Semana 8: Basically Christmas
Este semana fue bien chevere* (*This week was really cool). Just so good. Oxapampa remains lo maximo* (*the best)! Last P-day was full of frustration. We went to internet en la manana* (*in the morning), and the linea failed twice, so we were incredibly frustradas. However, a trip to Feliz Dia and a functioning internet changed that! We also started doing something where for each frustrating or negative thing that happens, we come up with five positive things. That’s been super helping. We took out money and rented bikes in the main part of Oxa and rode them out to Casablanca, a mini zoologico en route to Chontabamba! It is so cool. We got to see jaguars and all types of birds and rodents that looked like R.O.U.S.’s from Princess Bride and we got to play with monkeys! They attacked me and ate my hair, but it was a bien aventura! MONOS LOCOS* (*CRAZY MONKEYS). We then hung out in hamocas afuera, and another monkey attacked Elder Hernandez. Monkeys are kind of vicious and really like biting. That’s something I learned today. Elder Riser filmed the attack on Elder Hernandez, and it’s a good laugh! For lessons today, we read La Fortaleza de la Juventud* (*The Strength of Youth) con Mara and contacted.
Martes* (*Tuesday) began with a fun and incredibly long journey to Villarrica for un reunion de distrito! Our driver actually drove safely, meaning we didn’t get there until much later than expected. Our distrito es completamente gringos. It’s quite weird. But also fantastic. We talked about the importance of baptisms and practiced entrevistas bautismales* (*baptismal interviews). It was my first time ever even practicing an entrevista bautismal, so it was pretty hard, but it was really good. We didn’t end the meeting until 12, so we didn’t get back to Oxa until 2:30. Following this, we went to visit Jocelyn and taught about fe en Jesucristo* (*faith in Jesus Christ). Then we visited Mariella and gave her an entrevista bautismal (she’s a recent convert and menos activo) to see if there were any issues there that we could focus on. It went really well; she only doesn’t come to church because she has to take care of her baby and her little sister. Hopefully she can start coming and bringing them with her. Despues* (*After), we got to visit a fantastic sister named Veronisse. She is absolutely amazing. She is Hermana Luz’s sister. We talked to her about her life and shared a few videos de la Expiacion con ella* (*videos of the Atonement with her), and we bore testimony to her of the poder del sacrificio* (*power of sacrifice) expiatorio de Jesucristo and the great love He has for her. It was an incredible lesson and one in which I could really strongly feel the Spirit. Then we went to Hedvit for a noche de hogar* (*home evening) and she had forgotten about it, so we shared La Familia Proclamacion con ella. Tons of people haven’t ever seen or heard about that here. Then we visited Nadia and explained more about Progreso Personal con ella!
Miercoles* (*Wednesday)! Today began with more citas falling through. Eso es la vida* (*That’s life) en Oxapampa. We finally got to visit with someone, an investigator named Durania. We went over the Plan de Salvacion again and talked about Adan y Eva y La Caida* (*Adam and Eve and the fall) con ella. Despues, we got a bit lost on the way to a cita fijada*, (*scheduled appointment) but we eventually found Candi, a menos activo, in casa. She is tan buena! We talked about the Expiacion de Jesucristo and shared a video and it went really well! Then, we went and visited Hermana Elsa and shared Elder Holland’s testimony del Libro de Mormon con ella. It is tan poderoso! Then we went to visit Angelica, Mara’s grandmother, who is menos activo. She’s been taking care of her grandkids for a while now and she’s incredibly worried about all of them. She talked lots about her life and her worries, and we shared a video and talked about the fantastic influence Christ can have in our lives if we just let Him. Despues, we went to la capilla* (*the chapel) and watched Meet the Mormons with the elderes and their investigadores. This was accompanied by pan con manjar blanco toasted (the elderes bought a sandwich maker) and popcorn and broder. Good day!
Jueves* (*Thursday) was also a great day! Study this morning fue tan edificaz. I also began teaching Hermana Alva music theory and how to read music! We went por Julia, a contacto we made on Alva’s birthday para hoy* (*for today), but ella no estaba* (*it was not). After almuerzo* (*lunch), we went and got Luz and went to Jocelyn and finished teaching El Evangelio de Jesucristo and she asked us about convenios en el templo* (*covenants in the temple), so we explained a little bit about them and asked her to keep in mind la meta para ir al templo y ser sellado con su esposo y familia para eternidad* (*the goal to go to the temple and be sealed with her husband and family for eternity). Despues, we went to the terminal and picked up a FANTASTIC paquete de mi familia! It was really heavy and in a box, but we carried it back to our cuarto from the terminal and left it there to open later. Despues, fuimos por Mariella and we burned her a bit with the Dia de Reposo. We still don’t know quite how we can help her out. But we are working to find it! Then we visited Celeste, a recent rescue, and read 1 Ne 17 and 18 con ella. It was tan chistoso* (*so funny) because she kept confusing Nefi with Jose Smith en esos capitulos* (*in those chapters)! Following much waiting time for a contact we made named Lady, and her never showing, we went and visited Katty in her peluqueria* (*hair salon) and shared some scriptures with her and got to know her better. We went to Noche de Deporte* (*Sports Night) and, instead of playing, I taught Hna Alva and E Hernandez some piano.
Viernes* (*Friday) began with planificacion semanal y almuerzo* (*weekly planning and lunch), and despues we planned in a manera mas eficaz* (more effective manner), so we were super agradecida por eso* (*thankful for that)! We started with a visit to Celeste y Arlety. We showed the video de La Restauracion and waited for them to change and accompany us to our citas later in the day. Then we went por Claudia, a contact we made the other day. She is tan buena!!! She has cuyes, pollos, gallinas, polvos, gatos, y perros* (*guinea pigs, chickens, powders, cats, and dogs)! We gave her a base intro of our message and left her a Libro de Mormon with la introduccion as tarea. I’ve got a good feeling about our nueva investigadora. Despues, Celeste y Arlety left, and we went to Nadia’s house to do a preentrevista bautismal. We gave it memorized, so that was a fantastic accomplishment! She surprised us by saying she’s received answers to all of her prayers about the veracidad del evangelio* (*truthfulness about the gospel). Solo falta los mandamientos* (*the commandments) in more detail! We moved her bautismal date from the 16th of April to the 30th, and we are pretty confident that she’ll make this goal. Despues, we visited the Castro sisters, menos activos, and shared a video de la Santa Cena* (*of the Sacrament). Following this, Hna Alva and I had the lesson for Noche Misional, and we talked about the power of esperanza en Cristo and shared the historia de John Rowe Moyle in video form. Despues, I taught some more piano! Good times.
En Sabado* (*Saturday), I started teaching Hermana Alva the basics of kickboxing! This was followed by great study time. Primeramente, citas fell through. Pero despues, we visited Brigitt, a converso reciente, and read La Fortaleza de la Juventud con ella! Then we visited Durania and taught her about our proposito en la vida* (*purpose in life), contacted, and visited Lydia and taught her about Eter 12! Then we taught simple prayers in English in Clase de Ingles and then taught Angelica about the story of Lot’s wife and the importance of not looking back.
Sunday was a day without church meetings because of elections, so we worked like a normal day and did a LOT of contacting and visiting menos activos! We also taught Andrea, an investigadora we got from the elderes. We shared a video with her and talked about the power of Christ’s love.
Fantastic week! We are going to Villarrica today for P-day and staying there until tomorrow.
Con todo mi amor y mis oraciones para siempre, Hermana Schmid
(*italic translations by Karissa's mom using google translate)
