Hello Family!
Another busy week here in Ontario, Oregon. I would much rather be busy than not, though. Most of our English-speaking elders have to tract so many hours a week and it’s exhausting just thinking of all that. They get yelled at, doors slammed in their face, and all those other fun things. But they keep doing it with a smile on their face. They are awesome! Speaking of which, we had an experience of the like this week. We visited a couple named Jessica and Mark (names changed). When we got there, Jessica was home and we had a good conversation. Then Mark got home and the whole atmosphere changed. He is a less active and has since explored various sources of questionable literature on which to base his faith. He was in a sort of bible-bashing mood. Honestly, it was terrifying -- he spoke to us with such force and a challenging tone that at the end of it my head was absolutely spinning! I said little the entire visit because he seemed so closed-minded and I felt that if I said anything he would just dispute me. That night in my journal, I wrote: As the lesson was over, I held out my hand and whispered to my testimony to hang in there! And then I thought of how much he reminded me of the scripture found in 2 Nephi 9:28-29 (when they are learned they think that they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God) and then I felt better afterwards.
On Tuesday, the branch president invited the rama (branch) and the missionaries to come and help thin the apricot trees that the church has invested in. We got permission from the AP's the night before because it was about 30 minutes out of our area. We also invited Kimberly to come and we all had a great time!! I put into effect everything I learned from my experience in Young Women -- the fact that when I was her age all I wanted was for an older girl to include me and love me. So I made a special effort to pay attention to her and make her feel like she was the most important girl on the earth to me. (Kimberly Meza is an 11 year old of the family we are teaching. She is also getting baptized this Friday!! Oh man, we are so excited for her!!! This is my first official baptism and the transfer isn't even over yet!) Later in the week we went by the Meza home to hopefully talk to Kimberly, but nobody was home except for the dad. It ended up being perfect because we answered some of the dad's questions about Kimberly's baptism this week. But the best part was when we were walking away and he told us that he is taking vacation on Friday and will be able to come to Kimberly's baptism! Talk about miracles!! We have been trying to crack open his heart so he would want good change for his whole family. (Side note: he had earlier told us that he probably wouldn’t get time off from work to come and see his daughter get baptized, which was kind of sad.) It was funny that he waited until we were leaving to tell us the good news . . . el es bien chistoso! (he’s a joker!)
Sorry y'all, I forgot to mention that I also went on my first exchanges this week! I exchanged with an English sister named sister Wright. We had a great time and basically did everything that we normally do, the only difference was that the lessons were in English!! Oh, it was nice to understand everything that’s being said!
Did I mention that Patricia is back!?!? We went to go visit who we thought was going to be Sandra and her boyfriend, but when the door opened, we saw Patricia! Apparently things did not all work out in Le Grande, though she’s still living with her boyfriend. We were all taken by surprise. Our emotions were all over the place when she left and now she’s back and we didn't know what to say or do when she invited us in. I think I just sat down and soaked it all in, ha-ha!
We have had a lot of birthday's this week: missionary and member alike. And everyone wants to invite the missionaries -- ha-ha, we like to think that we are so popular! Anyway, last night we attended a birthday fiesta for a member's little brother who turned 2. The mom, a nonmember, served chiva (goat)!! Oh my goodness. Y'all should've seen my face when they brought it out and the first thing I saw was the HEAD!! I was forced into trying some of the meat, and it wasn't that bad -- delicious even. (Not from the head though). I have tried lots of weird things -- chicken feet and chiva head being the weirdest to report thus far.
Lots of other great things happened this week but I only picked out the best things for this week's email. Lo siento y descúlpame por favor!
Love y'all!!
Hermana Moss out.
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