So this week, I had another one of those moments like "Wait a second. I'm in Honduras, in Central America, as a missionary. I'm really on a mission. And I'm gonna be here for kind of a long time. Whoa." Those moments are always special.
Anyway, pretty great week! I feel like the vast majority of our planned lessons fell through, but we just found other people to teach and kept on keeping on. The fam. Mancia Garcia family had their baptimal date set for this last Saturday (there's a really handy word in Spanish, anteayer, for moments like that--it means the day before yesterday), so we visited them a lot. We have this sort of machine gun, rapid fire teaching habit for people coming up on their baptisms--they see us everyday. Sometimes they see us more than once everyday. It's great. We also went for a lot of lessons with Angi and Heydi (Maria Lusia's nieces--see last week's letter if confused on family connections here). Their baptisms are programmed for this Friday. But Angi didn't come to church this week. And Heydi's feeling kind of timid on the whole "Have you received an answer to your prayers about the gospel?" topic, so...we'll see what happens there. But things happen in the Lord's own time, so it's fine! And we seriously love the family Buh (Diana and Jose--they gave us hot chocolate, remember?) They are golden. They didn't come to church yesterday because he didn't get home from work until really early Sunday morning and she can't drive their car, so that's pretty sad. But again, the Lord's own time! It's happening!
Also, for the record, not everyone couldn't come to church. We had a lot of people at church. And we're really stoked about that. Sorry for the moment of negativity.
So, let's talk about fam. Mancia Garcia. Like I said, their baptismal date was set for anteayer. And they both really have received strong testimonies about the Gospel. And we went through the baptismal interview questions with them and they have a crazy unshakeable knowledge of the principles and doctrines therein. But Jose smoked, so he wasn't ready to be baptized. And Denia passed her interview with flying colors, but she wanted to wait for her husband, so they didn't get baptized on Saturday. So we're really sad. Not that they didn't get baptized, because we know that that's going to happen (at this point, Denia says she's getting baptized this week, no matter what, because she knows it's what she has to do). But we're sad for Jose. He really wants to change. He really wants to stop. But he can't just shake his addiction, it's got too good a grip. But we are so proud of him, because he knows that he could stop for a week and be baptized and start smoking again, but he won't do it. He says if he's going to make a promise to be obedient, he's going to be baptized when he's confident that he can live up to his promise. Pretty pilas.
On the homefront, we the Sisters of Campana are doing great. Poor Hra. Bahr felt really sick this week, but I think it's sick season in Honduras. Angi's daughter and Gladis Ardon and one of Hra. Escalante's convert's sons (that's a mouthful) are sick also, so maybe it's just that time of year. Hra. Bahr and Hra. Gardner cleaned our pila, and that was nothing short of a miracle. Because a pila should look kind of like a pool or a bathtub on the inside, but ours looked more like a garden pond. Or a swamp. Whichever of those makes you think ew more vehemently, it looked like that. Hra. Escalante is doing great, and continues to be a blessing and a friend. We're coming up on cambios soon and we've been pondering about who is going to be transferred. She's been here in Campana for six months, so she thinks it's gonna be her. But if I stay here it is highly likely that I'll be a trainer (scream of terror!) and I really don't feel prepared for that blessing yet. If the Lord gives me someone to train, I'm sure He will also bless me with the necessary faculties (and the gift of tongues) to fulfill that calling. All the same, I'm a little scared. Guess I need more faith!
Our investigators are all really great and really loving. We had a family night with Denia and her son (Jose was working) and with Fam. Buh and it was ridiculously fun. We played this game called I've Got Mail that involves chair switching and being the one left without a chair, and we decided that after your second time in the middle, you have to have a castiga (punishment). So Denia had to sing the Honduras national anthem and Hra Escalante acted like a frog and Jose (Diana's husband, that Jose) acted like a chicken and Diana spoke like the commentator in a soccer match (GOAL!!! GOAL TO HONDURAS, SEÑORES!) and I had to sing Brittney Spears. For the record, try to sing Hit Me Baby One More Time without dancing sometime. It's really difficult.
Quick note about Diana's Jose. We watched the Restoration film with them at the beginning of the week because he just started the lessons, so Diana really has a head start and we needed to catch him up. And after the movie, he's got this smile on his face that people usually have when they're thinking "Yeah. Ok, sure. That totally happened" (sarcastically). But we started asking him questions and we realized, little by little, that he wasn't thinking that at all. I felt like saying "Wait, are you smiling because you're happy? Because you can feel the Spirit!? Oh my gosh, you're actually feeling this right now?!!" So yeah, that family is awesome. Diana told us she always knew she needed to be baptized and she's always felt like church is good, but she has never felt the urge to be baptized or believed so vehemently in the word of God like she does now. So yeah, that family is awesome.
I found a spot to put my hammock, and we all made it through our fast without achieving unconsciousness. I can see the blessings of the Lord so strongly in the people here and in my own life. I know that I am where the Lord wants me to be, and I know I'm doing what He wants me to be doing. And knowing that it great! I love being a missionary, I love this work, and I love these people.
And oh! Here's a funny story. When we teach about the Word of Wisdom, we include a kind of vague closing statement (it's kind of like that vague 10th ammendment to the Bill of Rights) that the WoW discourages us from anything that harms our bodies. And Hra. Escalante usually says "So if I know that eating spicy food is going to make my stomach hurt, even though it doesn't say Don't eat spicy food in the WoW, I shouldn't eat it. Taking care of your body like that is part of the WoW." So ion Saturday we had dinner with the sisters and the two sisters in charge bought Coke for drinking and I had a glass of that, and I was up almost the entire night from a combination of caffine and serious stomach pain. I will now abstain from Coke and other caffinated soda on the grounds of keeping the Word of Wisdom. (Unless, Mom, we are driving at night and our lives depend upon me staying awake. That would be a reasonable moment for Coke.)
I love you all! I hope you are all doing great! Can't wait to hear from you next week!
Love, Hermana Pickett
P.S. Katalyn! Have the happiest of birthdays this week! I'm sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you but know that you are receiving good wishes from Honduras! Love you!
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