Hey! Happy fathers day Jeffrey Reed! Love you so much. And Birthday shoutout to Owen, Shanbabe, and Speen!! The big 20
wahoo
Last
week i mentioned that there has been an outbreak of chickungunya. It is getting
stronger and stronger. At first they were saying that it comes from the mosquito but now it appears to be more of a virus. A highly contagious virus. Luckily I think I already had it, and in a relatively mild form.
We
have heard many theories to explain where this chickungunya came from. It has
become sort of a game to us and the other sisters in the house to ask everyone
its origin. Some of the answers we have received include: it comes from a
chemical the Chinese dumped into the Caribbean ocean; it came from a
contaminated boat from Africa; my favorite is that it came from a big truck.
Its unclear what this truck contained or where it came from, but it came from a
truck. The mystery of the Chickengunya continues.
Our
area is pretty good. We are still searching and trying to get things going.
There is one investigator that is really interested. Unfortunately, he has had
pretty bad luck. Last Sunday, he mistakenly went to a different church that is
on the same street. Then, the other night we invited him to what we thought was
a ward activity which actually turned out to be a young women's volleyball
night. He showed up to play volleyball with a bunch of thirteen year old girls.
Then he was unable to go yesterday because he was sick with the infamous Chickungunya.
We had an interesting week. The first half of the week was
really challenging and I was feeling frustrated and discouraged. We've been
working so hard and I didn't feel like we were getting anywhere. But in the
second half we found some wonderful less actives and investigators. It turned
out being a good week. We finally had a few people go to church!
We had a couple of really good lessons. I love when I leave
a lesson and I feel edified and the people we visited also feel uplifted. A
lot of the people we visited opened up about their fears, worries, and life
stories:
One woman told us that her son who lives in New York is
going to have surgery on Tuesday. She began to cry as she expressed the guilt
she felt that she wasn't there to support him. She felt like she was failing as
a mother. We talked about how often parents lover their kids but can't protect
them from all the band, hard and painful things in life. And how that is like
our Heavenly Father. He wants to protect us but sometimes in life we have to
pass through hard things and he can't interject.
One progressing investigator opened up about his life story.
When he was three he was abandoned by his mom. He remembers perfectly the day
she left; she told him he would be right back and never returned. He was raised
by his grandma but always dreamed of knowing his mom. Then when he was twelve,
she came to "visit" but ended up taking him and his sister in the
middle of the night. She snuck them out. At first he was so excited but as time
went on he felt so much pain and guilt for leaving his grandma and tht we could
never tell her goodbye. He has never seen or talked to her since. She lives in
Haiti and he doesn't know how to communicate with her.
In one lesson. We sat on a woman's patio in rocking chairs.
Her patio was full of different types of plants. She described each plant and
what it needs to grow and flourish. She talked fondly of her plants and how its
interesting that some of them thrive and others don't. She said she talks to
her plants and loves them. We chatted about how the principles of gardening can
apply to our relationship with God. We are all so different; often we have
different needs, backgrounds, and abilities. But as with all the plants, the
flourishing process is gradual and takes diligence patience and faith.
Something that begins as a seed or bulb can truly develop into something
beautiful.
A part of mission work that is fun is that people trust us
and open up about their stories and we get to translate these experiences into
something meaningful and spiritual. Everyone has a story and everyone wants to
be understood.
Church was pretty interesting yesterday. Pretty strange. Due
to the Chickungunya a grand total of 41 people went to church. None of the
assigned speakers or teachers were their so it was all pretty improvised. There
was also a homeless man who was sitting on the first row and in sacrament
meeting and was swaying his arms in the air, then pacing, then took of his
shoes to kneel in prayer; it made the meeting pretty interesting. Then we had
Sunday school. I was teaching a class and the homeless man came in and sat down
in my class. He participated a lot while he chowed down on a banana. The he
asked to sing us a song. It actually was helpful because I didn't have a lot
prepared and he ate a lot of the time; I also didn't think I could kick him out
because the class was on love and charity. They ended up canceling the last
hour of church due to a lack of people. Strange day.
One investigator has told me on many occasions that there is
a striking resemblance between my hair and Jesus Christ's hair. It is just
shocking to him.
We are going to have a new mission president in two weeks-
they had to change transfers. So we just finished a transfer and Hermana Gingell
and I will be staying in our area. It is my last transfer- so strange.
Lake Powell looked so fun! Miss you and love you. Hope all
is well
Hermana Chritensen
¨Envy
is ignorance. Imitation is suicide¨
- Ralph waldo Emerson
There
is a feeling of inner peace that comes from total relinquishment of judgment.
We dont feel the need to change others, and we dont feel the need to be
different than we are. We can see for whatever reason the total beauty of
another person, and we feel that they can see the beauty in us as well
- Marianne Williamson
"You
are the books you read, the films you watch, the music you listen to, the
people you meet, the dreams you have, the conversations you engage in. You are
what you take from these. You are a collective of every experience you have had
in your life. You are every single second of every single day. So drown
yourself in a sea of knowledge and existence. Let the words run through your
veins and let the colors fill your mind."
"What
we love determines what we seek, what we seek determines what we think and do,
what we think and do determines what we become."
- President Uchtdorff
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