Hola Hola Hola,
Man what a first week!! Elder H is great, he is from Las Vegas, but originally from Hildalgo Mexico. It was a fun week and so much happened so I will probably just go through it day by day pulling out stuff from my journal. I already told you about our first day so I will jump to thursday.
Thursday, in the afternoon we walked over to the A families house and met with them, the mom and son are not members and the dad and other son are inactive, their 14yr old daughter is the only active one. We are working on the nonmember son but he has lots of questions so we only get through about a principle a day. The mom fed us Mangos and cucumbers with some chili powder on top, it was interesting but good. After that we went over to the C families house for dinner, they are all active and really nice. We sat down to hamburgers and I was like sweet!!! I was feeling gutsy so I put jalepenos on my 2 burgers. It was a really good dinner and I was feeling pretty full went she put a huge bowl of chicken soup with some onion looking things in front of me. To say it was spicy was an understatement!!!!!!!! My face turned red as I ate and they all smiled and she told me I didnt have to eat it if I didnt want to. I was like no no I am going to be eating spicy food for 2 years so I need to get acoustumed to it. I was determined to become a real man, and all real men cry. Yea as I continued to eat without even controlling it my eyes teared up and they all laughed. EH (Elder H) found it so funny he made a return dinner appt. It was so good and I walked out of there feeling about 20lbs heavier and never wanting to eat again. We then went an taught S and M, they are a family who are struggling, they dont have jobs and can't get any. They are very receptive to the gospel and we taught them about the Restoration and set a baptismal date, but later found out they are moving to Oregon to live with family and he has a job he can get there so they are moving this weekend. End of Thursday.
Friday, we knocked doors for a few hours today to no avail. Most people were either at work or english, so we visited members and less actives to get referals. We had dinner at the Ds and I had tomales (sp?) for the first time. They were pretty good but I like leche con arroz the best. I talked to the Elder's Quorum President who was there visiting and he told me about his mission. He went to LA and he said for the first 2 months he was wondering why am I here. I definitely havent wondered that yet but he said success is all based on how hard you work and obedience. Luckly he spoke english so he would speak mainly in english and I would respond in spanish. Afterwards we went to R and A's house for the 3rd night in a row, We taught them about the 13th article of faith. The little boy H always begs to give the prayer and then he gives a 5 min prayer blessing everything from the food to the toys to the scriptures, lol but he is very sincere. We were approached by a huge Tongan on our way to our next lesson, he came up to us and started speaking spanish, he went to Moroco on his mission. We talked for 5 min and then he gave us some freshly baked homemade bread. It is getting cold! End of friday.
Saturday, what a weird crazy day, but I think we came out on top in the end. I had new missionary training until 12 and then we grabbed lunch at Aballos burgers with another companionship. We got out working around 2pm and with in 10min of walking "The White Lexus" pulled up next to us. An elderly couple rolled down their window and began to talk to us. Then the man pulled out his wallet and handed EH $50, we were super excited because we just got $50, but he pulled out another and gave it to me, so we each got $50. This lexus is famous because when ever they see missionaries they give them each $50. We continued on our way and it was extremely windy and cold, but we were in a good mood. We checked up on a few potential investigators and then we stopped by the church so EH could use the bathroom. An english ward was having a party so they invited us in for a few minutes and fed us like no other. I am going to have to learn to like eating this much. Once we left we were walking to our appt at A and R's when we got a call. It was a lady who had been inactive for 13 years and she wanted to come back to church but she didnt remember most of the stuff. She has 3 kids, 12yrs, 8yrs, and 9months. She lives in a shelter down the road and so we arranged for them to come to church and to teach them after church was over. This got EH and I super hyped. Our appt at A and R's was great, we taught about prayer and righteous things to ask for, we opened up the floor to the kids to answer things we can ask for and we got the funniest responses. At 7 we went to Sister J and met with her family, she is less active and has a 20yr old son and 17 yrs old daughter who both are not members. We chatted with her for awhile about life and I shared a message on hope. She hasn't come to church in 4 years she says she doesn't have a desire to even though she knows its true. When we left it was snowing really hard. We were picked up by a recently returned missionary and drove to our next appt. When we pulled into the appartments where our appt was we saw an old man lying on the ground next to his car. We jumped out of the car and ran over to help. There was a lady there trying to help him but he was to heavy. When she saw us she was like, "Thanks goodness, the missionaries are here!" We helped this man up and he put an arm around each of our shoulders and we helped him into his house. He was scraped up pretty badly. It was then that we realized why he had fallen, he was drunk beyond belief. This reaffirmed to me why drinking is just stupid, nothing good will ever come from drinking, the only options are bad and worse. So anyone who reads this please don't drink, there is no point in wasting money to look like a fool. Anyway, we set this old man down on his couch and the lady said, "I am going to leave you with the missionaries they can help you, so listen to them" The man exclaimed, "I am so sorry, I believe in God, Holy Jesus and the Holy Ghost I am going to repent right now". We explained who we were and how we had a message that could help him out. He told us to teach him. We told him we would come back and teach him when he was in a better condition to listen. He then tried to take off his shoes but he was so drunk he couldn't get the left one off. EH tried to help him out but he got mad and started yelling and made a fist like he was going to hit EH. The man then laid down and after a few minutes I asked if I could bear my testimony on the love of Jesus Christ for all of us. He didnt respond and it looked like he was asleep so we turned off the lights and started to leave when he jolted back up and said, "Who are you?" We explained again and then left. What a weird night and the snow continued to come down. End of Saturday.
