Hermana
Muñoz and I are teaching a 20 year-old girl named Gema. She is
quiet, very observant and doesn't leave the house much. The Elders
had contacted her dad, but we passed by the house and she answered
the door. By the second lesson, she accepted a baptismal date. And
she is so, so wonderful! I already love her more than she knows.
Our
ward sacrament meetings begins at 8:00 in the morning, which means
that we missionaries must leave the house at 7:00-7:15 to pass by the
investigator's houses and make it to church on time. We arrived at
7:45 and Gema had just woken up, and was moving about veeeerrry
slowly. Uh oh. We kindly hustled her along and were out the
door fifteen minutes later. For the first sacrament hymn, we
slid into the chapel and I sat down on the piano bench. I've been
playing piano for the ward for my four months here in Samanes, and at
first, I was frightened and rusty. On Sunday, when I sat down on the
bench and looked out at the congregation, I felt my heart fill up
with love. I looked at faces of people I love, completely, fully
love. Some saw me gazing and smiled back, some sat there completely
unaware, some tried to calm down their squirmy children. It's amazing
what service does for the heart--it fills it up with love, so that
there is no room for judgment.
We
enjoyed three great meetings and at the end of church, Gema told us,
with light in her eyes, that she loved church and wanted to come back
next week. Whhhaaa. Insert shocked missionary face here. I sat there
for a moment, stunned. Then I squealed and hugged her tight.
We
then had ward council and watched as the bishop's small office slowly
filled up with people. until we had 15 people smushed in the tiny
office. Then Hermana Muñoz and I headed off to have lunch with the
Villacres family, a young married couple with a fat, squishy baby
that I just want to snuggle and smother with love. While washing the
dishes, we talked about the iguanas of Ecuador. In downtown
Guayaquil, there is a large park of iguanas just chillin' on the lawns
and lounging in the trees, fat tails swinging from the branches.
Hermana Villacres stepped outside, let out a scream and came running
inside. "THERE IS AN IGUANA IN THE PATIO!!!" No way. Nooo
wayyy!
We
dropped the dishes and headed outside. There on the clothes cable sat
a gorgeous, green iguana, with its tail hanging from the cable.
Hermano Villacres came out with a towel, the only weapon he had to
take hold of the guy. He grabbed the end of his tail, then worked his
way up to the iguana's torso. The iguana let go of the cable and fell
from the towel. Then he took off running. FAST, while we were
all screaming of course. Hermano Villacres looked back at
us with the iguana's tail still in his hand! She set the tail down on
the trash can and we watched the tail move all on its own (soooo
creepy how that happens). After a dramatic lunch, we made some visits
and held a Family Home Evening with Tania, Ramses and Tayra. It
really is an amazing thing to listen to them share their testimonies.
Four months ago, Tania was lost and depressed. Now she is strong,
capable and has a firm testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is truly the only true church here on the earth.
And Ramses passes the sacrament every Sunday and Tayra recites to me
what she learns in church. I just LOVE that family.
Soon
we had to take off, and we stepped outside to see if was pouring. We had
no raincoats and no umbrellas, so we improvised. "The trash
bags!" We ripped holes in the sides and ran through the rain
like goths in the night.
Have
I mentioned that I love being a missionary?
The
mission is full of excitement and adventure, it really is. But the
best part of serving a mission is the spiritual growth that you
attain as the missionary. The Lord opens my mind each morning as I
study the scriptures to the revelations I need personally and that my
investigators need. I can feel the protecting influence that
surrounds me. I am no girl adventuring in Ecuador. I am a servant of
the Lord with power and authority changing lives as I bring the
gospel into peoples' homes.
And
what a blessing that is :)
Love
and hugs,
Hermana
Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment