Mi familia! Friday, March 27, 2009
I love everything! I love Houston, I love the people, I love the random wildlife, I love the ghetto that is my apartment complex. I get made fun of by the other missionaries because whenever we see a flower or a butterfly or other kinds of wildlife or babies or buildings, I always exclaim "I love _____!" It's true though. I do love the babies and the silly insects and this random raccoon we saw the other day and the half burned-down apartment complex across the way...
Oh! I got in my very first Bible Bash this last Thursday night. (It wasn't a REAL Bible Bash, since Hermana Friescell and I refused to call upon scriptural defenses--we basically taught the first lesson and then got chewed out. We're pretty sure he is a preacher of some kind.)
Anyway, we were knocking on doors in the apartment complex across the street from us, and we got one man who sort of seemed hostile-he didn't say anything mean, he just was looking at us like we were little cockroaches and the way he said "Bueno! Dame su messaje.." just wasn't friendly. So he let us in and partway through the lesson, I suddenly got the impression that he was a preacher of some kind. He hadn't said anything to suggest this, there were no signs on the walls-save for the usual religious paraphinalia that decorates every Latino home. When we asked, he said that he went to a Christian church, I think Holy Cross was in the name (Santa Cruz). Anyway, he wouldn't really say anything else, but he let us finish then went and got HIS bible. It was one of those gorgeous, heavy duty/leather case deals with an insignia of a dove stiched into one side. I've already been in quite a few homes and most people have a bible, but this is the kind of Bible that gets carried around; there was a well-worn handle in the case. I realized then that he WAS a preacher. He chewed us out, the usual over-used (try not to roll your eyes, Hermana Lillywhite) stuff that EVERYONE says, "The Bible is everything God ever meant to say", \ "Prophets ended with Jesus" etc. We tried not to argue with him beyond, "Dios puede llamar un otro profeta, si quiere. El es Dios! Sabe?"
He wasn't listening so we decided to leave--but not before reminding him 3 TIMES that he had admitted that he beleived God answered prayers, so that meant that he needed to pray about what we'd told him, and about Profetas SINCERELY before we would be satisfied. He lives REAL close by, and I'll probably be in this area for 3-4 transfers at least (Thomas S. Monson apparently recommended to the mission Presidents of the world that they should keep missionaries in their first area for about 6 months (or 8).
So...I may go visit him again later since he only lives across the street and ask if he's prayed about Profetas yet.
The Hermana who was here before us says she thinks she knows who we're talking about, because she met him too, and she says we're right, he's a Preacher if it's the same man.
So - it looks like everything my teachers ever told me is true. All Hispanics have the same exact entertainment system, the children are so cute it breaks your heart. The food is amazing. I'm probably going to have permanent emotional damage by the time I hit my 2nd transfer. The lamest rule is that you can't drive your Investigators to church. Less actives are some of the nicest and most frustrating people in the world. Don't worry about the Language--it'll come. Morning studies are VERY important. You're going to feel incredibly hurt and guilty whenever you talk to someone without sharing the gospel..Tamales are SO much better when they're made with banana leaves instead of corn husk. Don't aggrevate the fire ants. Nobody knows what the word Albedrio means, or Apostacia, and most of them don't REALLY know what a Profet is. Speak slowly, it helps. And SO many other things that they told me that REALLY help a lot.
Remember Elder Homer who I mentioned in my email? The one in "Pay it Forward"? Well, he's turning 21 this Thursday (we get Cake Friday) and he's also looking for his birth mother. I don't know the whole story, but he knows she's living here in Houston probably and he has a first and last name, but that's all to help him find her. He doesn't know what she looks like, except that he's got VERY blue eyes and he thinks her's might be the same. I really think he can't have been called to the same city that his long lost mother is living in for no reason. They should meet on his 21st birthday, I think. He's such a neat person, I hope he finds her.
All the Elders are really nice, on (Wednesday/Tuesday no recuardo) we did service with Elder Conrad and Elder Olson. We got to go to the Arbolidum and help out there, they were making it hard to focus because they kept telling stories and making us laugh. It sounds like being English speaking in this mission is pretty entertaining too--they have a lot more experience with running into Preachers and the like. I guess it is part of the Bible Belt, isn't it?
Anyway, the Arboledum was NEAT. There were cute little frogs and lizards all around and we ran into a family of members from Colorado (I think).
