Where did this transfer go???

November 18, 2013

 

Hola todos,

¡Madre mía! ¿Qué pasó con el tiempo??? The second transfer flew by without me even noticing. We´re on the last week! Next Saturday I could potentially get a call from President Deere! I mean, I´m not expecting it pero nunca se sabe...I can´t say more about it haha, I don´t want to jynx my luck!

But this week was really good! We taught more lessons than the past weeks and have a baptismal date! But all this requires a little background info. But this week I really wanted to focus on 2 people.

The first person is Florina. She is the mother of my favorite Romanian family, the family with the 4 kids who are super strong and love to read the scriptures and play games with us. First thing of interest, I can now say I´ve tried Romanian food! I think I told you about the first time a couple weeks ago, but this week she made us some Romanian soup. I liked it just fine, but would have to get more used to the taste to really say I loved it, but it was fun just to try it. Also, may I just say really quick that the Romanians know how to make bread! ¡Vaya! She made like the best bread I´ve ever had in my life. We should honestly start paying her to make it for us because they´ve definitely mastered breadmaking. Fantastic. You all should be upset that you didn´t get to try it. It´s because they have a special Romanian oven for it. I´ve never seen anything like it before! Anyway, I just want to tell you all a little more about Florina, because I have such a deep respect for her. Basically, she came to Spain with a husband who wasn´t always so nice and she could only speak Romanian. When their family met the missionaries in 2012 she spoke so little Spanish that her children had to translate for her. She couldn´t read, even in her native language. She and Romeo weren´t married and didn´t have paperwork to get married in Spain or the money to go back to Romania to get married there. They are very poor. So, doesn´t look like much of a teaching situation, does it? If I met a family like that as a missionary, I would think it unlikely that anything would come of it. Too many challenges. Too many setbacks. BUT, she is literally a miracle. She wanted to understand church so she learned more Spanish and now by the time I met her, she doesn´t need her children to translate. Her Spanish isn´t perfect at all, but she can communicate just fine. She started learning how to read (in both Romanian and Spanish) just so she could read the Book of Mormon. She reads very slowly but is faithfully making her way through the book. She learns so much from it and can apply the stories to her life. She and Romeo were unable to get baptized because they weren´t married (it is VERY hard to get married here) so they made a goal to save up for it. But they made that goal over a year ago. OVER a YEAR ago. But they still haven´t lost the drive, they still come to church EVERY Sunday and live just like they were already members of the Church. Other people would give up, say it´s too difficult to join the Church. Florina told us that the Church has changed her entire family, especially the change in Romeo. My admiration for her just doesn´t stop. The sad thing is, though, the world would overlook her in a heartbeat, just say that she´s another poor woman who doesn´t work and can´t speak the language of the country she lives in. But she is SO much more than that. NEVER should you judge anyone before knowing about their life, okay? By the way, Florina made my entire week when we were there because Lorena saw the picture of my family that was in my scriptures and so I pulled it out and showed it to them and Florina looked at it for awhile and said ¨You have light in your faces. I notice when I see a family of God. I can see it in your faces.¨ I literally wanted to cry, it made me so happy. Wow.

The second person is Lina. There was a moment in our lesson with Lina that was probably the best moment of my mission so far, but this also requires background info. So a few weeks ago hna Roan and I had just left the piso and were walking down the street when a women shouted out for help and we immediately went to the side of the road where she was leaning with her walker, struggling to walk. We slowly helped her across the street to the farmacy she was heading towards. While she was waiting there we talked to her and found out that she´s from Ukraine and has lived in Spain for 11 years and has a Spanish husband and 2 kids. (She´s not very old, her problem with walking is from some illness she has that I don´t quite understand because she explained it all in fast Spanish.) We then helped her go to a different store across the street where she was seeing a friend that worked there. She was grateful for our help and shared some pastries with us and we got her number and said we´d love to come over and see her again and help her in some way. So a few weeks passed by and we tried calling and she was busy or sick and then Hna Roan was transferred and then Hna Thompson and I called and she was sick but then she agreed to meet us! We sat with her at a café and explained the Book of Mormon and promised to get one in Russian for her (we always give them one in their native language no matter how well they speak spanish). We started meeting her at her house and learned that she wants to quit smoking and we had a couple lessons and even got the member in our ward who is from Ukraine to come with us. So a few days ago we were talking about baptism and how it washes away our sins and we can feel clean. Lina then shook her head and said ¨impossible.¨ And that was the best moment so far of my mission: the fact that I could testify to someone who didn´t think it was possible to be cleansed that through Jesus Christ it IS possible. It really just made me learn a lot more about why I am here. It was amazing. Lina has a baptismal date...for January...she wouldn´t let us make it sooner than that. but we´ll work with her. We´ll make it closer. And if not, everyone learns in their own time at their own speed.

So in other news, it got COLD this week. The temperature just dropped on Friday and stayed low the whole weekend. I´m not sure what the Farenheit temp is but Celsius it´s 12 and 15. With the humidity and stupid wind, it feels pretty cold. And the thing is, at home the cold wouldn´t bother me because I wouldn´t spend time outside, but as missionaries we can´t just hang out in the piso. If we don´t have a cita, we go around finding people. The other problem is, though, that the piso is freezing. Either there is no heat or we don´t know how to work it, because it is so cold. My feet have literally been cold for days, even when I have tights and socks and blankets all at the same time. Hands are the same way. But because Hna Thompson was still recovering from her cold and members were aware that she was sick, I´ve had more hot soup in the past 2 weeks than in my entire life. It´s probably been good for me though, because I´ve stayed perfectly healthy this whole time (knock on wood...).

Kelly gets married in a week. Kind of flipping out. And when I say kind of, I mean like really flipping out. Fortunately though, I´m on the other side of the world, so even though I know in my head that I´m missing a wedding, it´s hard to make it feel real when I feel so disconnected from everything. Like...it´s a weird feeling. that no one can really understand until they´re on a mission.

Also, i´ve started Alma this week. And wow, being on a mission changes EVERYthing about scripture study. Because Alma teaches us very directly how to work with members, get referrals and futures and news, how to teach to their needs, how to teach simply, and how to teach to their understanding. But the thing I wanted to share with you all is that we always think of Alma and Amulek as missionary companions. And after awhile I think they do become that. But if you read Alma 10, you notice that Amulek isn´t his comp, he´s a member! Alma is having a member present lesson with Amulek! And that´s really crucial because in verse 12 it says that the people were astonished and more than one witness. But I don´t think that´s all that astonished them. I think they were affected so deeply because one of those witnesses was actually one of their own! Someone who they knew and lived with and worked with. Someone in their society. and THAT is why member present lessons are so important! Missionaries are great, but we have nametags and are from a different country. We are young and inexperienced with life. In other words, we are weird. They need someone ¨normal¨ to testify. It´s SO much more powerful that way. Do you think Lina is going to feel more interest in the gospel if 2 Americans tell her in Spanish or a fellow Ukranian woman shares her testimony in Russian? Just think about it. Go out with missionaries. You will change the lessons and these people´s lives. ¡De verdad!

Well, that´s aout it for this week. I love you all! Don´t forget to help the missionaries! They need food and rides (sometimes) and referrals!

Hermana Andrew

P.S. Sandra, a member from Colombia, gave us this Colombian hot drink called Panela, I think made from brown sugar cane. It was amazing. If that is what my cousin Colin is drinking in Colombia all the time, then he is one lucky guy.