Well I didn't really take my notes during sacrament about what I'm going to write today...and this week, and bunch of little like crazy random things happened so it's going to be more like a list, plus there is some crazy awesome techo blasting in here so i'ts a little hard to focus with me getting up and dancing every 5 seconds...soooooooo ya... This week went by like the first week in the MTC....slooooooooooooooooooooow, but was really filled with great things.
We taught a ton of people and taught BARRRRRRRRIOS de inactivos and then filled the church on Sunday... there were ALMOST not enough seats. Luckily some of the moms put their children on their laps so we could all fit. In our new mission plan we made with our ward mission leader we focused a lot on reactivating a lot of the inactives. About 400 of them actually, and we are going to try to visit 30 families that we have selected ever week...and we got a TON to church this week...all they need is just a tinnnnnnnnnnny little push sometimes or a visit from us and they're there. I think the reactivating skills learned in Tetela are coming into play a lot here. So ya, that was awesome, plus we had 2 other non-member families in sacrament meeting. One we are teaching and the other just moved in---so we WILL be teaching them.
We taught a ton of people and taught BARRRRRRRRIOS de inactivos and then filled the church on Sunday... there were ALMOST not enough seats. Luckily some of the moms put their children on their laps so we could all fit. In our new mission plan we made with our ward mission leader we focused a lot on reactivating a lot of the inactives. About 400 of them actually, and we are going to try to visit 30 families that we have selected ever week...and we got a TON to church this week...all they need is just a tinnnnnnnnnnny little push sometimes or a visit from us and they're there. I think the reactivating skills learned in Tetela are coming into play a lot here. So ya, that was awesome, plus we had 2 other non-member families in sacrament meeting. One we are teaching and the other just moved in---so we WILL be teaching them.
District meeting was great this week. I taught because I am their new leader. We talked about opening our mouths again and getting out there and contacting. It was sweet---we sat in a circle and talked about opening our bocas and shared experiences....wayyyyyyyy awesome. Oh and they gave me a phone...POR FIN!!! GLORIA A DIOS!!! Now i can call Tetala and talk to Almeida all the time :) Oh...after I left Tetela a bunch of people went inactive.. :( kinda lame. Claudia doesn't want to go to church now, Alejandro is just drunk every day, and I don't know if I told you but he and his brother put a new bar in the middle of their houses, and they are going to have girls dancing in it.....ya..great huh. Good examples. Chucho doesn't want to go to church for two years now...BUT Almeidas comp read all the manuals and kicked Hermana Bety, the president's wife out of presidenta de Relief Society FINAAAAAAALY and they say she cries about it every day and just goes with her other friend that she makes rumors with. She hasn't given the missionaries food in 2 weeks. Pathetic. Little Winers there. But anyways I talked to Chucho this week when he was with the elders, and we talked for 10 minutes about everything and it was really good for him I think. I think I really left an impression on him and became one of his really good friends....kinda weird cause I didn't really think so, but the other elders told me that after I left, and he was way excited to talk to me. Really cool though, I talked to him about everything and I hope he goes back to church. I talked with Alejandro too...that guy is hilarious--he was a little tomado I think when I talked to him but he's all good, he has a major drinking problem, and knows he does and knows he should be in church. He goes for the first hour still though--sometimes hah. It was WONDERFUL talking to him though, it was hilarious, it was like a huge joke the whole time---he's a funny guy, and I kinda just stick it to him for drinking and bringing chicks to dance in his bar, but he loves me. :) He said he's gonna come visit me one of these days when he comes down here and we will go to burger king. :) Its been awesome talking to Almeida though. We just joke around the whole time, its so much fun, probably the highlight of my nights and the highlight of this week hah. I love that kid. That chubby little fat Chilean. He's still eating well he tells me.
I talked with this guy this week who said Jesus was a drunker and that's why he is a drinker! I was like---so you think Jesus walked around drunk? He pretty much said yes and I had to explain to him that it was more like JUICE and wasn't alcohol like today....this is like the 10th time I've had to explain this....they are ridiculous. He said we could visit him but only if we brought the cervesa....nahhhh..
