Well, this grand week started on Monday, like most weeks do. We were going to leave at 5:00 to do some last minute shopping for my comp to finish up Pday. As I was finishing writing a letter, my comp decided she wanted to wax her legs. Alright, I guess, do what ya want, but make this quick cause we gotta go. Welp, she put the wax in the micro for 20 minutes and then next thing I know she is screaming from the kitchen. I run in and the wax was so hot it just completely pulled off her skin at the touch. And I mean completely pulled off her skin. It was so gross and she was in extreme pain.
I didn’t know what to do because all the wax was still on her leg. I didn’t know if applying cold water would make it harden and therefore harder to take off so I ran to grab the members that we live behind. They decided we should just run to the hospital. We went to the hospital and they fixed her up, but it took forever. We didn’t work at all on Monday and they told her she had to take five days to rest! What! I’m sorry… we’re missionaries, we don’t EVER rest. So, we called Hermana Da Silva and she said, “If that’s what they said she had to do, then do it.” She has to say that cause if something happens with my comp, she is responsible. Anyway, but it was too much time to go without working so we needed to find someone, some member, to go out with me. We thought about Silvia!
Hermana Ureta all fixed up!
We called her up and she agreed to do it immediately. My comp has to rest for five days so you gotta work with me for five days so bring enough stuff to live here in our house for five days. She was honored and came like 30 minutes later. We set up a mattress on the floor and I began to teach her the ins and outs of being a missionary the rest of the night. The next morning we got up at 5:00 to head to district meeting while my comp stayed with the member here. Silvia was so tired, but we studied and practiced. She learned how to teach the first lesson and then we even did practices in front of our district. She loved being amongst other missionaries too. We came home and went out to work. At first she didn’t want to say anything, but with the pass of a few hours, she got up enough courage to start bearing her testimony and at the end of the day she was teaching principles with me. It was awesome. She did great, needed a little direction here and there to really realize what our purpose here is as missionaries, but for her first day she did great. She learned that we are not plain and boring missionaries after all, but at home we like to have fun. She didn’t realize we were actually normal people, even though we act the same with her. She said she couldn’t wait to be a missionary.
Next morning, she was so tired and my comp was in a lot of pain so I got up to exercise by myself. I tried getting them up, but neither would wake up, so I let them sleep for a little and got ready. When I was done in the shower, Silvia got mad at me for letting her sleep in. She took it way too hard on herself and was upset the rest of the morning. Her attitude completely changed. We asked her if she was going to keep going during the day and she said yes. So we studied and then we went out to work. I don’t know what happened, but she decided she didn’t want to work anymore. I took her home and she asked me to call her mom because she was going to go home. And home she went. It was rough. So we lost another day of work.
Thursday my comp decided we couldn’t miss more work and we went out, but her leg hurt a lot and at the end of the day she couldn’t go more. I personally felt soooo guilty for sitting in the house, but she couldn’t go. I just let her be and we lost another day of work. Sighhhh! It was a long week of sitting in the house doing nothing while I thought of the things we needed to be doing. It was the worst feeling ever. Then our district leader told me these were trials and to tell my comp that too and she should be out working. It made me feel worse for not making her leave. Thank heavens for repentance.
Riding on the Omnibus to Stake Conference
That was pretty much the whole week until Sunday. It was stake conference in Durazno and we took an omnibus with the whole ward over there. We had nine investigators go. The Gonzalez family was one of them. It was a meeting all about missionary work. Three youth who had their mission calls spoke and then three returned missionaries spoke. Oh man… it left me thinking about the mission experience a lot. It was good. It’s so weird seeing people who are about to go out, but don’t have the mission experience yet, then being a missionary and then hearing from those who are done. It was a bittersweet experience. It was cool hearing them talk about bringing people to Christ while two of those who I had brought to Christ were sitting right next to me, Jess and Agustin. I kept nudging Jess then she laid her head on my shoulder. It was a rich experience.
We had a lesson with the Gonzalez family after and they prayed, well the dad and mom. He said he has never felt the way he has over the last two days and he believes everything is true. It was awesome. The mom said she has noticed a difference in their marriage already, applying the things they’ve been learning the last two weeks in church. She said she wants to keep learning and we told them both these were signs of the spirit. They have super respectful kids. They all agreed to be baptized on May 5. Wahoo!!!! A family! He has to stop smoking, but he can to it… and he wants to more importantly. Keep them in your prayers. They are awesome. Afterwards, we were talking with the family who gave us the reference and introduced us to them and Fernando (the investigator dad) said, I’m just so grateful to Jorge, the other dad member, for inviting us to know more about these things. I’ll do anything to get my family back together in the celestial kingdom. Thank you for sharing these things and thank you hermanas for teaching us. Wow, so awesome! I’m so excited. After the lesson, my comp and I walked home in the dark and we were dancing and singing. It’s an indescribable joy. It’ll be even better the day of their baptism.
This week we have interviews, Tuesday, so I’ll get packages then. Then we have to go back to Durazno again on Wednesday for other meetings. Busy, busy, busy we are! And once again the whole week is already planned with investigators. Hope all goes well.
I love you more than life itself. I am trying to be so obedient to be worthy of Heavenly Father’s blessings and he is bestowing me with them. And it’s increasing my faith and my testimony. It’s awesome. I feel good today; we have a lot going for us here, just like the scripture promised me. It’s being fulfilled. It’s cool. I know this is the Lord’s work and I’m grateful to be part of it. I love it and I love you. Until next week. Love, Ash
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