HG [Samantha's companion] and I walk everywhere. Our area is not too big but its
LONG so we walk A LOT. La capilla [the chapel] is about a 15 minute walk from our house so
not too bad. We never get to go to the temple unless an investigator is getting
sealed.... missionary rules :( triste.
That cardboard cutout of me is so creepy... where does it
live?
Samantha made a guest appearance in Park City
(cardboard cutout courtesy of her Grandma Mimi)
Your adventures sound so fun and I can't wait to see you all
again! Too bad that won't be for like.. 16 months more..
I don't know if I'll be able to send pictures on this
computer but I will try! In case I can't here's a cool story from last night...
So we were teaching this lady (let's call her Maria) that we
always teach 'cause she lives super close to us, and her 2 daughters and niece
are all members (not active at all but they always come out and listen to us
when we come over) and she really wants to be baptized but she can't cause
she's not married to this guy she lives with (we'll call him Juan). And Juan
doesn't want to get baptized. And a lot of the time when we come over he's
outside drinking with his friends and is always drunk and never wears a shirt
and I don't know... we avoid them whenever they're drunk cause they scare us.
But yesterday HG invited them (I guess invited isn't the right word cause HG is
rather... persuasive. its more like commanded) to sit and listen. So there's two
drunk guys with their beers listening to me try to talk about coming unto
Christ and being perfected in Him. Then one guy starts saying stuff that
apparently isn't very nice so Maria and her niece escort him inside. And then Juan starts arguing with HG about why we don't worship Guadalupe and get
baptized as babies and all this stuff that doesn't make any sense. And HG
perfectly logically explains everything perfect using the scriptures and
everything. And then the topic turns to why he should get married 'cause his
family would be stronger and if he loves Maria he should marry her so she can
get baptized and they can be a happy family and all that jazz, and Maria jumps
in and starts talking about how hard it is for her when he's always drinking
and she just wants to be a family and everyone's talking over each other and it's
pretty tense. But long story short, we have a date for them to get married!
January 28th! And I probably will get transferred to another area next week so I don't think I'll see it...:( Also, Juan was drunk so who knows how reliable
his commitment is. But I don't know. I just feel like in the mission you have
so much hope for people and know that they can change.
This week we had a lot of
people that argued with us(HG) about our church and she got pretty discouraged
but I had a math teacher that once told me, when arguing with someone, you will
never change their mind, even if you're right, and they know it, and you know
they know it, they will never admit to it cause they're too set in their ways.
But what you do is plant a seed, and over time, they will come to realize that
they are wrong and they will change.
So if bearing our testimony is all we can
do, well that's probably the best thing we can do. Over time the Spirit will
work on them and they'll be curious about what we said and look more into our
church and then down the road when other missionaries find them, they'll be
ready to listen. Anywho, those are my palabras de sabiduria [words of wisdom ] for this century.
Sorry I can't tell you more whats going on, trust me, there's a lot [Samantha has to travel to an internet cafe to receive and send emails and she only has one hour every week to do it , which apparently goes by VERY quickly!] Maybe next week I'll tell a funny story about baptizing a cat. Or a sad story about little kids
torturing a cat. Or a cute story about a newborn cat I saw yesterday. There's
lots of cats here. Tune in next week (especially you Shelley) to find out what
happens next in the exciting adventures of this gringa in Mexico! todaloo!
Hermana Smith
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