Sunday was awesome, we woke up to about 1 1/2 feet of snow. We started to walk to church for our meetings but someone picked us up and drove us most of the way. They werent even members. We had our meetings and then waited for L (lady who was inactive for 13yrs) She got lost and was 15 min late so we missed the passing of the sacrament but we were too excited to care. We came in with her and her kids and sat down. No sooner had I sat down than the Branch President got up and invited me up to bear my testimony in spanish of course, so I did. After Sacrament Meeting we took Brian (12) and Paublo (8) to primary and then L to Gospel Principles. Brother M taught and he is an amazing teacher. It went well she enjoyed it and laughed a lot when Brother M would make jokes and ask questions when she didnt understand. The lesson was on prophets, she asked whats the difference between tv preachers, other preachers and our prophet. So we explained authority. The sisters in Relief Society took her in warmly and sat by her and helped her. After church we found a room to teach them in. Brother and Sister M joined us. They all loved church. We taught the Restoration and the Ms' added beautiful testimony. B liked it a lot and we set a baptismal date for Dec 5th. L met with the Branch President afterwards and I played tic tac toe with P while talking to B about life. End of Sunday.
Monday, we pretty much went around to members asking who of their neighbors were Mexican or as EH says, "Brown People". Lol. We were walking past R's house when she came outside and said come in now, eat! It was 4pm so we did, it was so good, chicken enchiladas. We then left and walked to a dinner appt with an english family. They were very nice and we had good convo over dinner. Afterwards I shared a message and scripture about being examples of Christ for others. They then asked me to pray since I was the greeny. I did and afterwards the dad said, "Now kids did you feel that? That was the Spirit that this missionary brought into our home, through his message". This made me feel really warm inside at recieving this compliment, but I didnt let it get to my head or I wouldnt have the same opportunity again. We then went to this ladies house who we thought was inactive but was actually not a member. There were 4 people inside who let us in and we talked with them. They made us tortillas with salsa and goat cheese, they were superb but super spicy. I bit into it and lol well it was spicy and she then warned me how hott it was. She was like, "quick get him some water" lol we all laughed and of course I had another one. She is having trouble finding work so we are taking her to the employment center soon and we set up a return appt with her and her friend. End of Monday.
Tuesday, we went to the library today for language study and EH made me read spanish childrens books to him and translate each page, it was fun but I felt like a little kid... who cares! I read 3 little pigs and 3 Billy goats gruff. We then went to R and A's, they are members but they dont speak english and he cant see well so they have a hard time studying the gospel by themselves. We read Alma ch. 18 with them and talked about Ammon. Right as we were finishing an Elderly Missionary couple showed up to continue teaching them english. It was funny because R was like, "Last week I learned how to say, (then in english said) What is your name? My name is.. English is hard" We left and the sister missionary warned us to be in before the blizzard hit at 5pm. EH and I were like blizzard? What blizzard? Apparently there was supposed to be a blizzard and all the schools had already been canceled for the next day, that never happens in utah. Well we definitely werent going to be home before it hit because we had appts and people to teach. We went to the C and talked with them because the husband had not been well and had recently got a blessing. They fed us Lasagna. We left around 5:45 for our dinner appt. When we walked outside we got pounded in the face by blowing pounding snow and we were down the hallway of an appartment building completely protected, thats how hard the wind was blowing. We walked a little ways in the blinding snow and then Brother B (our dinner appt) called and came to pick us up. We ate dinner with them and I shared a message. Then he drove us to the church to teach L and her kids. We could hardly see 10 ft in front of us as we drove along, but Brother B kept saying this aint no storm. We watched the Restoration video with them and then asked them what they thought and how they felt. L said " When I read it and pray about it I feel good, but when I watch what happened I feel better, but both ways are the same good feeling". We asked them about their reading and B if he had prayed about his baptismal date and they both said yes. B said he prayed and he didnt know why but it just felt right to him. Just like Elder Bednar said, "Its all about how they feel, the Spirit." We trugged out into the snow happy and smiling! We are taking B to the DI tomorrow to get a white shirt and tie and slacks because he want to sing with the primary on sunday so we told him we would make him look sharp and it would be our treat to him. Its supposed to be below freezing the next few days with lows below zero lol but the work will still move forward.
The work is picking up and picking up fast. We have a lot of investigators and appts coming up with new people. The work continues to move forward and I love every second of it. I love the feeling of the Spirit when you walk into someones home and teach them and you can see how the message penetrates them and they have that desire to follow Christ. It is a wonderful blessing to see peoples lives change everyday as they discover the happiness that can be found through Christ and his example. I love you all and pray you remain close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and experience that same joy when you feel his love and see his hand in your lives.
Love,
Elder Jolly
