Bona Nit (ya, no clue how that is actually spelled. It's
Catalán)
Wow, if my dad or brothers knew how much
attention me saying that I am sick got me I would never hear the end of it!
Thank you for all of your concern and well wishes. I am doing much better. My
throat is still raspy but doesn't hurt so hopefully that goes away and that I
didn't actually mess something up but we'll see...
This week has been great!...besides the being
sick part. I have a few stories in particular to tell you:
1) Renier: Renier is part of a part member
family. His mom and older brother are less actives and his mom's boyfriend who
lives with them is not a member but is as sweet as they come and the cutest dad
to their four year old daughter who I have mentioned before. So lately we have
been helping Renier get ready for his baptism (he is 8) and this last lesson we
asked Luis (the boyfriend) again why he doesn't want to get baptized and once
again he brought up the marriage thing but this time as opposed to other times
Croni, the mother was there, and we were able to get the white elephant out of
the room by asking what's impeding them from getting married. She just said
that they would in the future but not now to which Renier spoke out and said
why don't you get married now? Croni then seemed surprised and asked him if
that's what he wanted and he said ya. After a little bit more talking we
dropped the subject for now and then asked Renier to say the opening prayer. In
it he prayed that his mom could get married. So cute! We all chuckled a little.
Then afterwards we talked a little more about it and how fun it would be to
have a little wedding and that we would make chocolate chip cookies (that they
love) and then out of no where Renier folding his arms, closed his eyes, and
started praying again. In his prayer he again asked that his mom could get
married. When he finished and looked at him a little confused he said
"that time was for the cookies."
2) Augustine: This week we also had a very
bittersweet experience. Friday night
our ward had a few baptisms that we were able to sing for, we had hoped to stop
by Betty and Augustine afterwards. We have been teaching them for a while,
Betty is a less active member who lives with and cares for an elderly man named
Augustine who is not a member. We have loved to go over and visit them and were
excited to visit them again.
Unfortunately, getting everything back in order
after the baptism took a little longer than expected and we ended up not having
time. We called Betty Saturday morning to ask if we could
visit them then but she said it wasn't a good time and that after mediodía
would be better. A few hours later while we were in the church for English
class Betty called us. She was crying and said that we couldn't come over that
night, when we asked why she said that Augustine had just passed away. We were
both taken aback, we asked what we could do but after she assured us that she
would call if there was anything we hung up and just stood there for a minute
to catch our breath. It was then that I really realized how much we loved him
and how grateful we were for the chance to get to teach him. As missionaries we
have hard days, we have days where no one wants to talk to us, where people
tell you they have changed their mind and don't want to receive the lessons
anymore, where all of your visits cancel on you but I have never felt so
fortunate in my life. We don't have a ton of people to teach right now (a
condition we are working hard to improve) but I feel so blessed to have the
people we do. My dad always told me before the mission that soon I would love people
with all of my heart who I didn't even know at the time. That's such a
beautiful part of missionary work. We get to feel everyday a part of the love
God feels for each of his children. I feel so blessed to have taught Augustine
and while I already miss him a lot, I know that he was missing a lot of people
and that it was a happy reunion in heaven. As my mom says, "thank heaven
for heaven." I know that the plan of salvation is true, that death is not
the end and that we will see those we love again. And like I said a few weeks
ago, I am so grateful for this knowledge.
3) Primary program: Sunday was
the primary program. It was SOOOO cute! A few highlights: One little boy who
only had one line to say, started saying it over confidently, got a little
jumbled on the words and then said "Ay!" he thought for a second, put
his elbow on the pulpit and rested his head on his hand (the thinking pose)
talking to himself until finally someone came up and told him but it was
absolutely adorable. I won't consider myself a spanish speaker until I use
"ay!" as my form of exclamation. Another was a kid who kept waving to
his dad and then finally half way through the program just yelled
"Papa!" A few kids walked straight passed the pulpit and had to turn
around a lot of them got off the pulpit and after a few steps realized they
didn't say "in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen" and ran back just to
say that. The last one I'll mention was when they sang "I want to be a
missionary" and I looked around at all 5 of the other missionaries in the
congregation who couldn't help but smile and some were even bobbing along to
the music. All the boys had paper ties on and the girls had paper bows and then
they all had paper name tags. It was great. Sometimes it's surreal that I am on
my mission right now. Oh and they NAILED "A child's prayer" I was
very proud.
Well I think that's the main points of the
week, if I forgot anything in the words of Mitch Hedberg "I will write it
down, or if the pen's to far away, I will convince myself that what I thought
of ain't [important]"
Love you so much! Hope you’re enjoying the
holidays despite the Jazz being a little rough. Can somebody do something about
that by the way?
Hasta la proxima!
Hermana Tuttle
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