Week 15: Casi la Muerte* (*Nearly Death)
Pensamientos Espirituales* (*Spiritual thoughts) for all of you from this week:
Alma 7: 11-12
“May we maintain the courage to defy the consensus. May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.” – Monson
“There is no life sho shattered that it cannot be rebuilt.”- Uchtdorf
This week was a fantastic and difficult one, filled with ups and downs. La vida misional, realmente* (*Missionary life, really). :) But no se preocupe* (*no worries), all is well here in Oxa!
Lunes!* (*Monday!) La ultima pday tuvimos un pday de zona in la Merced!* (*The last preparation day we had a pday in the Merced area!) We left Oxa early and torrential downfall of rain hit when we got there… sin chompas ni paraguas* (*no jackets or umbellas). We did Internet with the Villaricans before all separating for a fast lunch. Alva and I got empanadas de carne de res con keke* (*beef empanadas with keke) and met at the capilla* (*chapel) to start our hour and a half viaje* (*trip) to a catarata* (*waterfall) between La Merced and Pichanaki! Alva and I ran-hiked up to the waterfall and beat everyone. With the rain and the crazy mist, the waterfall was insanely high and we were bien mojadas* (*very wet)! All of the elders, Hermana Delgado and I went under the waterfall! It was bien chevere* (*very cool), but horrible for photos- since we didn’t want to ruin our cameras, mejor no jaja* (*we didn’t take any pictures- haha). We traveled back to Oxa still a bit wet and freezing cold, and I got letters from my mother and Sue and Brian Richardson (mission presidents in Quito Norte) and a package from home full of goodies and a new camera! Era una dia bien chevere* (*it was a really cool day). :)
Martes* (*Tuesday), after chevere study of Uchtdorf’s talk from April’s conference and estudio multi-idioma* (*multi-language study) of Italian, French, German, and Spanish, we visited with Carmen, a menos active* (*less active), and taught her about a question she had about the Anticristo* (*Anti-Christ). Despues* (*Then), we got to visit with Jocelyn, a converso reciente* (*recent convert), and taught her about enfocando en valores familiars* (*focusing on family values). Then, after walking bastante* (*enough) to no avail, we visited with our investigadora Rosicela and taught her about saliendo con jovenes del sexo opuesto del FLJ* (*dating the opposite sex from the Strength of Youth). Despues, we visited Lydia Soto, a menos activo, and taught her about 2 Nefi 4 before going to Katty, a menos active, and teaching her 1 Nefi 21. Celeste, a recien rescatado, was next- we taught her Alma 47. Then, we visited Rita, a menos active, and shared about how trials will be for our good. An exhausting day, but, alas, a good one. :)
Miercoles* (*Wednesday) was by far and away the most interesting day of the mission so far… a sick day spent in bed. I woke up with a fever, headache, stomach pains, nausea, weakness, and feeling freezing cold. I got up and tried to do exercises and didn’t have the strength to move after sitting down, so I ended up laying down to rest and being in and out of it for the rest of the day, taking some pills the health secretary called and gave us, and, at around 6:00 pm, feeling absolutely none the better, we called the elders for a bendicion de salud* (*blessing of health). I felt more strength immediately after the blessing ended. I rested the rest of the night; I’m super grateful for such a helpful companion and priesthood blessings today. Seguimos mejorando!* (*We keep improving) :)
Jueves* (*Thursday) I woke up with the same stomach pains, nausea, and headache, but I had strength sufficient to get up and go to work! :) In the morning, we visited with Ayde, a fantastic menos active, and taught her Alma 36. Despues de almuerzo*( *After lunch), fuimos para visitor a* (*we went to visit) Jocelyn, a converso reciente, and we talked about the importance of spending time juntos* (*together) as a familia. Then we went to Mariella, a converso reciente, and read about las amistades y la gratitud de FLJ con ella*(*friendship and gratitude from the Strength of Youth). Despues, we went and taught Rosa, a woman who owns a cevicheria* (*seafood restaurant) with her menos active* (*less active) boyfriend and their baby. Apparently some elders visited her four years ago, but now we’re here! We taught her about prayer and introduced ourselves and shared Alma 7:11-12 with her. Era tan chevere* (*it was so cool). :) Despues, tuvimos Noche de Deporte!* (*Then, we had a sports night) We played volleyball a ton and then Alva and I talked to our investigators and menos activos for a while. Despues, I was super happy to go home and rest. Mejor cada dia* (*Better every day). :)
