CLAP CLAP!
So much to tell, where do I start? How about with random stories like I usually do:
A few weeks back we stopped and talked to this young guy on his patio and street contacted him. He then told us that he was actually a member that hadn´t gone to church in years. Those are always awkward, but the even more awkward part of the situation came as his girlfriend sitting on a lawn chair about 10 feet away starting throwing rocks at us. None of them hit us, but it was really funny because we were literally being attacked and stoned! I got a kick out of it. Then this past week we stopped an older woman to contact her and she told us that the dogs are better than humans because they have life and I said, “so do I” and she said yeah and something that really floored us because we couldn´t understand it. Then she started speaking in tongues! Or at least not the Spanish tongue. She was blessing us and then in the end you could tell she had said something like, “away with you now.” We wondered if she was being serious but you never can tell.
On Sunday Romina, Yamila, and Nicolas were baptized, but unfortunately on Sunday only Yamila and Nicolas were confirmed… and we barely managed that. The details are exhausting and all have to do with people keeping commitments. The crazy part is that Romina finally came around to being baptized because one night she was waiting for her mom to come out of a store and she was really cold and she started to pray that her mom would come out quickly and then about 5 minutes later the mom came out and she told her she felt the spirit so strongly that she had decided to be baptized. I´ll take it… whatever works. She has nothing against being confirmed, it´s just that she said she could do it next Sunday and it´s all the same… she will be confirmed this Sunday, but the bishop would have rather it been that day.
We got electricity on Friday and we were very, very happy to be so blessed. The mission
didn´t think that it would go down that way, but the light company wasn't truthful and said we would have electricity in 48 hours--we didn't.
My trunky papers only ask me for the stake president, the name of the stake, and the name of the airport where I want to arrive. Are we in the Copperview stake? Since I never really lived there I don´t even know my own ward or stake…
Did you guys get some letter from a Seventy discouraging you from picking me up? Another missionary said that her parents were going to come get her, but then they got this letter saying that it is best to not. Just curious. I´m super looking forward to the airport reunion in my own hometown.
The transfer was quite successful even with all the obstacles that we faced… 126 converts as a mission! I was pleasantly surprised to see San Antonio de Padua appear on the jumbo screen as number 13 in overall efficiency and then I was pretty
content to win the scarf for the zone of Merlo… and with a white wash too! Take that Satan… you cannot stop this work!
The pictures; one is of the map we made for Padua to be able to plan better each night, one is of my companion and I during the move, and one is of the Botta family.... Yamila is next to me and Romina is the older daughter, and one is of the zone Merlo.
Ok, then I guess it´s time to ´fess up and tell you that I have pneumonia, and pleurisy. On Tuesday Hermana Benton told me to start taking Amoxicillin and on Wednesday I was given a blessing and we decided we had to go to a clinic. On Saturday and Sunday we worked less than normal because of me and it made me feel quite guilty. On Monday I was coughing and all the sudden something inside started stabbing me, (or that´s how I described it) and we went with the APs to the hospital. A bunch of x rays and tomagraphs showed that I was recovering from pneumonia and that the infection was minor. They put me on more amoxicillin and other meds and sent me home for 5 days of rest. Hermana Benton had us sleep in the mission home last night after the whole hospital run.Try starting off a transfer with nobody working… it doesn´t go well. I pled with the Lord in my prayer that night that He would help us find someone to work with my companion in Padua for 5 days and I started calling people. My old mini couldn´t, but she recommended a ward missionary from her ward in Catan 3 who could! We made plans to have her meet us in Padua, but it rained and rained all day and the streets in Catan flooded and it took her over 3 hours to get a remis that could get her here. The worst of it is that we were waiting and waiting for her and I finally called to see how long ago she had left and they hadn´t left at all. She finally got a remis and now we are waiting an hour and a half for her to get here, then I go to the mission offices and then the President or somebody will get me to the mission home – which is a good 45 minutes away.
DON'T WORRY about me… it´s just a little pneumonia – nothing that meds and rest can´t fix. I am going to start the Book Of Mormon over again and try to enjoy a little solitude. I am going to try not to worry about Padua, but you can´t even imagine how much it destroys me to not be able to work these 7 days (counting Monday and today). I feel terrible and want nothing more than to be well and able to work in the cold, muddy, rainy streets of Argentina. It is not fun at all to be a missionary that can´t work.
I got my package and LOVED it! Thank you so much. Didn´t you say you were going to send me a picture of Daddy wearing a funny shirt? Whatever happened to that? Thanks for all the fun things you sent me. The Ranch powder is probably my favorite. I met the Pollock family and they were very nice!
Thanks for everything. Don´t worry about me. Don´t even begin to worry about me. Hermana and President Benton are taking good care of me.Talk about putting a little more slack in the chain… after this I´ll have to put some chain in the slack!
I love you!
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ajohns37 said...
We didn't realize she was so sick. Our computer has also been sick. Our prayers and thoughts are with her. They have a wonderful mission mom and dad (the Benton's) and will be taken care of. Hope all else is well. Love, the Johns Family
JULY 28, 2009 9:58 AM
