Hola familia y amigos! (Email 4-21-14)
Hope you had a great Easter! Thanks for all the
Easter packages/Easter & birthday wishes. It seriously has made it all the
better. It always makes my day to get something in the mail! I really, really
appreciate it!
Our Easter was really great! Well, church was at
least! We miraculously got 6 investigators at church this week. Seriously, it
was such a great miracle. One is a recent convert's mom,that we have been
trying to teach for a while now, but can never find her home because she works
so much. She hadn't ever been to church before, but she came this week!
The best, though, was that Jime and Lupita came.
We have been working a lot with them this week, so we were so happy that they
came. Their little 3 yr old son, Alejandro came too. They said they really
liked, it and the members were really welcoming to them. I was so grateful for
that.
We also sang a duet in sacrament meeting
"Asombro Me Da," or I stand all amazed. Hna. Brons isn't much of a
singer so she was pretty nervous, but it went well. We also got to teach eehives
for a little bit and explain why the Book of Mormon is so important to us. By
the end of church, Hna. Brons said she wasn't feeling too well, so we came home
and she spent the rest of the day throwing up. I felt so bad for her. She seems
to be doing much better today though. So I just studied for a billion hours
yesterday and went a bit stir crazy haha. We have exchanges tonight, so
hopefully she's 100% cured because we are going to our leader’s area.
But yes, Lupita y Jime are doing great. We
taught them like 4 times this week. We don't teach very many principles at
once. So this week we just focused on teaching a few principles of the
restoration lesson throughout the week. Every time we went we had wanted to
invite them to be baptized, but it just never seemed to feel right. So by
Saturday when we were in the lesson, I just felt like if we didn't do it then,
then we never would. Hna Brons hadn't asked anyone to be baptized yet and she's
been pretty nervous about it, so we had been practicing it all week so she
would feel comfortable. Haha during the lesson I had to mouth to her, invite them
to be baptized! Then, extend a date! She did it though, and she did a great
job! Lupita said yes and committed to the 17th of May. Jime was already
baptized in the Catholic Church so doesn't understand why he needs to get
baptized again. Once he understands, I think he will accept it.
They came to the Easter pageant with us on
Thursday too, so that was great. It was a huge miracle that the Easter pageant
all came together too. It started at 8:00, and Hna. Brons and I got there at 7:00
and it was seriously PACKED. No parking spots or seats anywhere. But I decided
to just park at the house where I used to live and hope it was ok (and it was!),
and we just started walking around looking for seats and these sisters from a
different mission asked if we needed some because they had 4 extras. That was
exactly what we needed, and they said they just had a feeling they needed to
save it for someone. We were able to get Spanish translation headsets, find our
investigators in the huge crowd, then find our seats again in the dark,
nonchalantly grab the anti Mormon pamphlet that our investigators had picked up
from some protestors, and enjoy the show. Haha it was a really great
experience. The spirit was so strong. It was just a beautiful depiction of
Christ's life.
Paula.... I don't know. We are hoping and
praying that her baptism comes together for this Sunday. That's the goal. She
hasn't been to church for 3 weeks in a row. Her niece is staying with her right
now, and her niece does not like us. She won't open the door for us and always
hangs up on us, so Paula is really not having much support from her family.
Depending on the day, her daughter absolutely hates us, or wants to be our best
friend. It's been hard to have a nice lesson where the spirit can be felt. But
we are trying hard and praying hard. We just want their family to have the
peace that the gospel brings so badly. I know it can and will happen if it God’s
timing. We just are trying to figure out the best way to help this family.
Please keep them in your prayers!
We were able to teach Amanda this week, and help
her clean her house, so that was really fun. We are really trying to get her to
come to church because she hasn't yet. We had a couple other lessons with some
people that seem promising, just their schedules are so busy. We also were able
to teach a couple less active families, so that was great.
Ok want to hear a kind of cool/crazy story? I
officially am not a fan of dogs. Every time we walk through the trailer park we
are so on edge because they always come out of nowhere and start barking at us
so loudly. Normally, they are all bark and no bite so I just ignore them and
approach the houses anyways. So we had a referral type thing that we were going
to check out and they had a gate in front of their trailer, but no signs of
dogs so we just decided to keep going. We opened the gate and started walking
to the door, and two huge dogs come charging towards us out the doggy door.
They were big and they were mad. They really looked like they could kill us. So
I get so scared I just drop my books and run to the gate. I was trying so hard
to open it, but I was so panicked I didn't realize that the handle was on the
other side. Hna. Brons had to push me out of the way and open it haha. But I
think the coolest part was that about halfway down the ramp, the dogs just kind
of stopped unnaturally. I really think that we had angels protecting us. It
wasn't until we had the gate closed behind us that they started running at us
again. It was just really cool to see The Lord watching out for us and His hand
protecting us. Don't worry it wasn't a big deal it all happened really fast, I
just thought it was a cool experience. Let's just say we are always a little
bit more on edge around the dogs haha.
But this week has been a great week for me to
reflect on the Atonement of Christ. I am so grateful for all that He has done
for me. I am thankful for this time I am having on my mission to get to know
Him better. He really is the only sure foundation that we can build on. He
sacrificed everything for us so that He could help us overcome all. We are so
undeserving of His love and grace, but He is always there willing and ready to
give us love and help. I know that this is His one true church here upon the
earth. I know that He leads it. I know that He is intimately aware of every
single one of us and He love each of us. I feel it is such a privilege I have
to be able to represent Him and His church.
I love you all so much! Have a great week!
 |
| we went to Panda Express with a senior couple Hna Brons knows from New Zealand that are serving in Phoenix. I am such a klutz and dropped the entire tray before I even sat down... Haha, if only that wasn't surprising of me. |
 |
| My first time trying alambre. It was pretty good! Who knows how to spell it though... (Editor's note: a popular Mexican dish consisting of grilled beef topped with chopped bacon, bell peppers, onions, cheese, salsa and avocado.[1][2] It is usually served with freshly made corn or flour tortillas. |
I observed Paula making her chocoflan and it is so good so I wrote a little recipe haha. Have fun trying to make it! Someone perfect it and then make it for me when I come home. (Also find some Mexicans and you can sell it to them. She sells hers for $25 each!)
Chocoflan
4 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bar Philadelphia cheese
Mix all those ingredients in a blender
Put dulce de leche Carmel sauce on the top of a round cake pan. Spread out every along the top. Then spray sides with anti stick spray.
Make chocolate cake mix.
Mix both the flan and the cake in the pan.
Put oven to 350. Cover the pan in aluminum foil. Poke holes in the aluminum foil. Put the round cake pan in a pan that has water so it can boil in the oven. Put in over for 1 hr and 45 mins. Let it cool.
I observed Paula making her chocoflan and it is so good so I wrote a little recipe haha. Have fun trying to make it! Someone perfect it and then make it for me when I come home. (Also find some Mexicans and you can sell it to them. She sells hers for $25 each!)
No comments:
Post a Comment