Week 18: Basically Little Old Cholitas
Pensamientos Espirituales for este gran semana:* (*Spiritual thoughts for this great week:)
Lucas 15* (*Luke 15)
Alma 57: 26-27
“[Gospel tenacity]: no matter what, continue to have faith in God and His promises, and do what is right all the time, regardless of who knows.”-Evans, Ensign Junio* (*June) 2016
Last P-day, we cleaned and did Internet and then had absolutely no clue what to do, so we wandered the little stores, bought and ate chocoton, went around the city taking pictures of all the cool things, and ate ice cream before we piled into a taxi to go to San Ramon! We had a capacitacion alla de las hermanas* (*training with the sisters), given by the Hermana Lideres, Cushcagua y Gaspar! We talked lots about obedience and about how hard times make us stronger before going to get dinner of oreo milkshakes y pan con queso* (*and bread with cheese). RICASSO.* (*Wonderful.) :) Despues* (*Then), we played the game “Que pasaria si…”* (*”What if…”) and set up 4 mattresses on the floor for the eight of us, and somehow I ended up in between two mattresses, on the floor. La vida.* (*Life.) Chevere dia* (*Great day). :)
En Martes* (*On Tuesday), we had a conferencia de multizona en La Merced* (*multi-zone conference in La Merced) - our mini-despedida* (*mini-farewell) to Presidente y Hermana Henderson! We had capacitaciones* (*trainings) on obedience and preparation for change that will happen with the new president, Presidente y Hermana Silva. We took lots of pictures and then all went out to a ricasso lunch in San Ramon! :) Era tan chevere.* (*so cool). :) Despues, we got back to Oxa much later than planned and visited with our recent rescue Maruja, teaching 2 Ne 33 and leaving 2 ne 25 for her as homework. Following this, we visited Hermana Yolanda and talked about Lucas 15 with her. Era bacan* (*very great).:)
Miercoles* (*Wednesday)! We started off the day meeting our golden investigator Jose, where we talked about the mundo de los espiritus* (*spirit world), the proposito missional* (*missionary purpose), faith, and praying for answers. He’s got a fantastic desire to know more! :) After lunch, we went to Rosa C., a less active, and taught her about the Restauracion* (*Restoration) and siguiendo el profeta* (*following the prophet). Despues, we went to our investigadora* (*investigator) Nadia and taught her about the story of Moses. Following this, nobody was en casa* (*at home); but after wandering for a while, we had a noche de hogar* (*family home evening) with the elders and their cool family, where we talked about testimonies and roasted hot dogs! :)
Jueves* (*Thursday)! Today was our cumple-mes* (*birthday-month) – Alva with one year and me with four months! :) Time goes way too quickly here. In the morning, we visited with Sylvia, a recien rescatado* (*recently reactivated), and taught her from 1 Ne 17 and she showed us some really cool leather and word burned things she’s made with the intention of selling them at the temple store in Lima and Trujillo! Despues, we ate out for lunch to celebrate- a mini pizza to share and a cake for Alva’s year! Era chevere. :) Despues de almuerzo* (*After lunch), we went to Rosa C., less active, and did a preentrevista bautismal* (*baptismal pre-interview) with her and passed over all of the mandamientos* (*commandments). Then we went to our investigador Jose and taught him about the Plan de Salvacion with dibujos* (*drawings) and bought oreo milkshakes from his restaurant! :) Despues, we went to Maruja, a recent rescue, and taught her about 2 Ne 25 before going to noche de deporte*(*sports night) and playing volley!
En Viernes* (*On Friday), after weekly planning and being in denial that this cambio’s* (*transfer is) almost over, we went and bought knitting needles and yarn! I remembered how to knit (mi abuelita me enseno* (*my grandmother taught me) when I was chiquitita* (*a little girl)) and taught Alva! I’m making myself a headband right now. Va a ser chevere en el frio si me voy* (*It will be great to have if I end up going to a cold place). After lunch (that upset my stomach un poquito* (*a little)) we went and visited Ayde, a less active, and talked about DyC 121 and Joseph Smith in the Carcel de Liberty* (*Liberty Jail). Despues, we visited our investigadora Nadia and taught her from Alma 32:33 before going to Verenisse and teaching her about repentance and DyC 18. :) Then we went and set up our chevere noche missional* (*great mission night) lesson, the Tree of Life and Barra de Hierra* (*Iron Rod) interactive activity complete with ropes to follow and candy at the end, and… nobody showed up to noche misional due to the Peru soccer game in Copa America and an aniversario de colegio celebracion* (*anniversary of college celebration). Ah, well. Still a fantastic dia. :)
Sabado* (*Saturday) was honestly one of the best days yet on the mission. :) To start off, we visited with Carmen, a less active, and taught her the whole Plan de Salvacion and talked with her. She’s a hilarious viejita* (*old lady). :) After lunch, we went to Rosa C. and taught her about servicio y ensenanza* (*service and teaching), for she just got a calling as teacher of Mujeres Jovenes* (*Young Women)! We also helped her write a talk to give at the baptism of Carlos and Marta, the elders’converts, that night. Following this, we visited Grace, a less active jovencita* (*girl), and taught her about saliendo con jovenes del sexo opuesto del FLJ* (*dating the opposite sex as outlined in the For The Strength of Youth). Despues, we looked everywhere for a member to accompany us to our cita* (*appointment) with our golden investigator, Jose, to no avail- and finally found Verenisse to go with us! We were going to teach him about faith, but we got there and both felt bautismo* (*to teach him about baptism). We taught him about the baptismal covenanta* (*covenants) and how it is done and invited him to the baptism and he said YES without hesitation! We went to the baptism and waited for him, and he came! :) We showed him the capilla* (*chapel) and answered lots of his questions about Sunday reunions* (*meetings) and the capilla before the servicio bautismal* (*baptismal service)! Era tan chevere. :) Then, at night, we house-sat for our pension Roxana overnight. Great day. :)
Domingo* (*Sunday)! After church, where I gave a talk on the Santa Cena* (*Sacrament), y almuerzo* (*and lunch), we went around Oxapampa and were unable to find anyone en casa* (*at home) thanks to Dia del Padre* (*Father’s Day) (by the way, FELIZ DIA DE PADRE!* (*HAPPY FATHER’S DAY)). We visited Rosa A., a menos active* (*less active), and taught her about the importance of reading the scriptures. After a meeting with a few members of the obispado* (*bishopric), we went to Rita, a less active, and taught her about the Ten Commandments! It was a hard week to find people en casa, but an absolutely fantastic one. We also rescued Rosa C. today! :) Testifico de las palabras de Alma 26:27* (*A testimony of the words of Alma 26:27). :)
Today, we are planning on staying here in Oxa and playing some more volleyball at the capilla in the afternoon, but we really don’t know what we’re going to do. It’ll be a good time. :) We’re going to get the dreaded cambios* (*transfer changes) call on Tuesday, so the next time I write, I might not be in Oxa… but I’ve loved this area. I love the people, I love the place, and I love my companion. I couldn’t be happier. :) Seguimos aprendiendo y mejorando cada dia* (*Continue learning and improving every day). :)
Con amor y mis oraciones para siempre* (*With love and prayers forever),
Hermana Schmid
(*Italic translations by Karissa’s mom using google translate)
