Monday, May 9, 2016

Firsts, Frustrations, Frozen Food‏

Well this week started out with a first and a frustration which was that the nurse could finally diagnose what was wrong with me and it turns out I have parasites crawling around my insides. She had me buy some pills to kill them off, but they haven't been going easy. My stomach is still pretty uneasy, and this week wasn't the happiest, but the worst happened at the beginning of the week. By the end of the week we could see quite a few miracles.

One day when we were walking around I suddenly remembered that we'd bought a tub of ice cream on p-day (I promise I usually try to eat healthy, this was an exception.), and so I was like, "hm, how about if we get 10 contacts today we can eat ice cream." It was funny how much that motivated me, but at the very end of the day we had nine contacts and were getting out of an appointment way late - we had to go to the house right away, and I was worried we wouldn't have time to talk with someone in the street along the way there. The members we were with called a taxi to get us home on time, which was a relief, because not only did we get home on time but I could also contact the taxi driver! It was just funny to me because I felt that the Lord was trying to help me reach my goals. I'm just glad the ice cream was there to help me go the extra mile. And it tasted delicious let me tell you.

And like I said we could have some miracles! We'd met a young single mom recently named Pamela who we'd taught just once. We had an appointment for Saturday with her and her less-active mom, but as we were thinking about how to meet our monthly goals I couldn't help but feel like she could be someone who could progress. So we planned to go with her a different day, and not only did we find her...but she accepted a baptismal date for the 28th! And she and her mom came to church!

More than anything I was just learning about the power of prayer. When we keep focused in our prayers, asking for help with our goals and thanking the Lord for how He helps us, I think that increases our faith and leads to a more conscious, focused effort, and the Spirit. It's been important for me to have a focus this week because I've just had to do so...much. Between training, receiving reports as a district leader, battling parasites, trying to work in my own sector....

Speaking of which, I had a big first this week - my first baptismal interview. It was pretty crazy because the sisters called Tuesday and said "We have a miracle! Our investigator wants to get baptized - next week!" I was like, "Great!" and then I realized...that meant he'd have to have his interview that Saturday. Something I just had never done!

Just getting to the interview chewed up almost our day, because trying to flag down the buses on the highway didn't work for like half an hour so we had to walk 10 minutes to another town the catch the bus from there - but the bus driver lied to us saying he'd pass by where we wanted to go but didn't so we got stranded out in the highway and had to walk another 15-20 minutes to get to where the sisters were going to meet up with us - and from there we had to wait to take another bus to get to the chapel...the baptismal candidate was an older guy who didn't really hear or understand well, which made the baptism interview an adventure, but I felt he was ready!

Good grief there's just no time for anything honestly. I've never had so much to do in my mission and it's kind of crazy sometimes...but it's good. They're the best two years. I'm trying not to sound too much like I'm speaking retrospectively there. It was great calling home, too. Anyhow, I hope you're all doing great.
There was a dog listening to sacrament meeting this week.

There's a touristic train here in Ecuador, which is cool, but way too expensive for missionaries.


 The sun can beat down strong enough here to make my companion want to use an umbrella.
 

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