On Friday, Alva got peed on by a dog; her official bienvenido a Peru* (*welcome to Peru) after casi un ano aqui, jaja* (*after almost a year here, haha)! :) The morning consisted of studies and weekly planning in the park. After lunch, we visited Maria and Yheni, a menos activo and investigator, and taught them about faith. Despues, we went arriba* (*went) and taught two viejitos* (*old people) we found a bit ago about fe y oracion* (*faith and prayer) and how faith needs action to grow and develop. After lots of walking around finding nobody en casa (Fridays are the worst for this- everyone works, and today was a fiesta as well), we went to Rosicela, our investigator, and taught about vestimiento y apariencia del FLJ con ella* (*clothing and appearance from The Strength of Youth with her). Despues, we taught Noche Misional* (*Mission Night) about the importance of treating everybody with their divine nature in mind with a fun object lesson- people wrote down names of people they hated and put them in a bag and smashed it (along with a surprise photo of Jesus inside)and then names of people they loved in another and hugged it (also with a picture of Jesus). It was HILARIOUS to see the reactions when we pulled out the pictures of Christ. J Una dia chevere y chistoso* (*One fun and humorous day). :)
En Sabado* (*On Saturday), we began the day traveling to Villa Rica for a reunion de distrito* (*district meeting). Despues de una capacitacion a cerca del Espiritu Santo* (*After training about the Holy Ghost), we talked about our investigators and took some pictures before heading back to Oxa, where we were pleasantly surprised by a lunch of spaghetti! :) After lunch, we visited with our investigadora de oro* (*golden investigator), Angelica, and committed her to live the Palabra de Sabiduria* (*Word of Wisdom)! She said she believes that it’s from God. She’s so cool and ready. :) Then we talked about families with Jimena, a converso reciente* (*recent convert), before going to Rosa, a menos activo, and talking about Eter 12: 27 and the power of perdon* (*forgiveness). Despues, we had clase de ingles* (*English class) and it was tan chevere y chistoso! Then we had a noche de hogar* (*Family Home Evening) with the Familia Martinez, where we shared about la vida preterrenal and la expiacion* (*premotal life and life after death). :)
Domingo!* (*Sunday!) After chevere reunions en la capilla* (*great reunions in the chapel) and lunch of arroz chaufa* (*fried rice), we went and talked with Vanessa, a menos activo, for a bit before going to Geraldine, a converso reciente who’s really difficult to find at home, and teaching her about gratitude- her little sister spent the whole time laughing at Alva’s poco gringita* (*little Gringa) accent, so that was slightly distracting. Despues, we went to Carmen, a menos activo, and taught her about la vida preterrenal* (*premortal life). :) Then we had consejo de barrio* (*ward council) before visiting with Maruja, a recien rescatado, who hasn’t been doing well and said not to come for a while, but we kept feeling like we needed to go, entonces* (*so), we went! We taught her from Alma 36 and chatted with her while playing with her cat. Era tan chevere. :)
This Pday, we woke up, exercised, cleaned- the usual! I did Alva’s hair and she did mine this morning. We really have no idea what we should do today, so it’ll be a surprise for us and for all of you.:)
Until next week. :)
Con amor y mis oraciones para siempre* (*With love and prayers forever),
Hermana Schmid
(*Italic translations by Karissa’s mom using google translate)
