Area: Esperanza Ward
Companion: Hermana Van der Toolen
This week has been crazy! I guess that I will just start from the beginning.
We
have been working really hard to find more people to teach right now.
It is a little bit harder to find Spanish speaking people who want to
hear the message here than it was in Littlerock. Because of that, we
have been trying to get creative in our finding methods. We called up
all the mortuaries and hospitals in this area to get on their list of
clergy. We have been talking about family history. It has been going a
little slowly, but we have been getting more interested investigators!
Funny
story for this week. We had found an old Catholic man last week and set
up a time for a return appointment. When we went by for the
appointment, we were saying a prayer in the car right before we went up
to the door. Right before we got out of the car, the man who we were
coming to visit walked out of his door to smoke. He saw us and we saw
him and we made awkward eye contact for about ten seconds before we
started to get out of the car. Between the time that we saw each other
and the time that we made it out of the car, he had disappeared. We went
to see if he was by his door, but when he wasn't there, we decided to
go to our next plans. As we were getting back in the car, we found the
man. He was crouching beside his car, trying to hide from us. It was so
awkward. We talked to him for just a second and then got into the car.
He could see us through the windows, so we had to keep our composure
until we made it around the corner. Then Hermana Vander Toolen and I
burst out laughing. We were laughing about how awkward the situation was
all night long.
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| [Translation: WARNING ... The driver will disappear in the Rapture] |
This week is the end of the
month and Hermana Vander Toolen has been a little stressed out about
miles. We are a little close to our limit, so we decided to become
BIKING MISSIONARIES! That's right, I have been on a bike for the last
couple of days. If you think that sister missionaries biking in skirts
sounds a little silly, let me be the first one to tell you that it
certainly is. We were on exchanges this week (With our new Sister
Training Leaders, Hermana Martineau and Hermana White) and Hermana White
and I were back together. The Dream Team. We started out biking on the
first day and it was actually really fun. We were able to talk to a lot
of people and we could actually get around pretty well. The second day,
it was not as fun. We had decided to go to an area that is a little bit
farther away than the first area that we biked in. That was problem
number one. Problem number two was that we were biking in a pretty
mountainous and deserty area. At one point, we realized that we had been
going the wrong way and that we had to turn around and walk the bikes
through the desert. When we got to an area where we could start to bike
again, we realized that we had a third problem. Hermana White's bike
tires were full of goat heads. I can't remember if I have already
written home about them, but goat heads are little thorns that are all
over the place. They stick in your shoes and are super sharp! Because of
the goat heads, both of the bike tires popped and we had to wait until
someone could come and rescue us from the desert. Eventually, we were
able to make it home and get back in the car.
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| Hermanas Blau, Van der Toolen, White, and Martineau |
Before
we started the exchanges, we were praying to find people and listening
to the impressions of the spirit to see what kind of investigators that
we would find. Two of us were feeling pretty strongly that we were
supposed to find a single man while the other two were feeling that we
were supposed to find a family. While Hermana Vander Toolen and Hermana
Martineau were out on exchanges, they ran into some people who fulfilled
both of the requirements. Carlos, who we have started to teach, is a
single man who's wife died a couple of years ago. He has one son and
lives with his brother and sister-in-law and their children. It turns
out that he had received a copy of the Book of Mormon from one of his
relatives and that he had been reading it for over two years. He said
that he had been waiting for missionaries to come up to his house and
talk to him. When they told him where the church was, he was super
excited that it was so close. I guess that he has always wanted to come
to one of our services.
Before church started,
we called Carlos to see if he was going to come and he said that he
would. Sacrament meeting started, but he still wasn't there. We texted
him and he said that he was on the way. When the sacrament hymn started,
he texted us and said that he was outside and that he didn't know how
to come in. We ran out side and did a lap around the church building
until we were able to find him. Eventually, we were saw him and we all
quickly, but reverently, walked into the chapel right in time for the
sacrament to start. It was super cool! Last night, we were able to go
over and teach him about the restoration. It was a super good lesson. He
has a lot of questions and I think that he really has a sincere desire
to learn more. Hopefully, he will continue to come to church and make
commitments. He is really cool!
Well, that is
about all for this week. We are starting to teach some people who are
really interested and who have a sincere desire to learn and to change.
We are already starting to see a lot of success in this area. We are
doing pretty well here and I have felt my faith grow each day! I love
being a missionary. Keep up the good work at home! I love you all.
Hermana Blau
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