14
July 2014
Hola
Familia!
Oh
somebody's going to have a birthday! I sent an email to Kiera so make sure she
checks her account.
Tuesday
we had "intercambios." I honestly don't know what the term is in English.
I went to Llay Llay and was companions with Hermana Arroya, a sister from
Trujillo, Peru, for twenty four hours there. Everyone needs to pray that I get
to serve there during the summer because Llay Llay means Viento Viento or Wind
Wind and it is not as hot as everywhere else.
Hermana
Arroyo has been having knee problems so we got to visit the physical therapist,
which was my favorite part of the day. While she was doing exercises, I got to
chat with the doctor. He asked if I was studying religion in Utah. I love that
question because I get to say, "No, I'm studying neuroscience," and
let him know that I have a normal life and an education. The gospel does not
replace that, it adds to it. We talked about diseases of the nervous system. I
drew a neuron on a post it note and he helped me label the parts in Spanish
neuroscience terms. I asked him about his religious beliefs. He believes in an
endless cycle of reincarnation. He doesn't believe in God but he believes that
our souls never die. I asked him where we came from. "The Big Bang."
"Where did the Big Bang come from?" "No one knows." People
use the Big Bang (in English) as a profound scientific term here. I don't think
they know what the literal translation is. I asked him what he thought the purpose
of life is. "To pass on the genes." "Why?" "No one
knows." "I do." He didn't want to hear about the gospel. He is
puzzled by the fact that someone who believes in science can also believe in
God. People here act like it's something contradictory. He told me that we are
all made of particles and I agreed with him, I like studying chemistry and I
know we're all made of particles. Then he said we are all particles of light,
holograms, and that no one really exists, we just think we do. I clapped my
hands together, as if to make them pass through each other and made a confused
face. It made his receptionist laugh.
Hermana
Arroyo is studying English during her language study and preparing to take an
English test and the ACT in October at the mission office. Her dream is to
attend BYU. I gave her all of the ACT tips I have up my sleeve and hope she
does really well. I can't imagine how stressful it would be to be a missionary,
a sister training leader, and applying to college in a foreign language. She is
a very motivated and determined girl.
Friday
we had district class. It is usually Wednesday but this week was different
because we had interviews with President Videla. Mine was very short because
our common vocabulary is limited.
In
our district class I received the first mail in my mission. MAIL MAIL MAIL!!! I
got the Dear Elders sent June 14th and 15th, so it took almost a month but it
was so fun to hear from you during the week. Keep sending Dear Elders because
they are fun but send more through email and I'll print stuff.
Saturday
we tried to find someone we had contacted in the street but we never found the
house. The houses on the hill don't have numbers and his instructions were hard
to follow. We had a phone number but his phone was shut off so we just talked
to others on the hill instead. We returned home with pears and oranges from a
family there.
We
wanted to buy a completo for lunch. You know you're in Chile when you walk into
a restaurant to buy a completo but the owners are people you have talked to
before and pretty soon you find yourself not in their restaurant buying a
completo but in their house eating empanadas with their children and the
grandpa. I still haven't tried a completo.
On
Sunday we had fasted for an opportunity to serve and it came. Saturday we
helped a family paint their house. I love this family and their two children.
We have been teaching them for a while but we may have to drop them because
they just won't come to church and aren't doing their part to progress. The
father’s family was baptized when he was 12 but he was not because he never received
an answer that it was true. His biggest concern is not about the truthfulness
of the gospel but about why, if it is true, he didn't find out thirty years
ago.
I
experienced my first earthquake Saturday night at about 11:15. It was pretty
anticlimactic. It only lasted about 30 seconds. Feel free to Google it and tell
me how big it was and where the center was, Dad.
Sunday
evening we contacted an investigator we met several weeks ago. We met him in
front of his house on a Saturday and he invited us right in to teach Lesson 1
and accepted a baptismal date. We invited him to church the next day and when
we showed up to remind him he already had his car started. It was perfect! Then
last week we taught him on Saturday again but Sunday he didn't come to church
and we didn't know why until we visited him yesterday. It turns out he was sick
and his car has broken down. However, he has been reading the Book of Mormon
and he watched the Restoration video we left with him on his own! Hermana Dodds
says no one has ever done that before. He just watched it by himself and had
questions. We haven't even been visiting and nagging him to do those things. He
just wants to learn. He has also been discussing the church with a friend who
is a Jehovah's Witness. What more could we ask for? After his discussion with
his friend he had questions. Mom, I used the scripture you sent me last week to
teach him. I couldn't remember the reference in that moment but I explained
that those who really have faith in the Bible will believe in the Book of
Mormon because the Bible testifies of prophets and revelation. We are teaching
him again tonight. We are nervous because his girlfriend is coming back from
school tomorrow and we don't know how receptive she will be. Feel free to pray.
A
funny note. Remember Angel? He and his friends like to look up English swear
words on Google to share with us. Hermana Dodds is really good at making up
pretend translations and telling them it means something else. "Why do you
keep saying pepper?" Angel's sister thinks Google never lies. I'm going to make a
meme, Moroni 10:5 And by the power of GOOGLE? ye may know the truth of all
things. The grandma just yells at them, "HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THE
MESSENGERS OF GOD!!" She still doesn't want to hear our message but it
sounds like she recognizes our purpose.
Everyone!
Make a missionary's day today. Call them and let them know when you are
available to accompany them to a lesson. Then study the lesson they plan on
teaching and be prepared to share your testimony. It requires less than an
hour. It's one of the hardest things in our sector right now because almost all
of the members in our ward live in a different sector. I think we have two
active families in our sector and in one of them the husband works every other
week in the mines. I know Utah is different but call and offer your help. The
missionaries will be grateful. The investigators need your friendship.
Have
a great week!
Love,
Eva
Minutia...
I
bought a calienta cama, a giant hot pad that goes under your sheets. I plug it
in while I'm getting ready for bed and it's lovely. Worth the 15 mil
pesos (30 dollars). And I don't have to sleep in 8 pounds of clothes anymore
(yes I weighed myself in them to find out).
I
love the quotes you put in my luggage. I am still finding them. Sometimes when
I find a really good one it becomes the theme of my personal study in the
morning.
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