inventory and that was a real blessing, things have been about
1000 times better since we did that. I know that the Spirit guided me to
suggest that we do that. IM LEARNING TO PLAY FUTBOL and like, yawl won’t
believe me but I’m not awful!! I’m getting better :) :) That’s pretty much all
for the week, please no one worry about my foot, the Lord has provided me with
so many people to help me take care of it and I’m not in pain. It really is
just funny. I love you all!!
nos vemos!!
Hermana Mads
My View Everyday!
