16
March 2015
Dear
family,
This
week I had crazy dreams. I dreamed that Julia was on the news... tap dancing.
She was really good. I think that dream came because Hermana Duffy was tap
dancing in the bathroom at leadership council. I also dreamed that Hermana
Santander wore green pajamas by coincidence the night before St. Patrick's Day,
even though it is not celebrated here, and I was really disappointed because I
couldn't pinch her. We'll see... I also dreamed that you guys moved when I got
home from my mission to a house with a very big slide like the one that used to
be in Liberty Park, only open instead of a tube. I was confused about how I
would go to college without a car if you lived a little bit farther away from
BYU. It's not time to think about college, is it? No.
Back
to proselyting...
We
taught the family from my last letter again. They are just fascinated by the Book of Mormon
and have such great questions. The father wonders why the Book of Mormon was hidden
for so long and why it isn't inserted in the Bible now that it has been
translated and published. One of the focuses of our mission and the area is to
teach members and nonmembers to think about the gathering of Israel all of the
time. We teach it with members all of the time but recently I had wondered how
I was supposed to do that with investigators, the nonmembers. Well, this
answered my question and we had the opportunity to explain the gathering of
Israel very simply after reading in Ezekiel about the stick of Judah and the
stick of Ephraim. I have realized that using the Book of Mormon is a great tool
because it is relevant to investigators and doesn't require giving them
information that is over their heads. We use the pictures in the paperback
Books of Mormon to explain that the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and was
translated by Joseph Smith. We explain that it was written by ancient prophets
who were led to the Americas, the scattering of Israel, and that they taught
the gospel, had the authority to baptize, and that Christ visited them
personally. We explain how Moroni buried the plates and that Joseph Smith was
led to find them and translate them, restoring the fullness of the gospel to
the earth and initiating the gathering of Israel which was prophesied millennia
ago.
A
miracle happened at lunch on Tuesday. A woman invited us to lunch and
told us last week that she was going to make cow stomach so we could try it.
although she knows that most people don't like it, she "knows how to
prepare it well." I did not want to eat cow stomach and honestly didn't
think I could. I prayed. I wanted her to be home so we could teach her, but I
wanted her to forget about lunch. Miracle of miracles! She had to go to the
doctor that morning and received the good news that they are going to operate
on her eyes. She hopes that when they take care of the cataracts she will be
able to see better. And she got home in time for us to teach a lesson but not
in time to cook. She served us leftovers, casuela with very normal chicken.
Our
electricity went out this week because the Elders in the office are new and
they didn't pay our bill. It was a big hassle and we had a few days without it.
Good thing I have an emergency backpack with extra flashlights that Jaylen left
me in addition to my own. We had to wake up early for leadership council on
Wednesday and shower in the dark with cold water at 5:30. My bad attitude was
tangible. The conference was worth the hassle, though. They talked about the
Spirit of Elijah and President showed us part of a conference held here with
some members of the 70. They talked a lot about Alma 5: 7, 13. They talked
about walking up according to God (my best translation, look up the scripture
in English please). They talked about how our job is to minister. We can't give
faith to other people but we can minister and invite the Spirit so people can
increase their faith.
The president's wife never fails to surprise us with more health tips to make us paranoid.
She has talked about fungus before but she expanded her power point with more
details that make us itch as we sit listening to her. After reemphasizing that
she added to her slideshow spider bites. She showed us photos of poisonous and
harmless spiders and lots of bitten flesh. I learned that the spiders Hermana
Nuñez and I caught in November or December were, in fact, arañas de rincon.
They are highly dangerous and the ones we had in Calle Larga were full grown
giant versions. I am grateful that we survived sleeping in that house and that
I am now in apartment buildings, even if the electricity went out.
We
moved apartments, by the way. The Elders moved into where we were and we are
now a few buildings over in a third floor apartment. Between the electricity
hassle, leadership council, and moving house we lost a lot of time this week
and I don't feel like we taught as much as we wanted to.
The
stake had a family history activity. It was kind of hard to get people there
because there were about five other activities between our branch and the stake
going on the same day. When we showed up there was hardly anyone there. The
family history consultant of the stake sent all of the missionaries out to the
streets to make contacts and invite people in for an open house. We left the
church and the first person I saw was on old man with a cane. All of the other
people in the street were running around, texting, catching buses. He was
calmly and slowly walking down the street and in the direction of the church! I
told my companion, "He looks like he might be interested in family
history." I contacted him and he told us that he had a
friend who is Mormon and had been invited to go to church but never went. We
invited him in to see what it was like and to learn something about family
history. When we presented him to the family history consultant of our
branch, he used his last name. The family history consultant's mouth dropped.
Her last name is the same as his. This man's full name is the same as her grandfather's name. We
don't know how they are related or if they are related but it sure sparked this
man's interest and made the family history consultant really happy to help this one man start his
family history, even if a lot of people didn't show up to the activity. My
companion passed his address to the Elders in San Felipe and the man said he
would go to church on Sunday. We're curious to find out if he did. He said the
chapel was beautiful. On his way out he shook my hand, and looking me in the
eyes said a very sincere, "Thank you for inviting me." In his other
hand he had his cane and his family history booklet, which he had started.
Hope
you have a good week!
I
love you lots!
I
am praying for you to be healthy!
Love,
Hermana
Eva VanCott
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