January 9, 2012

I have been here for 11 months today! I will be burning a shirt one month from today. Boom.

  

This week was totally interesting. Lots of funny things happened that were so interesting. Not all of them were good.

1. We are teaching a couple named Renee y Elaina. They both are 24 years old and have 2 kids. They are so humble and nice. We found them as we were looking for a references house when we asked them for directions, and they invited us into their house. Ever since then, we have been teaching them and it has gone pretty well. Mainly we have been focusing on the principle that they can pray and ask whether the Book of Mormon is true and really receive an answer. They had been doing that for sometime, and we did our best to help them be patient and realize that the answer would not come in their time, but in God's. The other day we clapped their house and Elaina came out totally happy and beaming and told us, "I got my answer! I got it!" We started to get really excited and asked her how it went. She told us that she prayed really sincerely and asked if the things we had been teaching were true. She then told us that it came really clear into her mind that she should be attending The Church of the Seventh Day or something. We were both totally surprised and didn't really say anything because we were so surprised. She then went on to thank us for helping her get to her answer. We were both still blown away and asked her for more explanation and she just said, "I am so sure about my decision and I don't really need to talk to you anymore." We did our best to talk about how she needs to do other things to be sure sure, and she kind of ignored us. It was so bad. Walking away from the lesson, I was so bummed and almost felt like crying. We haven't given up on Elaina and will continue talking with her husband, so hopefully good things will happen there.

 2. We are teaching another couple named Hielda and Domingo. They are so good and I love them more than I do the usual investigator. They are both about 60 years old and and both kind of really crazy. They love us so much and kiss us all over our faces whenever we go by. They love hearing our message too. Every time we say something that they REALLY like, they stand up, throw their hands in the air and say, "AMEN! Thanks the Lord!" I have been meaning to tell them that they should probably not do that, but I have not really gotten to it, because I secretly love it so much when they stand up and shout for excitement. It's a good change from the person who casually listens to us and doesn't really care. The other day, we brought Hielda and Domingo to church and they loved it way too much. (One note before I tell the rest of the story: When Hielda prays, she starts praying really quietly, and then gradually gets louder and louder and more and more excited until the point where she is shouting and using her hands a lot to express her feelings.) In the Gospel Principles class at church, the teacher asked Hielda to say the closing prayer. I started to sweat bullets and bite my nails and feel so nervous. It was so bad/good (not sure which). Hielda pretty much rapped the prayer and threw in a few toe steps from side to side during the prayer. All of the members were kind of horrified, and Elder Jolley and I could not stop laughing. I secretly and silently hope for an encore next week.

I am loving my time here. I can't believe that I am almost halfway done.