Companion: Hermana Luquette
This week was a blur! I feel like time has been flying the past couple of weeks and I can hardly remember what has been going on, but I will do my best to give you the highlights! Things are going well for us here in Arvin.
One of the biggest events of the week was
that we finished out all of our exchanges for the transfer! We had our
last exchanges with the Hermanas from Experanza (Hermana Badger and
Hermana Perry). I was with Hermana Perry and we had a blast! It was so
fun to be back together with Hermana Perry and to work in Arvin. We
taught a couple of our investigators during the night time. The next
day, we were walking down the street and we met the cutest old man in
the world. He was 92 years old and he told us about all of his stories
of fighting in World War II (turns out he goes to the Veteran's Post
where we have our church on Sundays). He was super nice and had lived a
really interesting life. I want to be able to have such wonderful
stories when I am as old as he was!
We closed
out our exchanges by eating dinner with Julio. It is always an adventure
to eat with him. He takes a lot of pride in the fact that his new
apartment has a full kitchen, so he always makes us food, but he is
almost blind. He is going to get surgery to fix his eyes soon, but in
the meantime, he makes us the strangest food that I have ever eaten.
This week, he gave us full chickens that he had bought from the corner
store and fried up himself. All of his food is as salty as the Dead Sea
and cooked just enough so that is can't be called raw. I love Julio so
much, though, and it is always a pleasure to hear him tell us his
stories of living in Chiapas and working as a bus driver through Mexico
and Central America.
After exchanges ended,
things got back to normal. It has been nice being able to work full-time
with Hermana Luquette. I really love her and she is so fun to serve
with. I feel like during exchange season, we barely even see each other,
but she is a good friend!
This week, we had
Mission Leadership Conference and Zone Training Meeting. It was
wonderful. We focused mostly on President Monson's Conference talk about
the Book of Mormon and how it is our most powerful tool for conversion
in our lives. We learned new ways that we can help people to learn how
to read in the Book of Mormon and how we can better apply the power of
the Book of Mormon in our own personal lives. I really love reading the
Book of Mormon and I know that it is true. I have learned so much in my
mission the power that the Book of Mormon has and I know that it has
shaped me a lot during the past couple of months. I am glad to be a
missionary so I can help other people to learn about that same power.
This
week, we had breakfast with one of the recent converts in Arvin,
Hermana Sigala. She is a super cute old lady and she loves to tell us
all about her experiences that she has had with ghosts and spirits. When
we went over for breakfast, she made us a traditional Mexican meal that
people eat around Easter, cactus and shrimp cakes. It was a little
strange, but overall it was really enjoyable. I never had tried cactus
before my mission, but people eat it down here all the time and I
actually really like it!
 |
| Hermana Luquette curled my hair one day. |
This week, we
witnessed the cutest event that I have ever seen in my life. There is a
less active family here in Arvin that joined the church in Idaho and
have only been to the church here in California a couple of times. We go
over to visit them pretty often, but they do not have a lot of contact
with the ward. The mother of the family is really pregnant and she is
due to have her baby in a couple of weeks. When the hermanas in the
group heard about the pregnancy, they decided to have a surprise baby
shower. It was the sweetest thing ever to see when Hermana Moreno walked
in to the room when the baby shower was happening and started crying
from happiness to see all of the decorations and gifts. It made her feel
more ready for her baby to come and it was so cute to see everyone come
together to help her out. I love all of the members here in the Arvin
group! It was so cute to see all of the people from the group playing
baby shower games. I was fed jello by another hermana and Hermana
Luquette had to race to drink a baby bottle filled with soda. It was the
most precious thing that I have ever seen in my life!
That
is about it for the week! I love being here on the mission and I have
really felt the hand of the Lord every day. I love being able to be here
and to serve the people with all that I can and I have seen so many
blessings through it. I hope that you all have a good week!
Hermana Blau
[In response to Mom's question about Easter traditions there]
Easter traditions in Mexico are hardcore. We were actually talking to
Refugio about it the other night. I guess that they choose from a couple
of people who volunteer and they take them into the center of the town.
Then they scourge the volunteer and parade him through the town,
carrying his cross. When they get to the end of the walk, they literally
crucify him in the public square. I guess that they take them down
before they actually die, but it sounded pretty intense. After Refugio
told us about his traditions, we told him that we look for colored eggs
full of candy. There was a bit of a contrast! :) I don't think that I
would want to do the Mexican version of any of the holidays that
Catholics celebrate. They are pretty hard core!
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