I don’t really know what to say about this week. Mostly I’m really tired. I love Hna Lamb but she tires me out. There’s lots of extra things like needing to do her hair in the morning because she can’t with her one arm. We also aren’t able to work as much which is hard for me.
What’s up with money Rachel? How are you both doing with the allotment you receive each month? I’m assuming that generally it is enough, but I don’t really know, so….
Yeah, it’s enough, we’re just not supposed to use it for clothes or anything like that, and I got permission to go to the mall today so… yeah. Sorry that I’m a bad daughter. I didn’t even need the extra money I would have been fine with what I had. I just had a crummy week and I really wanted to go shopping.
We don’t get a lot of money for food, but the members feed us dinner every night so, we really don’t need much.
Speaking of members being super generous. Sometimes when were at the grocery store or go out to eat random members of the church will pay for us or give us money for our food. A couple weeks ago I was out with Hna Falcon doing our grocery shopping and I was feeling really stressed because I had lost my nice Spanish set of scriptures that they had given me in the MTC. I left them at an investigators house or something, and I knew transfers were the next week and there was no way they’d turn up after I left the area. I was worried about how much they’d cost when some guy came up, asked to shake my hand, and stuck a wad of bills in my hand. He gave Hna Falcon and I 60 dollars. As soon as we realized how much it was we tried to find him so we could give some of it back. We couldn’t ever find him. I was so grateful I was ready to start bawling in the Walmart. I used my half to pay for most my new set of scriptures and the rest with my debit card. It was a miracle for sure. Now I just need to get a case for them.
Rachel do you serve in a different branch or ward now?
Yeah, I’m in Liahona 3rd now. It’s closer to the Visitor Center, but I’m not actually serving in the VC right now. We just go in once a week to make phone calls. Soon Easter Pageant will happen though, and I will be back in the VC for that.
We actually had a big meeting this Saturday with all the sisters, and some sisters from the Tempe mission showed up. Then President Hows (sp?) from the Tempe mission showed up, and we were like, ‘What the what?’ And it turns out ONLY sisters are working at the Visitor Center during Easter Pageant this year. There’s only ever sisters working inside of the visitor center, with the exception of the senior couples, but usually for Christmas light and Easter Pageant the Elders help out on the grounds. Anywho, it’ll be interesting to see how it works out.
Oh! And more info about Liahona 3rd. It’s an actual ward so there’s a lot more members, but they’re not quite as helpful as the ones in Mesagrande were because they’re overrun with missionaries. There’s currently 6 of us serving in the same ward and the transfer before there were 8. They actually just made it so that now we eat with one of the English wards in the stake for a week and then Liahona 3rd for a week. So that they’re not having to feed us dinners all the time. I’m pretty happy about it because I get much more reasonable portion sizes from the English members. I honestly have no idea why I haven’t put on 100lbs the way I have to eat here.
Tell me about the funniest thing that happened this week and the saddest thing.
The saddest thing is, I found out that Ana is not in Venezuela she is in jail. I am not sure of the details, Hna Falcon called me to let me know when she found out, but it’s something with her papers. I was really upset about it, and I know I need to write her to offer encouragement but I honestly can’t think of anything to say. I just get really angry whenever I think about it.
I don’t know what the funniest thing was, probably something Hna Juarez said, but the best thing was Edwin’s baptism. I really think I would have lost it this weekend if that didn’t happen. I really hit a wall when I found out what happened to Ana, and I started getting a little sick again. There’s always such a special spirit at baptisms though. It makes the rest of it alright, and even though I just inherited the baptism with Edwin I feel like I’ve been around from the beginning, because I had met him a couple of times before coming to Liahona 3rd when I was on exchanges with Hna Lamb.
So, here’s a little bit about Edwin’s family so you know them 🙂 They joined the church about 14 years ago, and right away the ward gave them callings, and the ladies in the ward started telling Marisela she needed to get new shirts for after she went to the temple. All good things, but then they got into a car accident and their baby son died and it became too much.
Anyways, the missionaries had been trying with them for years. Hna Falcon’s older sister who served in this mission 5 years ago worked with them a lot. Then Hna Lopez and Romano were making random calls to people on the ward list trying to find someone to go out to a lesson with them when they got Marisela. So, Marisela and Edwin went out with the missionaries, and had a terrible night where people were super rude and one guy actually slammed his door in their faces. Marisela decided that people should be nicer to missionaries so, her and her family started listening to them.
True Story.
Anyways, Marisela and Ruben sell delicious tacos out of there house and they ALWAYS feed us something when we go over. For Edwin’s baptism his mom made a 50lb tres leches cake, two huge trays of sandwiches, plus horchata and hot chocolate. They are fun.
Oh! I finally remembered the funny thing. You know how I was talking about how we trade off eating with the English wards now? Well Hna Lamb and I were eating with the Olive ward this past week, and a lady gave us a call asking what our area boundaries were so she could take us out to dinner. Turns out the only sit down restaurant in our area is Organ Stop Pizza. The whole place is built around a giant organ that rotates around on the stage so you can watch the guy playing it. You can also see all the pipes through windows in the walls. It’s pretty cool, but also super cheesy. There were dancing cat puppets to go along with one song and that was probably the funniest thing this week.
Anyways, I love you all, and miss you all a lot.
Loves, Rachel.
P.S. Santiago is going to get baptized this weekend 🙂 Hna Falcon is going to put me on the program so I can come.