Buenas Tardes!
Wow, it has been quite the eventful week... I'm positive this is the most tired I've ever been on my entire mission. Every single night something comes up (companionship problems or some kind of paperwork/administrative work) and we can just never get to sleep on time. We did have a good week though, and got to pick up a new family. We taught that family from the Dominican Republic and had an awesome lesson with them - random health issues came up so they weren't able to come to church this week, but they were pretty excited still to come when they can. Probably one of the most entertaining things of the week was Saturday. Our branch put on this "Dia de la Raza" (so day of the race - basically to celebrate different cultures), and there was food there from all these different countries and it was just super delicious, as expected. We had stuff from Mexico, El Salvador, Columbia, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Guatemala, just to name a few. Oh, and I almost forgot - we also had American! That was actually my favorite one - somebody made the most delicious apple pie of my entire life. So the feast was incredible and there were all kinds of people there. Sadly, most of them were members (either from here or nearby wards) or part-members we were already working with, but we had quite the turnout! After the main part where we just ate, there was this show they were putting on, where all of the different auxiliaries performed something. The young women went first and it was just ridiculous...there was most definitely no theme or coordination behind it and they were just dancing, not really knowing what to do. I don't know how anybody else felt, but I was almost embarrassed for them...So we thought that was interesting. And then we actually went next and we had planned on singing something else, but decided to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" instead. So it was funny - the four of us all dressed up in our missionary clothes, in the middle of a bunch of Hispanics, singing the national anthem right by an American flag that was on the stage. They all loved it though and thought it went really well so we were okay with it. We just thought it was kind of funny. And then for the rest of it, people kept on taking forever to get dressed up and get everything set up for their performance and they had to try to stall for time as they were doing so. They were telling these long stories and jokes and then when everything was finally ready there wouldn't even be any kind of rhyme or reason to the things they did. Our conclusion: Mexicans know how to set up a feast, but they definitely don't know how to set up a performance. It was just entertaining how ridiculous it was. That plus they're probably not the best singers in the entire world. So yeah, that was our entertainment for the week.
We've still been working hard with our part-member families, and things seem to be really picking up. They've been coming to activities and everything, and one of our investigators was actually in one of the performances the other night! We're still struggling a little in finding new people to teach, because it's not quite as easy as it was in Yuma. It's a whole lot more crucial that we work with the members here... people on the street are just generally not too interested. It does make for fun conversations though. Oh and we had this mission president's fireside last night that was really good, and Elder Twitchell and I were all set up to translate for it (normally people bring Spanish investigators and somebody has to translate for them). So we were all set up to do it, and then none showed up! So we decided to translate anyway, one speaking and doing the actual translating while the other listened. And it actually ended up being a whole lot easier than I thought it would be! We got into a groove, and you forget that you're even speaking in a different language - except when you get random words like unencumbered...then you have to get creative. But that was pretty fun - a new experience.
I did have my first intervention this week though. There were some major problems in this companionship in our zone, and we had to go over fairly late at night to resolve it. That, plus early in the evening we did a baptismal interview for the Spanish sisters in the Tempe Zone, and totally went way too far when we were searching for it on our bikes. Somehow some Tempe elders spotted us and gave us a ride, so we got to do the interview, race home on our bikes, and then hurry out to talk to these missionaries. It's kind of crazy sometimes, because you realize the kind of impact you can have on these missionaries. The things that you say and the things that you do in these kind of situations are super important so we were really praying that we would know what to do. We talked to them and more than anything really emphasized the need for companionship unity and the need to forget ourselves and go to work. We have to drop our pride and be able to learn from everyone - there's no one way to do these things, and there is always more we can learn. So that was a super late night, and we got to wake up early to do plyos that next morning. So yeah, we feel like we don't really ever catch up when we get that behind on sleep..It's not like we can ever sleep in!
I also got to go on an exchange with my "grandson" Elder Wheeler this week (Elder Johnson trained him) and it was cool to be in my old area. They're teaching this amazing mom and daughter that just randomly came to church and are getting baptized this week! We did have a pretty rough experience though - we got waved over to some people at a gas station that I guess were having an argument. The mom had left her family for this other guy, gone back home, and was now leaving again. It wasn't our place to tell anybody they had to do anything, but it was rough to see this little 8-year old girl get deserted by her mom... It just made me so glad for the family I have and really helped me know even more how amazing the Gospel is and how much it really does bless us.
So yeah, we're definitely staying busy and have big plans for this week! We are going out with power and authority and we are going to do the work of God.
Thanks for all you do! Love you!
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