September 5, 2011

Elder Oporto continues to be a great, hilarious companion. The other day we were at a railroad crossing as a train passed. When the train is passing, it is so loud that you can't hear anything at all. While it was passing, I looked over at Elder Oporto and he was just shouting at the top of his lungs. He kept on shouting until the train had finished passing and then walked away normally like nothing had happened. I couldn't stop laughing for a long time.

This week Elder Oporto and I organized a Ward Family Home Evening. The theme of the activity was "Families can be Eternal." Prior to the activity, we handed out little fliers at every house we entered. We were super surprised to see that almost every person we gave a flier to came to the activity and filled up the little cultural hall. We started out the lesson by stringing a string around the whole chapel. We told the people that the string represented our existence as spirits and then asked the people how much of the string would be taken up by our life here on earth. People started shouting out things like " a fourth!" or "a meter". I then took our a marker and made a little dot on the string and told them that the dot represented the duration of our life here on the earth. We have this much time to do all the things we need to in order to be happy and together with those we love for the rest of our existence. With this perspective we can lead healthier, more peace filled lives. Everyone seemed like they understood so Elder Oporto and I were pretty satisfied. We then went on to do a few other fun activities for the rest of the time. But as soon as the meeting ended, person after person came up to Elder Oporto and I to ask for further explanation of what the string meant. It seems like lots of people thought that the string represented how fragile our lives are. hahaha. Oh well, we did our best.

Elder Oporto and I are being really blessed and investigators are falling out of the sky all over the place. It looks like we might be running from lesson to lesson once again, and not because we are being chased by armed men. I have realized that your happiness as a missionary depends a lot on how busy you are. If the days are filled with lessons, the day seems about an hour long.

I have been thinking a lot about family lately. In Argentina, the family is almost nonexistant. Most girls have their first babies between the ages of 15 and 20. The lack of a family upbringing is really obvious through lots of the behavior and attitudes here. I have been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to have the family and parents that I do. My life is so much easier than the majority. I am thankful for my friends, family, and especially parents for giving me the life I have. All is well. Life is good.