Oh--I think I figured out one of the main problems with "missionary" movies. The focus is way too much on the missionary and not enough on the people they're teaching\talk to on the streets. That was one good thing about Errand of Angels, is that you saw them with a lot of investigators, even though only the one lady got baptized, there was a much better focus on the people BESIDES just the missionaries.
I spend all of my time with the investigators\lessactives\random people who don't really want to talk to me. I seem to remember God's Army in particular being a lot about missionaries together in the apartment\at parties..and that stuff is real, but it only lasts for a few minutes; then you're back to tracting or (hopefully) going to an appointment.
So, that what's wrong with the movies. (Though I DO like The Best Two Years.)
Now. I love bishops. Mostly, I love Daddy, but I Love Bishops. And I love the Bishop of the ward I'm serving in, he's a good man...But he made me very angry yesterday in P.E.C. We had a baptism, you know. BIG deal. Very excited. You think he might have offered a congratulations or something, right? Instead he just sat us down and chewed us out. (In Spanish, so the good news is that I understood all of the very ignorant things he told us.) He says that we need to bring specific requests. The ONLY thing we've asked of him since I got here was to PLEASE introduce himself to Arnie. The newest member of his ward, you know? We actually brought Arnie up to talk to him, and he completely blew us off. He also complained that our Baptismal services are too long and that they are at inconvenient times, like Sunday after church or Saturday morning when he'd rather be with his family.
(It's good I can't speak Spanish very well, because if my 'Spanish-brain' was a little faster I might have said something like "I really don't care sir, much sir. I don't get to hang out with MY family for about a year and a half--you can go ahead and wait 30 minutes later this afternoon." or maybe "Arnies wife is dead. He might be able to hang out with her for all of eternity if we can just get him to the Celestial Kingdom!")
Anyway,-maybe it's too soon to tell, but Hermano Prestwich had a story about one of his Bishops who was a bit like this. Hermana Frieszell says that it's just different in different wards. Sometimes the Bishop is really involved in and excited about missionary work and sometimes he's just busy and tired and doesn't want to deal with it, or is openly hostile towards missionaries because of bad experiences in the past or the like. El Periodical in Evangelio talks about learning to gain the trust of the members and the Bishop, but it doesn't really specify HOW aside from baptising people. Maybe if we do that more he'll give us a break. Hermana Frieszell says that part of it stems from general misogynistic sentiments in the culture. For the prayer in sacrament meeting, the Hermano actually asked for God to make the Women in the ward be more loving.
It doesn't really bother me yet, mostly, it's just funny/a little pathetic.
It's just that we work so hard. We really care about this work a lot, and you'd think that other members and especially our leaders would be able to relate.
I know Daddy, I know, it's the Bishop's right to advise us about anything he sees fit to in his ward. I'm sure his heart's in the right place, he just doesn't really understand that he comes off as apathetic/prickly.
Why is it so hard to get people to church, I ask you?! Yesterday, one of our Investigators, Orfelda, blew us off for a lesson we'd scheduled with her and her children for that afternoon and then we were all supposed to go to church (we can't give them a ride, but their less-active neighbors can.) They'd actually thought of this themselves and told us about their plans, then we scheduled this appointment to make sure this miracle actually happened.
It didn't. Orfelda..well, I'm not sure where she went, but she told her children to get a ride from someone else, because the Martinez family wasn't going to be around either. But, of course, she didn't call us, so we came by before church, and there were 5 adorable little Hispanic children hanging around who wanted to go to church, and NOBODY would give them a ride! The adults were all just lounging around, telling them to get rides with other people. They were SO upset. It was incredible, I couldn't help but think of all the spoiled Mormon kids in Utah who complain about going to church. Is it safe to say that their parents are going to have to answer for this one day?
I really feel how lucky I am to have had my own sweet family in my life, and to have been raised in a home with the gospel imbrued (I used one of my old words!) in every word and action. The children here are so heartbreaking. Whenever I see a child now, I think about what Hermano Richardson said about the blessing that children can have, and how much more secure and loving a home is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this is true now more than ever, the contrast between the disposition and prospects alone..Parents just LOOK at their children different when they fully understand what God intends for them. And there's so much more-but it's lights out, and I think I'd better wrap up this epistle--sorry the ending is a bit abrupt! I love and appreciate you a little more cada dia.
Hermana Lillywhite.