Week 11: The Week I got Alva Addicted to Mentos
Fantastic week- it went simultaneously quite rapido y lento! Raro. Pero bien.:)* (*fast and slow! Rare. But well.)
Last Monday was a very long day. We biked 30 mins to Chontabamba (the Oxa elderes and us) and went to Rancho Victoria, where we met loros* (*parrots) that said "Hola!" when we walked up (bien asustante, jaja!* (*while frightening, hahah!)) We also saw horses, trouts, tortugas, and a sloth! We talked to a worker there named Gina and found out she lived close to the capilla* (*chapel). We just talked to her, normal conversation, sin invitando a ella para venir a la capilla* (*without inviting her to come to the chapel)- and when we had to go, she just straight up said she would come! :) Most casual and cool contact yet. Then we got back and got directly into a taxi to go to La Merced and San Ramon for a capacitacion de las hermanas* (*sister training). We traveled at NIGHT (disallowed by mision peru huancayo rules) but we were authorized by our lideres de zona para hacerlo... entonces, esta bien!* *(our zone leaders to do…so it was ok) We got there late and had the capacitacion where we talked about listening to our investigators deeply to find their need. It was really good. :) We had cake for dinner and set up in rooms on matresses that weren't even close to long enough for me (la vida* (*life)).
On Tuesday, we got up early to travel all of us hermanas to La Merced for our conferencia de zona! Our zona right now is Hermanas Cruz (CA), Keeler, Alva, yo, Bujra, her mini misionera companera, Cruz (MX), and Gaspar, and Elderes Giles, Ayala, Rasmussen, Bell, Hernandez, Riser, Cunningham, and Egan! It's mostly gringos, but still incredibly fun. We had a capacitacion, took zone pictures, and then filmed video segments in companionships for a farewell video to Presidente and Hermana Henderson! It'll be sad to see them go. :( We all ate hamburgers at the pension of the zone leaders before Cruz (MX), Gaspar, yo, y Alva went back to San Ramon to do divisiones. San Ramon es bien bonito- but also FEASSO because of the heat. It's la muerte* (*death). I was with Hna Cruz and we visited a few of her investigators and menos activos. I forgot to bring my watter bottle, so I almost died of dehydration today. Bad plans. After cena, Alva y yo planned and talked; we're both incredibly animada to regresar a nuestra area manana* (*excited to return to our area tomorrow)!
On Wednesday, we were BACK IN OXA! Bendiciones* (*blessings). :) We got back in time for lunch after study time in San Ramon and went straight to our investigator, Antonio! I shared the "Scientific Method of Fe" with him- o sea, how we can hypothesize, study it out, and ask God to know if it is true- just like scientific experiments. :) We talked about faith and the Book of Mormon. Then we went to Angelica, another investigadora que tenemos and SHE DID HER HOMEWORK! We gave the lesson of the Restauracion. She's got a great desire to know more. :) We then went to Mariella, a converso reciente* (*recent convert), and shared Alma 5. After lots of citas fell through, we visited Geraldine, a converso reciente de los elderes that they just gave us. We shared about our potencial divina* (*divine potential). Despues, we went to a noche de hogar* (*home night) with the elderes to La Familia Tabraj and taught about testimonies. Era chevere. :)
En Jueves, I woke up after a dream that my next area will be somewhere in Huancayo, so vamos a ver!* (*we’ll see) I wouldn't be mad- I miss the cold. We went to lots of citas fijadas* (*set appointments) that completely fell through today. We finally got to see Jocelyn and taught her La Familia and the blessings of temple sealings. We finally also got to see Rosa, a menos activo, after much wandering around Oxa, and we talked about being ejemplos of the believers and standing strong and true no matter what! We also got to visit with another menos activo, Angelica, and we shared DyC 128:22-23 and talked about being strong and of a good courage, alegre* (*cheerful), and defendant of the truth we have! :) Noche de deportes was rainy, so Hna Alva and I played card games with an hermana from the ward and I taught Alva some more piano. Super baccan. :)
Viernes! I will say, today fue bien frustrante* (*was very frustrating). Nobody was in casa. Our first four citas fijadas fell through, so we contacted in mini divisiones en el parque for an hour- yo con Luz y Alva con Maruja. We then got to teach Carmen, a menos activo, and taught her the Restauracion. Sometimes all people need is a reconfirmacion of the truth; there's no rule about praying more than once for answers. We always can. :) We had citas fijadas falling through the whole day, but we finally found Arletti, an investigadora que tenemos and she was having a really hard day and was incredibly sad. We sang Did You Think to Pray with her, and while we were singing, the word gracia stuck out at me. Entonces, we taught her about gracia and prayer. It was an incredible lesson and we could tell she felt something. :) We also visited the Familia Martinez and ended up teaching the father, who is not a member, for the first time. We read DyC 18:10 with him and talked about the worth of souls. Despues, we went to Noche Misional and watched a video about Vincenzo di Francesca, the first person baptized on the island of Sicily. Such a cool video. We also taught the kids to play ninja, and for some reason they found it much less entretenido* (*entertaining) than we do. Must be an American thing. :)
En Sabado, I had some pretty chevere estudio personal and finished 1 Nefi! We planned next Pday, a pday de las hnas aqui en Oxa, and had great almuerzo. Today was no exception in the week of fallen through citas; we wandered around the whole city looking for a lesson. We taught Jocelyn, a converso reciente, about the Plan of Salvation- an equally hilarious and spiritual lesson! We were talking about the Spirit World and, to explain paradise and prison, Alva set up two pictures- for paradise, one of Christ; and for prison, a ward directory of Barrio Oxapampa :D It was absolutely hilarious and really hard for me to recover from, I was laughing so hard! Regardless, it was a fantastic lesson! Then we taught Rosa and Verenisse and shared Mosiah 24 and how Christ can help us vencer cada prueba * (*beat each test). Then we went to Clase de Ingles and taught pronunciacion and los estados! Citas have been falling through all over this week, but the weather's been colder and fantastic, I love my compi, I love the work, and I love the area- entonces, no hay problema. :)
Sunday ended the streak of painful difficulty to find lessons! We got to teach eight lessons today!:) After fantastic church meetings, we went and taught Geraldine about albedrio y responsabilidad* (*will and responsibility) (from the Strength of Youth). Following this, we went to Yisela Quispe and taught about fe and shared 1 Ne 21. We then taught Familia Martinez about Caridad* (*charity). :) Following this, we walked lejos* (*far) to Brigitt, a converso reciente and read about la familia y amistades* (*family and friends) in the Strength of Youth and the goal del templo. Despues, we taught Familia Arrieta about La Familia before going to Mariella and reading La Familia tambien! Despues, we visited an investigadora Rosicela and taught fe y arrepentimiento!* (*faith and repentance) :) We ended the day talking about gratitud con Mara and helping her with English homework. :) We finished the day absolutely exhausted, but it was a fantastic day- eficaz y edificaz. Trabajemos duro* (*effective and efficient. We worked hard)! :)
Today, we are having the pday de las hermanas here and going back to Chontabamba! Alva trimmed my hair this morning and I curled hers (she was a cosmetologist in the States) and we cleaned lots. :)
Con amor y mis oraciones para siempre jamas,* (*With love and prayers for ever and ever,)
Hermana Schmid
(*italic translations by Karissa's mom using google translate)
