SO last Monday was as it always is, Preparation Day. Nothing special. Then in the night and for Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Markward to his area (my old area!) and it was so nice to be back!
We had dinner with Roman and Mercedes and taught a super smart nine year old named Ian. As we left his house though I was attacked (as usually happens to me) by his dog who ate a hole into my pants. Lucky lucky me!
Tuesday we had district meeting and went to our favorite chinese buffet after. I pretty much got to just lead the area for the exchange though because Markward is new to it. We were able to go by and pick back up like 6 investigators that were lost in the time since I left the area. If anyone remembers me talking about Luisa, Tracy, and Hecyeni, we were able to go visit them and they are super solid and ready again! Luisa just had her baby so she won't be sick all the time anymore and so I think she is ready to make all the necessary steps so that was really exciting for me to see. :)
Wednesday was SO MUCH FUN! We spent the entire day at an elementary school (from 12-9) translating parent teacher conferences! It was awesome for me because I want to be a teacher so I got a peek into my future and it was also awesome being able to use my Spanish to serve others! We also met one of the teachers there who is from Puerto Rico. She is a member of the church but has been inactive for a long time. We talked to her for a while and then at the end of the night she asked for a blessing for the strength to do what she needs to do in her life. It was a super special experience and she came to church on Sunday with one of her co-workers (super cool chick!) and then last night sent us a long text thanking us and she says she is ready to return to church even though it'll be hard. I feel so blessed and honored to have been there to help her that day at service and help one of God's beloved lost sheep return to the fold. It's so special and I can't describe the love I feel!
Thursday...... ummmmm I really don't remember Thursday at all. OH WAIT. Ok so we went out to lunch at some chinese place and afterwards we had planned to knock the nearby streets. Well as we get to the street to start knocking, this white guy approaches us and invites us with a flier to his church's party that weekend and then continues on. We notice that he was also knocking doors to invite people and he has two other friends on the other side of the street doing it too. So there we were, my companion and I, going and knocking the same houses as the people and every time we saw a hispanic we would run to the door and talk to them because they didn't speak Spanish haha. It was really funny as we would try to stay ahead of them so we could knock first but then we'd teach a lesson and they'd pass us and it was just back and forth hilariousness!
Friday
Ate dinner at the Orellana's and we made the dumb decision to ate some Chile De Arbol that they had growing in their backyard and that just ended with lots of popsicles, glasses of water, and spraying our mouths with the hose! Hot man, spicy. Had a super sick lesson with Catarina! We had decided we wanted to talk with her about life after death. The lesson was just going normal until she broke down and asked a question. She is Catholic and about 30 years ago a grandchild of hers died around 3 weeks or so without being baptized into the Catholic church. She had lived the last 30 years with remorse, believing that her grandchild would be damned and condemned for not being baptized. She asked us what we believed. I immediately opened up to Moroni 8 and taught her what a baptismal covenant is and that babies can't make that covenant because they are not able to repent nor sin. We talked about how children are saved in Christ. It was very powerful and she was bawling crying and told us thank you many times and that we had relieved 30 years of guilt and pain. Super powerful.
Saturday......Went to a Hispanic Festival downtown and it was SICK!!! We saw a member's son there that goes to the English ward and he gave us twenty bucks for food! I also won a trivia game in Spanish so I won a McDonald's gift card that was in Spanish and some sunglasses from McDonalds that say "Me Encanta". It was super fun! We then went out and worked and taught some lessons before we had the branch cultural night! It was full of food and dancing and singing and super fun! Loved it!
Sunday was a normal Sunday! :D
Love you all. Not that I am counting down or want to be home already, because I truly don't think I'd be able to handle the real world again yet, but I have less than 8 months left now. It's crazy, it's insane! Talk to y'all soon!
Elder Groseclose
Roman y Mercedes :)))
White River Spanish Branch!
Hna Morales reminds me sooooo much of my mom!
Me in True Mexican Form
Una Mangonada!!!
Love the members!!!
Love the Laras!
REALLY HOT PEPPER MAN. WE WERE DYING.
The Lifeskills class sent me a flat stanley!
Such a cool story these two.... Love them. Isamari and Hna Kim Lyons.