We walked SUPER far.
We introduced Armando to Juan at Herbalife to be his friend in church. Passed by his house Sunday with a member---not HOME...pshhhhhh lame. we visited him like 3 times too and he told us he would come....a lo mejor something came up and he couldn't come. We went to the Muñoz family for lunch the other day---greatest lunch of the mission ... it was crazy. They are the ones we went to africam with. So we get to their house, then go finned their kids at school then get back and eat, and she brings out spinage with mushrooms, and nobody likes mushrooms...So all the plates are on the table and Shelby (the older one) and her mom are in the kitchen, and Ashley, the little fencer one, puts her mushrooms on Shirley's plate--so obvi I was like GENIUS child, so obviously I put some of MY mushrooms in Shirley's spinage too and then Ashley goes to do it again but Shirley is about to come back in so she sits down BUT while she is reaching back over to her area she knocks her coke off the table and under the glass-wood table and her mom got super mad and then like 20 minutes into eating we start talking about it, and that little child Ashley starts telling her mom it was MY fault the coke spilled pshhhhhhhh cause her mom believes her, but then I was like NO---if I'm going down, I shall take thee with me...so I was like NO NO NO NO hermana, I will tell you the full story hahahaha so I told about the mushrooms (shirley had already eaten all of her mushrooms) and then said Ashley...she started it all...and shirley was in shock the entire time and everyone was laughing and it was so much fun...that is the best family EVER . But then I had to deal with all this translating and drama that Shirley creates with she and Brian Reeves (pres. 17 year old son) ahhah shes a total drama queen...and Brian is there and is normal but Shirley makes things super complicated and thinks he hates her and stuff--draaaaaaama....long story though. But the Munoz family is awesome and I love them, and we just make them laugh the whole time when we go over there.
My comp taught some merida resepi (oh my gosh i cant spell) its called Chinito Pibil and its super good and about 30 people showed up to the activity, all women of course. And it took like 3 hours to do and cook and stuff but it was SOOOOOOOOO good!!! While we were waiting for it to all cook Pech and I went outside and played in the rain with some kid on the basketball court and I made a 3\4 court shot and then ALMOST made a full court shot KICKING it like 4 times....it was leeeeeeegit....if it would've gone in that would've been sooooo cool...then Pech and I headered the basketball back and forth in the rain 10 times and then he headed it in.....TEAM WORK....one of the sickest things ever that has happened cause the headers were all over the place and then we got it in, well he did...it was SOOOOOOOO cool...way fun though.
I went into this house to eat this week. It would have been hell(o) for Erica Hawkins. 50 cats ALLL OVER the couches and on these cardboard things on the floor and just ALLLL over in this tiny house...it was so terrible...i couldn't even breath because of the smell of cat hair. I told the hermana I was a little allergic to cats hoping she would do something like keep the door open or something but nooooooope...then I asked her if she could open the window for me but it was broken and only opened a little. It was disgusting, but I really hope Erica...that you get this WONDERFUL experience too when you go on your mish. :) She also had 5 dogs in there too---and this place was SUPER small...ew. Anyway, the dogs had like tumors all over them and were itching themselves and it was nasty and I'm lucky I survived...
The right side of my face got super swollen----I don't know why. PLEASE SEND ME BENEDRYL though. It was like when my eye got swollen that one night...Chase, Rachel and Erica remember...it was SOOOO weird. But it was like that and I couldn't look down...you might be able to see it in my pictures I'm sending. One of the pictures I took is in my king chair. Another is a spelling error at a school----oh those good Mexican schools. Then me cutting some grass. Some awesome sign in a bathroom. Then what the food from the activity looked like.
