El Suelo is Lava

 


When we went to our food appointment with a really great family, and there was a little 3 yr-old girl there that usually isn't. She was watching the Little Mermaid in Spanish and just smiled at us with her big smile. We respinded back with a smile and took our seats at the table. She then ran up to me and put some slime in my hand saying in her high sweet voice, "Mira mi slime! Its sticky."  I blinked a few times confused in what I heard. I asked her if she spoke english in Spanish and she didn't respond. I asked her the same question but in english and she said yes. I thought to myself that I had found another gringo but then the mom came in and asked her a question in Spanish to which the little girl responded. In our quest to figure out what language this girl spoke, we had a little contest by asking her "How do you call this:". She always responded with the work she knew and like we were crazy for asking her these questions. My mind became more boggled when we ate with her and she'd ask me if I could put "aguacate on mi fork." My interaction with this spanglish child is how this week went in its confusion and attempts to make everything run smoothly.

 We've been trying to help a lot more of our people progress in this week because we've been focused on the baptism for awhile. We noticed that there's a lot of different problems that will take time to figure out. With one woman, we were finally able to teach her about the plan of Salvation. She had been struggling with a lot of deaths in her family. When we explained the Atonement of Jesus Christ and shared the scripture in Alma 7 she seemed almost taken away. She asked us if we really believe that He did all this for her. We assured her that it was true. That spirit that she felt carried her though the week until she had another family member pass away. With another family, we tried to explain the importance of prayer and blessings. Their grandpa hasn't been in the best health condition and we gave him a blessing along with our Branch President. It's been hard for them but are always happy to talk to us. With another family, we've been trying to help them come to church but one of the family members doesn't want them to go. It's been nice getting to know more about these people we're teaching and seeing the blessings of the Gospel. In a lot of situations, they're complicated or need a lot of work. But I've seen more clearly the eternal truths of the Gospel and how that leads us. That became more clear as we got to share scripture stories and parables with our friends. 

 

In one of our visits to a less active family, I saw the care the mother wanted to give to her children as she tried to explain why they needed to do their homework.  She explained a lot about her life and the life of her mother and how she wants to help her kids not be in the same situation. It felt a bit tense in the moment. I decided to take out my old tutoring hat and me and my companion went around trying to help the kids with their homework. It felt good trying to help ease the stress of the family and to help show them that we care for them. 

 

All in all, we have a lot of hope to help these people we've gotten to know here. We're also hoping to help them listen to General Conference. We enjoy our time with them a lot and hope to keep bringing them the spirit in their homes and that they will want to have that spirit more. 

 

Day by day

Elder d'French

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Arms of the Priesthood

Image
  Perhaps it's the experience that I'm gaining or a bit more of the veil being lifted from my eyes, but I am seeing more of the pureness of the spirit. The way that it guides and fills me with love is a fruit sweeter than all else. It's a blessing to recognize that. To see my fellow missionaries and feel joy for the works. To see a member take the sacrament and think what that might mean for them and for God that they're there. And to see our friends in teaching make changes and listen to the spirit. All are fruits of the spirit that I cherish.    In a zone conference a little while back, we watched a short video of the baptisms we had in the month. My old trainer came by to sit next to me while we watched it and put his arm around me in his extension of brotherly love. It was nice to see those people in the video dressed in white getting ready to make their first covenants with God.   Following that experience when I got here to Caborca, I got to know my old compani...
Read more

La Puesta del Sol

Image
  The Sonoran sun in its Aztecan semblance stinks. Something I'll never forget here is the sun. In part, because the sun won't let me forget it. But I will always remember how the sun comes up, stays in the air for the day mocking my gringo white skin, and sets behind the desert mountains. We're almost back to the days that seem like a dream for me. No one but the missionaries are out during the day. Even the street dogs don’t follow our steps. They stay under the shade of a parked car, in attempts to sleep, and give us passing glances of "Que tontos".  I thank my great grandma and her time that she lived in Mexico so I would be able to accustom myself faster.    But apart from the sun, we've been doing what we can these past few weeks. We've met a lot of different people and I've gotten to explain the differences between Hermosillo and Obregon and their corresponding baseball teams. Its been a fun way to talk with members and friends in teaching about...
Read more

Friends

Image
  Our week was full of activities, conferences, and invitations to everyone we knew or didn't know. We spent a lot of time trying to help some of our friends feel more included in the branch. With one of them in particular, a youth, we brought her to also make new friends. She has a baptismal date that we're really hope will go through but there is another church she's been going to for longer. She has a great desire to serve a mission and preach the gospel. It was great to see her at the youth activities and slowly start conversing with the other youth. It was a good start to help her feel more included. In another activity we saw a few families of members we invited too. That made me happy to see them and to see them doing what they've wanted for awhile. I was also very happy to see my little spanglish friend again. She became more and more excited to see us each time as she eventually hugged us shouting "ELDERS!!!" We're amigos.   We've been teachin...
Read more