February 24, 2014
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| Our investigators with their CTR rings! (Notice in the background, Hna Hoj giving the investigator a Book of Mormon) |
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| Puppies |
This was one of those weeks where nothing in particular
stood out as, like, "THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED TO EMAIL HOME!" It was a great week! But, sorry if this email is a little lame.
1. Puppies. I spent a good deal of a few of my days with
a specific few dogs, that I feel were a part of my missionary service. Animals and children – I’m telling ya, those
have been a theme of my mission. But anyway, we were tracting and we knocked on
a door of this one trailer. As we knock,
we see a huge German Shepherd emerge from under a pile of garbage. In my mind, I think: “Yupp, this is the end of
my life...I am about to perish." But,
turns out it was the nicest dog known to man! We named him Lazos. He emerges and starts
licking us and what not, when we hear these cries from another dog coming from
the yard. We look behind more piles of
trash and find another German Shepherd chained up. It was the skinniest dog I have EVER seen. You
could see every single bone of the body of this dog. She was just crying and crying. I immediately start making my way through the
piles of trash to this little thing (the people weren't home, btw). Once I got close I went with caution because I
didn't know if she was going to be mean or not. But finally, I get to her and
she just comes and lays her head on my chest (yes, that is how big she was)
and, tambien, is the nicest dog ever. I
pull out the baby food I have in my purse and start to squeeze it into my hand
for her to eat. After she finishes her
baby food she walks over to a little igloo kennel and starts to whimper. I walk over . . . and discover 8 little
babies. They had to have been only a few days old. It was so heart breaking.
This dog was SO SKINNY, there was no way it had eaten in dayyyyys which means
those babies hadn't eaten either. So to sum it up, I was heartbroken. We went back a few days later and brought
water and some homemade dog food for Mamita (that's what I named the girl GS). We didn't touch the babies the first time b/c
we were scared she might be angry, but we held them the second time around and
they were so cute. It was equally as
heart breaking. We called the ASPCA to come and get them.
2. Cubanos. There was one day, Saturday (it is always
Saturday), when all of our plans had fallen through and all of our back up
plans and all of our back up back up plans, so we were standing in the road
thinking, "Well, what are we going to do now?" A few blocks away there is a little strip mall
of sorts with a Panderia and a washeteria y algunas taquerias, so I was like
"Let's just walk down to the Panderia and see if there is anyone we can
talk to”. We get down there and there
is no one. Ha. Great. But, there was a
bench outside the washeteria so I was
like, "Let's go sit on the bench and we will figure it out from
there." We walk over and sit down
and start to talk about where we could go or what we could do. It was getting
dark and we were in a "part of town" (aka one block) that is a little
"rougher" (Not even CLOSEEEE to Gulfbank) that we aren't supposed to
be in once it gets dark, so we were trying so hard to think of places we could
go. After a few minutes two men walk out of the washeteria and I thought,
"That is an interesting accent.....Argentina? No. Colombia? No. Where are they from?" There was even one point when I wasn't sure
they were even speaking Spanish. I
leaned forward and said, "Habla Espanol?" They were like,
"Duh" (that isn't actually what they said, haha). I said:
"Where are you from?" They replied with some city that I had never
heard of. I say: "Okay, de cual PAIS?" And they say, in unison, "CUBA! Somos Cubanos!"
Oh man! I was so excited! I have only
known two Cubans my whole mission and they are my favorite because their
Spanish is so different.. It is like trying to put a puzzle together. We start
chatting and got through all the pleasantries, etc., etc., and finally got to the gospel. A had met with missionaries, but stopped
because of his wife. When I asked if they had ever heard of the Book of Mormon A is like, "Yeah, I have one!"
Haha. Then I started to talk to J and he goes
off about polygamy and food storage. He
had a really deep positive understanding of both subjects. I offered him the Book of Mormon in my hands and he gladly
accepted it and told me, without me even inviting him, that he was going to
read it. They were just up here from
Miami, so I won’t be seeing them again . . . except for maybe in Heaven. :)
It was a small moment, but a testimony builder that as
missionaries, sometimes our plans don't work out; but, as long as we are doing
our best, Heavenly Father will place people in our path that we can share the
gospel with. It goes for members and
missionaries alike--just open your mouth!
Plus, we ended the conversation with "Hey, cuando los
misioneros pasan por su casa...abra la puerta, okay?" To which they responded with: "Claro hermanita" (World, feel free
to correct that Spanish)
I love you! Bye!
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