Everything
is going just fine. This week we had a shocker. Hna Dinia, Angel
Ramirez's girlfriend has been sick for six months about. And every time it
got worse, she asked the missionaries for a blessing, and every time she
got better for a time and then it got worse again. Well, recently, it got a
lot worse and then she went to the hospital and then came back. Then it
got bad again and on the way to the hospital she died. So that
was really hard for the ward and really hard for Angel. They were going
to get married and had already talked about it a lot. We've called Angel six times and the first time he answered but was at work and so we didn't
plan another appt with him. Now he hasn't answered us and so we don't
know if he will be baptized this week, or if he'll be baptized at all. We
pray for him every night and I hope that he'll answer tonight again.
We're
set for the other baptisms, and we're just going to have the interviews
and then the baptisms. We're checking up on the two that we have today
and tomorrow
just to make sure it's what they want to do and then talk about how we
will do it. So.... yeah, I'm excited for them. The ward has been the key
to help them. They just jump in and make friends, which makes them the
best ward ever.
On Sunday,
we went over to the Bishop's house to eat for dinner (right next
door) and had enchiladas but they are Honduran enchiladas, so they're
very different. It's like an American taco or Kyle, it's basically a Mexican taco like you probably had on your mission. Anyway, Elder Saucedo
poured on the hot sauce because he thought it tasted good and I didn't
stop him cause I don't know if that's normal in his culture, but that
hot sauce doesn't burn until 2 or 3 mins later. So he began to chow down
his food and then I heard, "Auuugh..." and looked up and saw my
companion feeling the burn finally. Well, in two seconds, his face was
dripping... I MEAN DRIPPING (it was the equivalent of a tropical storm!)
with sweat. The bishop ran to get a towel for my companion and the
bishop's wife poured a huge glass of cold juice for him to drink and
after about 5 mins more, everything was back to normal. But, I've never
seen someone eat something so hot that it makes them sweat so much and
so fast before. It could be compared with how much I sweat when I played
soccer for Springville last year. THAT MUCH! Wow... that blew me away.
Sufficeth to say, my companion will never touch that hot sauce again and
he didn't finish his food that day either.:D
On Saturday,
we were contacting and were about to finish and then I looked left and
saw a door open and the Spirit whispered, "When a door is open, that's a
key indicator that you'll be able to talk to someone." and so we went
there. An old lady came to the door and said, before we even said
anything, "We have two of your guys that live here. One of them is sick
and has been for a year and the other only comes on the weekends at
night." I was confused but I just guessed that she was meaning, there
were two less-actives that live there, and so we walked in. She led us back
to the sick one. He was lying on a bed, with his legs curled up, and a
beanie on his head, and he was just skin and bones. He is 80 years old.
The lady told us that he's been sick for a year and that she's been
taking care of him for that time. She's bathed him, dressed him,
fed him and changed his diapers. When I saw him (Pablo se llama), I saw Grandpa Tuft again, laying on the bed in the care center. We sang, "I am
a Child of God" and said a prayer where I cried and then we left. We went
back the next day when the other old man would be there (Ernesto se
llama). Ernesto is the brother of Pablo. We went back and gave a
blessing of consolation and left again. I'm so grateful to hold the
Priesthood. We're going back next week but I don't know if Pablo will
last that long. He had two seizures a year ago that left him dumb and
deaf. If he has one more seizure, he will die. It is sad to see death
but happy to know that he'll be going to a better place where he won't
be suffering so much.
It's going to be a great
week this week! We have our work cut out for us and we're ready to go!
We have a lot of people that need some friends and motivation to go to
church. We've got a lot of appts to go to already. We almost have this
whole week filled already with appts. Normally we don't have the next
day full until the night before! So this will be a great
week. We always look for the little chances to make a change in someones
life. We always smile to make someones burden feel lighter. And we
always look one way at least before we cross the street...... :D (He's making fun of his mom with that!)
The
last little thing I wanted to write about is just that we had a fun
service project this week.... Stabbing old water bags with knives to
empty them of the water. It got creative on ways to stab the bags...
never dangerous, just creative :D And that was a fun relief from
chapeando (chopping at the grass with a machete because they don't have
law mowers here).
There's the mission stuff. Now here are my comments for the week:
Another
sister? I have four sisters now, sort of. Well I want fotos of course! :D
If I haven't seen her then I can't say I have a sister when I don't know
who she is. ;D Well, welcome to the family Giavanna! We're a
bit weird but we're a family and that's what's important. It's hard to
be in a new place and leave your life behind from what it was. I left on
my mission about eight months ago and it's been hard to adjust, but it gets
easier and more comfortable with time. Hope you enjoy the good ol' room
with the map and the mirrors. Keep Lindsay in line for me ;D
(He sent a personal family paragraph but I omitted it from the blog, and this next part goes with it but I liked that acronym so I left it.)
One of my
friends from school wrote me a letter before I left and it talked about
how I always smiled. I have started smiling again, and you know what? I
feel happy again! SMILE is also an acronym: Spiritually Minded Is Life
Eternal. So Smile! :D
I just read Dad's letter,
and I'll have to print it out to study more but I did mention last week
that I didn't want to serve just to go through the motions. One thing
that I did learn this week is that we can serve with our heart and more
fervently when we listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost that tell
us to serve at specific times. If we listen to the Holy Ghost, then we
will be able to serve more completely and like the Savior did.
Dad,
every time you tell me to sing a hymn or tune for you, it touches my
heart and I remember it when I sing. When I sing a song for other people,
and for you, the Spirit testifies to me and to my investigators of
eternal families and the love that a Father has for His sons and
daughters. So thank you :)
Love you all! Have a wonderful week full of fun surprises and gifts everyday from our loving Heavenly Father.
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Tuft
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