Poor sick companero

My stash of healthy food.

July 22, 2015

         Well today was sweet!  I really had fun with our p-day which I will explain, but everything was overshadowed by the incredible lesson that we had today.  So for p-day we essentially just did a CRAZY workout in insanity (the 2 hardest workouts back to back) and then we planned a lesson.  Usually we don’t have a lot of time during the week to plan our lessons, so today it was a great use of our p-day.

Miracle #301:  This is a really long miracle.  A week ago we met a family who seemed very nice but we really didn’t know how it would turn out.  Today we had our first real lesson with them. It was amazing.  The spirit was mind-blowing throughout the whole lesson and Elder Furner and I were super unified.  During the lesson, I was guided by the spirit to say things that I’ve never said in ways I’ve never spoken. Throughout the entire lesson I also had the desire to invite them to be baptized.  My mom had just emailed me a message today about the importance of being bold and extending baptismal invitations.  So, with a lot of trepidation, I extended the invitation and they accepted the invitation!

         The mother commented to us that when we shared our message with her with such happiness, she felt curiosity piquing and the beginnings of the spirit witnessing to her the truth of our message.

July 23, 2015

         Today was tolerable.  We did our weekly planning while at the same time making whole wheat crepes.  They were so good!  After planning, we started setting companionship goals and we both decided that we need to shift into high gear.  It is so great to have a comp. who has a high gear to shift into!   

         Other than that, my day was rather diarrhea filled.  I don’t know what was in our lunch, but it did not sit well with me at all.  On the bright side, my time on the toilet was well used memorizing scriptures.  We had a fun family home evening with Perez Guzman.

Miracle #302: A less active member we have been teaching went on divisions with us today and she remembered all of the things that we have been teaching her and applied it to the lesson.

         The funny part of the day was talking about the plethora of Chilean sayings that I have been learning.  When the Chileans spout these idioms, I can now understand them. I may not have a 100% Latin accent, but I am now able to understand everything that I hear.  I need to keep working hard on the language so that I can master it in the next year. 

July 24, 2015

         This week is a heck of a lot slower that last we.  We haven’t been able to find all of the best people in our sector and it is so frustrating.  Everyone who was progressing kindof disappeared.  I lost my last agenda which doesn’t help us either.  It is really hard to find people when you don’t have their contact info.  Elder Furner and I did alright today with everything.  The only bad part of the day was some of the wastes of time that the members had us do.

Miracle #303: Rosita got over her fear leaving with missionaries today.  We didn’t have a lesson for her because it fell through, but she still went out with us and it was a good experience.

         The funny part of the day was probably stretching tonight with my companion.  He cannot stretch at all.  But we are determined to improve his flexibility!  It was also funny when both me and my companion were practically falling asleep in the visit we made to our old senile friend.  I am still not entirely sure how long we were there…but neither is Elder Furner.

July 25, 2015

         Today had the potential to be a lot better of a day than it turned out to be.  We ended up contacting for around 2 hours and found some good people.  It was the first day that we really have done contacting as a companionship and I really enjoyed working with Elder F. Right now, my comp and I are stretching and writing in our journals so it is hard to concentrate…but it is an efficient use of our time.

         So today we had some rough lessons which were made even less pleasant by the fact that we were fasting.  Fasting is getting easier for me, but still I am definitely not a fan. 

Miracle #304: We got a last minute division with a member so that we could go and visit a single woman and teach a lesson.

         The funny part of the day was the huge waste of time that turned out to be our last two lessons.  We brought an old talkative man to visit an old talkative woman.  We sat there for WAY too long not knowing how to start the lesson, then we didn’t know how to end it. I was exhausted all day today so we are sleeping in a tiny bit more tomorrow (in other words we will get up less early than usual.) This sector is tiring.

July 26, 2015

         I’m sick of Chilean church.  The talks that people give here are so confrontational and given without love.  I miss the spiritual talks given in the states.  The saddest part for me is hat I know what it should be like and how powerful the spirit can be in sacrament meeting.  I suppose that I will go home and appreciate what I have a whole lot more because of my experience here. Other than that, church was all right.  We had some decent visits with the people we teach, and our fast turned out really well.

Miracle #305: We were fasting for a few people and one of them came to church today.  We found another one of them right after church after over a week of being unsuccessful in finding him.

         The funny part of the day was seeing the Chilean justice system work today.  As a preface, you need to know that the Chilean police are so poor that the civilians take matters into their own hands. So, instead of having a house alarm that calls the police, their alarms set of a siren that alerts everyone in the neighborhood so that everyone comes running out of their house with guns and running around like a bunch of batmans.

July 27, 2015

         Today turned out to be a good day. It started out with a really weird lesson with R. where he told us that he wanted to retaliate against a man who wants to kill him.  Naturally, we advised him not to do anything. After that lesson, we went to interviews with the president.  I miraculously did not get chewed out in this interview.  He told me that someday I might be a good leader if I could get control of my pride.  It looks like I won’t be getting a responsibility any time soon. (oh dang)  This afternoon absolutely everything fell through and we ended up having a blast knocking doors.  We actually found a lot of new people that I am looking forward to teaching.

Miracle #306: We got to he end of about 4 hours of contacting while having fun the whole time.

         The funny part of the day was when Elder Furner wasn’t feeling well so he laid down for a rest.  He said, “My whole body hurst!”  I told him that he could be getting a fever and should take some ibuprofen.  He refused to believe me. Then a few minutes later he said he was nauseous and had a headache.  So I repeated myself and he refused to believe me again.  Then he started getting chills which is when I said, “Elder, you say that you don’t have a fever, but you are describing fever symptoms.  Take ibuprofen and you will feel better.”  He finally conceded and took the meds.

July 28, 2015

         Well my comp was sick today, so we were in the house most of the day.  It wasn’t an entirely unproductive day, however because I organized the crapily make contacts list in our cell phone (almost an hour) and updated our area book (the rest of said hour). 

I have spent way to many days in the house in this sector.  Between the soccer tournament, lazy companion, frustration, and disease…possibly 3-5 entire days worth of time have been spent inside.  While I was in today, I read a ton of the Bible.  It really wasn’t a bad day except for the fact that we had a ton of citas set up. Oh well, my comp. is a good hard-working elder and he needed the rest.

Miracle #307: When we left to do morning contacts at 8:00, we taught a lesson!

         The funny part of the day was making fun of Chile in a way.  I have decided that when I hear the word “Chilena” (Chilean woman), the image that pops into my head is a really attractive 20 year old woman with a 3-5 year old kid latched onto her leg and maybe another one on her hip.  Seriously, it is a common site here. The fun part of the day was working on a musical number with Elder Furner.  We are singing the words of “Divina Luz” to a special version of “Savior, Redeemer of my Soul.”  For the last verse, I made up some sweet harmony parts for me to sing.  We are psyched for it.