Will Smith and a Baptism

How sad about the typhoon! I can’t even imagine the destruction. I am so glad Meish is safe. I don’t think I have to worry about any Caribbean hurricanes. In general, their storms start here in this area of the Caribbean and then get bigger as they move north... at least that´s what I have heard. 

We had a good week. The highlight of the week was a baptismal interview that one of our investigators had. In June she had been living in a different area and receiving the lessons in that area. When she was interviewed the first time she wasn’t quite prepared and wasn´t able to get baptized. Well, she moved into our area and we´ve been teaching her. On Saturday she had her interview. The funny thing is that the elder that did her first interview was transferred and is now our district leader and was able to do the interview again. What are the chances? When he walked in, she just looked at him and said, “I know you.” But she passed! When he told her she passed and was going to get baptized in a week, she said in English: “yes, yes yes!!!!!”. She did a happy dance and shook me. Best reaction ever.

My Friend Who Calls Herself Will Smith 

We had a leadership meeting in the capital this past week. We have to wake up at 4:40 a.m. to get there on time. Usually the power is out at this time so it is quite dark when we leave the apartment. The meetings are always really edifying. One of the elders told a story I liked. He is from a little village in Peru where it hardly ever rains. He said that one day he tried to till the ground with a tool that wasn’t doing anything. Because of the language difference - I can’t tell you what tool he was using, but it was a tool that wasn´t working. He worked and worked but his efforts produced no fruits. He then switched to using a pick. It was metal and sharp. Immediately the ground started to break. His topic was about working hard AND effectively. I like this analogy because it reminds me that I shouldn´t work just to work. Sometimes on the mission, it’s easy to fall into patterns. I begin to work just to work. However, I know that we can enhance results if we work with purpose.

 

I get a lot of emails from an elder in Arizona. He doesn’t mean to send them to me. I think somehow I made it on the email chain because I have the same last name. Sometimes I read his emails. He said they work on Facebook and the mission just gave the missionaries iPads. How different their mission is!! I don’t think iPads would work here.

 Tan Lines

No dog encounters this week. My companion keeps saying, “I ran for my life” in the Sweet Brown accent.

A lot of our investigators have some pretty big obstacles in their lives. We are trying to help them. We are so incredibly blessed and before I started this adventure, I really had been sheltered from a lot of the big problems of the world. I am so grateful for all that I have learned.

MTC Reunion

xoxo

Meg