So, once upon a time, the internet in our complex didn't
work, so we had to go to the library, and we have an appointment at noon, even
though it's pants day. Translation? No time to email. That always seems to
happen when I need plenty of time to write about an awesome week. Ah - the
struggles. My life is so hard.
So, I think I'll just do a highlight reel, even though it
breaks my heart.
First of all. Remember Raymundo? The kid who told us that he
didn't feel anything different at our church and that he didn't want to talk to
us anymore? Yeah. He sent us a referral this week. He texted us and asked when
we were free because he has a friend that he thought we could really help. Oh,
Raymundo. We went to the college on Wednesday night and met with him and Jose,
his friend. We talked to him about what was going on and invited him to come to
church with us. We asked Raymundo to tell him how he felt about church (since
he's been coming every Sunday for the past three months. Hem.) So, he bore
his testimony of how great church was, and how it made his week better.
And this is the kid who "doesn't feel anything
different."
Right.
He and Jose came to church yesterday, and they seemed to
enjoy it. Raymundo told us as we left that he's going back to the Dominican
Republic for Christmas, and he made us promise that we'd make sure that Jose
came to church while he was gone. Did I mention that he went to two full church
services yesterday? Ours, and the ward he'll be moving into next semester. Six
full hours of church for this kid. He's kind of ridiculous. He's more of a
member than most of the people in the ward. Just get baptized, kid!
This week, we discovered the definition of the phrase
"Golden Investigator." Oh, man. We got a Mormon.org referral for a lady
named Megan, so we stopped by her house to see her. She said that she had just
wanted to feed us because she'd been watching a video blog of a guy whose
brother was on a mission and she felt bad for all of the missionaries who are
away from their families for the holidays. We sat down and talked with her, and
guys - she's so prepared, it's a little ridiculous. Her bunk mate in the
military was a member, she lived next to missionaries at one point, she worked
in the same office as our mission doctor, and her son dated a member at one
point. She's been watching the Emma Smith movie and the District and offered to
let us come over and practice teach the lessons to her and her family. The next
time we went to see her, she defended modern day prophets to us, told us that
she had invited a neighbor to listen to the discussions with us, told us that
all of her kids had friends in the ward, and that she's been looking for a new
church. She also talked about how happy members are, and said that she'd
learned about eternal families. She asked us if we wouldn't mind coming and
teaching her family about the gospel.
Seriously?
That's when we had our happy dance in the
bathroom. They had taken us out for dinner, we went to the bathroom,
started dancing...and then someone walked in. We felt...yeah. We told the other
missionaries in the District about it, and they didn't believe us. We're going
to teach the Restoration tonight, and I am so excited, I can't even handle it.
Miracles happen, people.
The tripe... So, we went out to dinner with a member family,
and they challenged us to try Menudo, which is a Mexican soup. They told us what
was in it, we said we'd try it...and it was gross. The taste wasn't too bad,
but the meat was - let's just say that it's an experience I won't be repeating
any time soon. Tripe is cow stomach. Stomach is not a meat. You should not be
eating it, and you definitely shouldn't be putting it in your soup. Yuck.
One more thought from church yesterday. One of the members
in the ward who has a son serving a mission told a story about when he was
training a new Elder. They were out contacting and his trainee would not talk
to anyone. They'd talked about it over and over again, and he still wouldn't do
it, so they went out one day and this Elder didn't talk. He said that it was
physically painful because there were people he wanted to talk to, but he
needed his trainee to do it. They were out for a certain amount of time and
Elder Nunez turns to his trainee and says, "How many times did you
suppress that feeling to talk to someone?" His companion starts muttering
the, "Yeah, I know" excuses, and Elder Nunez cuts him off and says,
"Why would you reject the Spirit?" That one really hit me. It's hard
to do what the Spirit asks - if it were easy, he wouldn't need to prompt us.
You need to do it, though. The Spirit won't continue to prompt us if we pick
and choose which promptings to act on. I've been trying to be better at that,
but there's definitely room for improvement.
I love y'all! Have a great week, and make good choices.
Share the gospel, smile, and don't do drugs. They're bad for you.
Love,
Sister Liljenquist
Our attempt at a nice picture... One of the Elders was in
the back trying to photobomb, so I yelled at him.
Look at these cool kids.
This picture so perfectly illustrates our Elders, it's kind
of stupid.
Elder Barlow likes to photobomb
The Spring District, in our natural state - being completely
ridiculous.
Elder Christensen still doesn't like it when I take pictures
of him.
Sarah was really impressed with my rubber band.
We're really pretty people.
Two of my favorite people on the whole entire planet - my
Grandpa Batton and baby Eli
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