¡Viva la Viña!: I Don't Want Another Bite!!!!!!

February 23, 2015

HOLA FAMILIA!

Ok so this week was crazy. Like always. Ok so here`s the update on everything.

So Alonso... Our crazy investigador that lied and freaked out and everything. We met up with him on Monday to talk and see what the heck happened and get everything straightened out and see what he wanted to do. Basically he told us that he didn`t feel bad at all about lying to us or storming out of the branch president`s office and was just really really mad about that lady asking him to move. Also he brought us his Book of Mormon and tried to return it which obviously we weren`t going to accept so he just set it on the bench and went on his way. We haven`t seen him since. We were way way sad about everything that happened. We`d literally done everything we could to help this guy. Maybe we didn`t have the baptism though, but I know that I taught someone the gospel of Jesus Christ. I gave someone the opportunity to accept it and in the process it made him happy. Pride is a mean poison though that can erode away even the most sweet feelings and experiences. It`s really really sad. And it was really really hard for us to accept. But we can`t make decisions for others and we can`t drag them to church. That`s not the Savior`s way. But yeah moving on from that experience we`ve actually had a great week full of miracles.

The next day we went to this pueblito, like an hour away by walking. Good thing there`s public transportation! The missionaries before had never had any luck out there but we didn`t have any appointments that day so we went to see what could happen. And guess what. The Lord blessed us for our efforts. We found a family!!!!!!!!! And not just any family. This family is super special because the mom is deaf. Like legitly deaf. And so is the dad, only he`s deaf from a motorcycle accident so he can hear a little if we talk really loud. So we basically have to communicate with them through the daughter who`s 9 who then talks to them with sign language. And Spanish sign language is different from American sign language..... Fun fact of the day. But they`re awesome and we`re going to go teach them again tomorrow. I`m really excited to see how they`re going to progress. We are going to need A LOT of support from the branch, especially when they come to church. But this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I have a lot of faith that everything is going to go great. I`ll let you guys know what happens with them!

Then, cutest thing. We have lessons with a recent convert, Javier, who`s basically one of my favorite people. He`s so funny and he just loves being Mormon. But he`s really poor. Like he doesn`t always have money to have enough food. And he finds stuff in the garbage and then sells it for money. So this week he found this cool wooden cigar box. It was so cool that he wasn`t going to sell it and just keep it. But then he didn`t have anything to eat for breakfast so he told us that he was praying and praying and that he knew that God would provide a way that he could eat. So he leaves his house to go somewhere, look for work probably and he has this feeling that he should bring his cigar box with him. He put it in his pocket but then was like no, I need to keep it in my hand. He`s waiting at a bus stop and a guy comes up and sees the box and is like how much is that box, I`ll buy it from you. Javier is like woah, that was a really fast answer to my prayer! And he`s like 4 mil but then he feels like he should change it to 3 mil and does and the guy buys it off of him right there on the spot!! So he went to a store and was able to buy himself bread and a coke. You should have heard him telling us that story! He was so excited! He was like I KNEW God would come through! I knew he`d help me! He outdid Himself! hahaha it was super cute. Also he had the baptism ordinance done for his daughter who died, and he said that he said a prayer afterward and that he just felt like really really amazing and with a lot of peace and that he knows that his daughter is ok now and at peace. How sweet is that?! Aw, he`s just awesome.

Ok....Funny story time....

We had a lesson with Luis, the little old man who got baptized in December. He doesn`t really have chairs so we always just sit on a little coffee table he has. Ha! welcome to Chile. Anyway, we stand up and it turns out he had this little tanax gun (which is like one of those squeeze tub things of bug spray killer) that had leaked out while we were sitting and our skirts were covered in this very smelly bug spray. Uhhhh. But the thing is that he lives toward the bottom of the hill, we live at the top and we had another appointment right then at even lower down the hill. So we could not go back and change. So we went to the appointment and the smell is just burning our noses. But there was nothing we could do! Luckily the lady didn`t say anything. She was kind of sick though so I don`t think she could smell. Blessings from heaven!!!!!!!!! But then we`re at the bottom of the hill and there`s an investigador there so it was just better time sense to go see if she was home right then because it`s not like we`re down in that area every day. Well she was home and let us in so we taught her and her son. It went fine and great, she gave us juice, but the juice was even bad just because we could smell the bug spray. They didn`t say anything either so I`m hoping that they were sick too. Maybe it was just really strong for us because it was on our clothes. But afterward we booked it up that hill and changed. Nothing like being covered in bug killer spray. Nice.

Then yesterday was just crazy! So we were expecting 4 people to come to church. Church starts 15 minutes late mind you. And not one of them is there. Our ward mission leader says no one came and we`re like thanks for pointing that out. But then during the middle of the first talk, this old man walks in and starts talking really loudly to a lady in the back and we turn around and it`s DAVID! He`s this old man that we taught for the first time Saturday and invited him to church and he came! With his very tall wooden walking stick and everything. AND he stayed for all 3 hours! And he liked it a lot! BLESSINGS!!! Then we went to lunch where we ate a really big plate of alfredo noodles and avocado salad and for dessert ICE CREAM! They gave us two bowls full. It was a lot but worth it because it was yummy. Then we leave and find that it`s really hot and we don`t want to climb up the hill. Then I remembered this kid that I gave a Book of Mormon to a few months back that lived near so we went to see if he was home and he was there and we were talking to him out front and his mom says why don`t you invite them in to have a drink and we`re like yes! So we went in and taught the kid, his mom and his brother. The mom gave us leche con frutilla (strawberry blended in milk. Basically like a milkshake) And raspberry merieng cake. We couldn`t say no. We were dying of food and sugar overload. Then we had to book it up the hill because we had a cita with a recent convert who told us she`s going to give us once (it`s like tea time). And it`s hot and we`re like bursting. But then this guy in a collectivo that`s driven us a bunch of times passes by and says hermanas! Get in, I`ll take you up! BLESSING! He didn`t even charge us. So we make it. We`re teaching and the lady brings us once. She brings out two plates filled with mashed potatoes and chicken. We`re just like no. no. no. AND she has pan amasado which is like big pieces of chilean bread AND avocado. Oh. my. gosh. Luckily I asked her for a grocery bag and when she wasn`t looking I put it in my bag and then when she got up from the table we were able to put half in the bag. Literally we were dying. We just hurt. But then we had to go to a family home evening that we had with Nora and Juan and Javier, all recent converts. Meantime, our district leader called us and says have you guys invited anyone to be baptized today because we did. And we`re like ahh how are we going to be able to invite someone to be baptized we have a noche de hogar right now. So we go over to hermana nora`s and guess who`s sitting in there. Maria Cristiana. ONE OF OUR INVESTIAGORES!!!!!! Turns out they`re old friends! We`re like we have to invite her to be baptized. We`re like how do we change the conversation to that.. Bring it to Javier who just starts talking about his baptism and how he wants the baptism for his mom to get done in the temple. It was perfect so we invited her! She said that she wanted to pray about it, which is fine because you should pray about it, but she didn`t say no! Actually it was funny because she was trying to teach Javier about baptism. (She`s very Christian). But then for the family home evening we had made them no bake cookies, which in Spanish they call ``caca de mono``. Don`t ask me, I didn`t start that. But we had a good time laughing about it. hahahahahaha. But yeah. yesterday was just CRAZY CRAZY!!! But it`s awesome how much things can change in a week. AW I love the mission!!!!!!!!!

I hope you guys have an awesome week this week! I love you!!!

Con todo el amor en mi corazon,

Hermana Evans