my life.
I met a lady who spoke only spanish and she sat us down on her couch and we
sat awkwardly with her and her friend and her grandma who hid in the corner
like a little raisin. We all smiled awkwardly and looked around awkwardly
and tried to say things but neither of us understand each other's
languages. She went off and I understood very minimally what she said, but
from what I understand she was really excited to see us because in
Chihuahua, Mexico, she had met a pair of missionaries, she had gone to the
Mormon church, and she had read the Book of Mormon. She told me this
Elder's name, repeated it two or three times so I knew how important he
was. It just reminds me of the seeds planted. I'll never know if this woman
is a baptized member or if she took the lessons in Mexico and never saw
missionaries again. But we sent the Spanish elders over there to sort it
out.
We've also been harvesting corn like crazy. When I first got here we
planted it, we weeded, and now we are picking, and enjoying! One lady on
the reservation let us... de-kernel the corn. And then she's going to teach
us to steam it so it can be stored and eaten all winter long in stew.
But okay the great highlight of the week was....
SISTER PANOUSSI almost passed out. Actually she pretty much did and I have
no idea why. I was brushing her hair and she started to blink slowly and
she mumbled "I think... I'm gonna pass out..." and then her knees gave out.
So I did the only logical thing I could think of, which was yell at her. I
grabbed her shoulders, pulled her up and said "NO! NO PASSING OUT. NOT
ALLOWED. NOOOO PASSING OUUUUT!!!! NO. NO. NO" And it worked. She sat down
and rested her head for a second and then we went about our day. Should we
have called someone about this? Maybe. But we were hours away from the
meeting with Elder Holland so we ain't got time fo' dat. (internet
reference)
But really the highlight was Elder Hollands talk. It was everything I
could've wished for. Yelling, crying, pulpit slamming. More than that,
before it started I wrote down three questions I had been praying for. And
all three were answered. Such a huge blessing. I don't know how God sorts
it all out, but he does. He manages to take one fireside and 200+
missionaries and answer all their questions and fit all their needs- HOW?
Through the spirit. and some other magic I don't yet understand.
He started out telling us how passionate he is about missionary work.
Anyone who's heard him talk knows this. "I'm *intense *about this. I
can go *ballistic
*about this!"
He reminded us of what every less-than-fresh missionary needs to hear and
he gave his first pulpit slam: "*DO NOT MISS IT! DO. NOT. LET. THIS. PASS."
*He told us to savor it. To not let "one solitary day go by".
"I want you to be wonderfully, enthusiastically, merrily, cheerily *serious
*about this."
He reminded us of obedience. "If it's *HIS *work, we do it *HIS *way."
He encouraged, uplifted, and passionately expressed his great love for us,
and God's love for us. He delivered the classic line:
"Salvation was *never *a cheap experience."
My favorite was he talked about how hard it is. How it's going to be hard,
and it's going to be worth it.
"Do not fear the wounds of faithful service." Even our Savior, a
resurrected being, chose to keep his scars. "Do not ever worry about the
scars you earned in righteousness and the sacrifice you made for the truth."
What was most powerful was just his presence. And his testimony. And the
same fire that burns within his heart may just be a small burning twig in
mine, but I know that same passion for the gospel is in me. It's what makes *me
*so excited to teach. It's what makes me rant off to Sister Panoussi about
some doctrine of the gospel that I want her to understand so that *she *can
be happy, so that *we *can become better missionaries. I am so grateful for
this time I have to learn so much. I miss you all lots, I love you,
Sister Valdez
-my bloody nose
- my wall of postcards
- my growing stack of planners
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