Ok...now here's a crazy one for you. We go teach Marcela one night and we get talking with her and then like 30 minutes into it she tells us her sister died THE DAY BEFORE---and her sister is a member (didn't know that) but of a heart failure---crazy huh. So after her we went to comfort the family, because one of the members is her son, and we went and told the bishop and he came and we did a service there, in the house, and the catholic one was the next day...but it was way crazy and we shared a message and sang....I do not like dead bodies. I went up to look at her, ehhhh serioulsy I feel so weird, and I don't know if this is terrible to say or not, but seriously I'm so friken terrified that shes going to wake up or something or open her eyes and scare me!! seriously!! and I just have this weird feeling, maybe its cause her spirit isn't there anymore or something---I don't know...don't like it though...closed caskets = good. The next day we went over there too after our lunch appointment and Miguel, her son, wanted us to give a blessing over the body, or say a prayer right next to it...SOOOOOOO I did it. I said a prayer over a dead body...crazy stuff. It was a crazy weird prayer too, I cant really describe what I said though...it was nice though. but WEIRD right...that's a once in a lifetime thing. Then after we went to visit the Gonzalez family cause the hermana needed a blessing. So we were waiting with her mom, who needed the blessing, and we were waiting for her daughter to come back, and she was watching some program about aliens...she TOTALLY believes it all bhahahahah it was so funny. Oh and that picture of me in the hat was at this time. She believes in the ghosts and in the middle of the program, I scared my comp at one part and at another I started to make "alien" noises. It was so great. The hermana thought it was the show at first. After the show, I gave my first blessing in mexico, waaaaaaaait maybe the second....KINDA crazy huh...cause I have my Mexican companions, so I just tell them I will anoint and they can say the blessing cause they speak better...but this time I manned up and said it :) It was great---it's kinda a crazy feeling you get when you give a blessing :) the Hermana cried too---so that means I did it well. :)
Esteban Muñoz gave the opening prayer in church!!! ahhh hes GREAT!! So glad hes a strong one in the church now. Ya crazy awesome stuff going on here....I'm lovin it. Lots more but I can't remember. I did have the LARGEST semita ever the other day though. I love avocados. I'm now almost though the D&C....it's so great, learning so much more than last time. Lots of great spiritual experiences this week, but they are in my journal. I WROTE IN MY JOURNAL A TON THIS WEEK MOM!!! and drew myself pictures :) and I had some crazy awesome dreams too!!! yessssss! Now it just gets to the rambling part cause I have nothing else big to write but just KNOW that I KNOW the church is true and I LOVE my mission and it's so fun to get out there and serve every day and I'm absolutely loving it.
Esteban Muñoz gave the opening prayer in church!!! ahhh hes GREAT!! So glad hes a strong one in the church now. Ya crazy awesome stuff going on here....I'm lovin it. Lots more but I can't remember. I did have the LARGEST semita ever the other day though. I love avocados. I'm now almost though the D&C....it's so great, learning so much more than last time. Lots of great spiritual experiences this week, but they are in my journal. I WROTE IN MY JOURNAL A TON THIS WEEK MOM!!! and drew myself pictures :) and I had some crazy awesome dreams too!!! yessssss! Now it just gets to the rambling part cause I have nothing else big to write but just KNOW that I KNOW the church is true and I LOVE my mission and it's so fun to get out there and serve every day and I'm absolutely loving it.
OH one last thing....I played UNO with my neighbors last night until 10:30...they are members. They live a foot away from us. The neighbor's sister came over and their crazy children played around and we played some hard core uno and ate jelly beans and shared 1 or 2 starburst and just made them laugh and ya---great night. They are the BEST!! It was SO much fun. They are the ones with the castle in the picture. I brought my dog shooter over to show her parents cause they wanted to see it and they all think its the funniest thing in the world hahaha ahhhh so easily entertained---love it.
The families we taught last week weren't at their houses this week---we passed by a ton but they weren't there. We will again visit this week though...pray for them...they were super good investigators.
I found some good quotes too..
"Who makes timid requests, invites denial."
"Every kick in the pants sends a real man forward."
Yup thats all folks.
Elder Bertha
Love YOUUUUUUUUUU!!!
God Bless America.
