03/26:
Dear Everyone,
Sister Williams is making awesome progress. She's slept three nights in a row (with some help from medication) and yesterday was a really good day. We have a new game: whenever she starts getting stressed or scared or doubtful, I ask her what her happy thought is. We'll go back and forth until she's feeling better and seeing just how good life is again.
Geovanni (turns out that's how you spell his name) should be getting baptized this Saturday, and he is stoked! It's sweet to see him talk about how much he wants it and how he knows this will help him stay "en el buen camino". Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures this week of him and the other two chavos, but with the baptism this Saturday, there should be some next week.
We had another young adult FHE last night and it was AWESOME. We had some fresh blood there--the East elders (remember that there are 3 companionships in this ward) brought a recent convert and two members, plus the Saldivars and los chavos (that generally refers to Geovanni, Pompilio and Andy). We started with a prayer and had introductions, as always. In the introductions, you have to share your name, and we have a question of the week. The first time, it was the work you would least want to do, then your favorite place in the world, then something you want to do before you turn 50, then yesterday it was the worst accident or harm you've done to your body. It was hilarious! These people have got stories. The most extreme was Sister Williams who was skating 30mph down a hill when a truck backed up and she hit it. The funniest was when Candace hit her funnybone so hard she went to the hospital thinking she broke her elbow.
We then did a quit skit about prayer where I was praying and Elder James was God and he was trying to answer my prayer but I wouldn't let him interrupt. We played a quick game and ate (as always) delicious Mexican food. It went really, really well. I feel kinda bad because these events tend to be a little long (especially last week when the investigators thought we'd meet at their house at 7 when we meant to start the FHE 30 minutes away at 7) and last night the host family was in a fight so they were hoping we'd keep it a little shorter. It was what it was, however, and hopefully the Spirit it brought made it easier for them to make peace.
Also yesterday, we found another lost sheep who's probably in her late twenties and hasn't been to church since feuding with someone in Young Women's.
We lost our phone and found it again a couple hours later. Tender mercy.
Adelino is talking about wanting to be baptized. He wants to work through some emotional turmoil over his turbulous childhood. He's opened up to us A LOT and is making some progress finally, although we're still somewhat at a loss of what to do for him. We've taught pretty much everything.
Monday, the North elders asked us to do a FHE for a family that joined recently. They live in a pretty rickety part of town. We arrived early so we took the opportunity to talk to a few people. The first contact was a really cool lady who wants to learn more (score!) but the second group were some young men who said really nasty things and it was generally a scary experience. Some people say our part of town is questionable, but I've never felt the slightest unsafe, and that part of town is so much worse.
The FHE was wonderful, by the way. The spirit in that home is so, so, so strong. We taught them basic steps for doing it every week and challenged them to do it next week.
We had an awesome lunch with the ward clerk. A huge problem we have is that the ward isn't very proactive in fellowshipping and getting to know our converts. Even the ward clerk didn't know who all had recently been baptized, so we started telling them about all of our converts. They're going to do some calling-shuffling soon and we gave lots of input on who would be good for which callings. He took careful notes : ) We've gone over all this with our bishop, who's one of the most wonderful men ever, but in the midst of his responsibilities it hasn't become a priority to give callings to recent converts. Hopefully this will get our people a little more firmly established. I'm really, really, really worried about what will happen during this coming year for these wonderful people we're all teaching.
Sunday was good. Though the individual sisters are amazing women whom I love, the Relief Society here has a history of being like a pen of hens and I've been grateful we had to miss most of it for Sister Barrow to play piano in primary. This week, however, I felt the Spirit! Yay!
I feel a deep need to get some new investigators. We've been low on that the last 3 or 4 weeks as we've been focusing on los chavos, Oscar and Adelino. The time has come to start reaching out again. Yikes. It's hard, but when you just dive in and do it, there really is a lot of joy in bringing someone the gospel for the first time.
I can't really think of anything else to share. Love you all!
Erin
Sister Williams is making awesome progress. She's slept three nights in a row (with some help from medication) and yesterday was a really good day. We have a new game: whenever she starts getting stressed or scared or doubtful, I ask her what her happy thought is. We'll go back and forth until she's feeling better and seeing just how good life is again.
Geovanni (turns out that's how you spell his name) should be getting baptized this Saturday, and he is stoked! It's sweet to see him talk about how much he wants it and how he knows this will help him stay "en el buen camino". Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures this week of him and the other two chavos, but with the baptism this Saturday, there should be some next week.
We had another young adult FHE last night and it was AWESOME. We had some fresh blood there--the East elders (remember that there are 3 companionships in this ward) brought a recent convert and two members, plus the Saldivars and los chavos (that generally refers to Geovanni, Pompilio and Andy). We started with a prayer and had introductions, as always. In the introductions, you have to share your name, and we have a question of the week. The first time, it was the work you would least want to do, then your favorite place in the world, then something you want to do before you turn 50, then yesterday it was the worst accident or harm you've done to your body. It was hilarious! These people have got stories. The most extreme was Sister Williams who was skating 30mph down a hill when a truck backed up and she hit it. The funniest was when Candace hit her funnybone so hard she went to the hospital thinking she broke her elbow.
We then did a quit skit about prayer where I was praying and Elder James was God and he was trying to answer my prayer but I wouldn't let him interrupt. We played a quick game and ate (as always) delicious Mexican food. It went really, really well. I feel kinda bad because these events tend to be a little long (especially last week when the investigators thought we'd meet at their house at 7 when we meant to start the FHE 30 minutes away at 7) and last night the host family was in a fight so they were hoping we'd keep it a little shorter. It was what it was, however, and hopefully the Spirit it brought made it easier for them to make peace.
Also yesterday, we found another lost sheep who's probably in her late twenties and hasn't been to church since feuding with someone in Young Women's.
We lost our phone and found it again a couple hours later. Tender mercy.
Adelino is talking about wanting to be baptized. He wants to work through some emotional turmoil over his turbulous childhood. He's opened up to us A LOT and is making some progress finally, although we're still somewhat at a loss of what to do for him. We've taught pretty much everything.
Monday, the North elders asked us to do a FHE for a family that joined recently. They live in a pretty rickety part of town. We arrived early so we took the opportunity to talk to a few people. The first contact was a really cool lady who wants to learn more (score!) but the second group were some young men who said really nasty things and it was generally a scary experience. Some people say our part of town is questionable, but I've never felt the slightest unsafe, and that part of town is so much worse.
The FHE was wonderful, by the way. The spirit in that home is so, so, so strong. We taught them basic steps for doing it every week and challenged them to do it next week.
We had an awesome lunch with the ward clerk. A huge problem we have is that the ward isn't very proactive in fellowshipping and getting to know our converts. Even the ward clerk didn't know who all had recently been baptized, so we started telling them about all of our converts. They're going to do some calling-shuffling soon and we gave lots of input on who would be good for which callings. He took careful notes : ) We've gone over all this with our bishop, who's one of the most wonderful men ever, but in the midst of his responsibilities it hasn't become a priority to give callings to recent converts. Hopefully this will get our people a little more firmly established. I'm really, really, really worried about what will happen during this coming year for these wonderful people we're all teaching.
Sunday was good. Though the individual sisters are amazing women whom I love, the Relief Society here has a history of being like a pen of hens and I've been grateful we had to miss most of it for Sister Barrow to play piano in primary. This week, however, I felt the Spirit! Yay!
I feel a deep need to get some new investigators. We've been low on that the last 3 or 4 weeks as we've been focusing on los chavos, Oscar and Adelino. The time has come to start reaching out again. Yikes. It's hard, but when you just dive in and do it, there really is a lot of joy in bringing someone the gospel for the first time.
I can't really think of anything else to share. Love you all!
Erin