September 18, 2012

VOLCAN DE FUEGO BLEW UP?!?!

That's about how in the loop we are over here. Volcan de Fuego is on the other side of a mountain range. Still in my zone, though! But I didn't see, hear, feel, smell, taste, sense with my spidey senses, nada! This is literally the first thing I'm hearing about it! Too bad I'm not in Excuintla...I heard something about an evacuation, but I had no idea why! I figured it was from waaaaay too much rain, cuz it rains like craziness there! But apparently not!

So...we've had a great week! We are still really searching for that miracle so we can baptize this month, and I think we might have found it! We found a lady about two weeks ago who had been taking the lessons from the missionaries about two months ago, but dropped them because she felt too much pressure. But then she came back to church on her own! Success! Her husband is a member from a long time ago, but couldn't go because she wouldn't let him! So she attended, and we went over the next day, and we were really sensitive and nice, trying not to pressure her too much. I honestly didn't think it would go very far. But we taught the first lesson, and normally after we go straight into their needs (Sabbath day, word of wisdom, law of chastity) and then we talk about baptism, but this time we just decided to just teach the lessons all the way through. So last night we taught the third lesson, which talks about baptism. I was really nervous, and prayed all day long that the lesson would go really well! So we got there, and the lesson went PERFECT! I was so happy! Then, after the lesson she said, "Look...I understand the importance of being baptized, and want to be baptized, but I just want to be 100% sure that I get baptized in the right church!" Well...ok! We can work with that! Then, it turns out that she's not reading the BOM! Well this is just an easy fix then! So we told her to read the BoM, and we will be passing by every day to see if she has questions, or doubts, or whatever! So...I'm pretty excited! We've been working our little tails off to be able to contribute to the goal of 300 baptisms this month, and it looks like we'll be able to! Success!

So, like I told you last week, this last week was Guatemalan independence day. I was...well...very disappointed. The coolest thing that happened was a torch running! A school ran a torch from Amatitlan, my old area, to here. I didn't know about it at all, but we were walking in the street at about 8:30, and this mob just rounded the corner, torches, screaming people, and all. Some members had told us about two weeks ago about riots that happen in the street every once in awhile here, and always leave a few people dead. So, my first though, naturally, was, "Well...here begins the story of how I died in a Guatemalan riot." But, thankfully, it just turned out to be a delightfully peaceful torch run, and I didn't die in a Guatemalan riot. They even had a police escort!

So we're teaching this family, the Valenzuela family. They have two kids that have some sort of mental disease, one is completely paralyzed, and the other isn't much better off. They're both in there mid 20's, and can't do a single thing for themselves. I was having kind of a rough day, kinda down in the dumps cuz all of our citas were falling, and a bunch of other junk that just didn't really matter. So we figured we go and visit them. We got there, and dad had just gotten home from work. He started telling us about his day, and what he does. He works a REALLY hard physical labor job in the capital of Guatemala. He told us that he leaves in the morning at about 4:30, and doesn't get home till around 8. He does that Monday thru Friday, then Saturday he gets home around 3 in the afternoon. Sunday is his only day off. Mom has to get up every day at about 6 in the morning to be ready when the kids wake up, which is pretty early as well. Then she has to clothe them, which takes about an hour. She told us that then she has to feed them breakfast, which takes about TWO HOURS. Right when she gets done with breakfast, she has to do the laundry, cuz the kids can't control when they go to the bathroom. So she's doing laundry all day, every day. Then, when she gets about half the laundry done, she has to feed the kids again. Another TWO HOURS. She just told us all this stuff that she does all day, every day, and dad works SO hard to pay for the medicine that they need, and all the stuff that they need to survive, which is a lot...these kids have a LOT of special needs, which are all expensive. And the crazy thing was that you could just feel the love that these two parents had for these kids that they've never really even met! The whole room was just full of pride from these two parents who do nothing but take care of their kids who are, quite literally, vegetables. It's so sad, but here I was thinking that my life was hard...I was doing hard things, and that that day was a rough one. But these two saints have been taking care of their children for more than TWENTY YEARS. I was very happy to be able to testify to them that some day they would have the opportunity to meet their children! What a blessing the Gospel is! Seriously...if this mission does nothing else, it's gonna make me humble, and grateful. We are just SO ridiculously blessed.

Well...I never know how to segue from that kind of thing into a funny story for the week, so we'll just jump into things!

We were teaching a lesson this week to a mom and a dad...everything was going well, right up until the 17ish year old daughter came home. She walked into the house, looked at me, and had an immediate interest in the Gospel. The seat next to me on the couch was open, so she made herself comfortable. I hugged the armest as fast as I could. But, she kept scooting closer! I WANTED TO DIE!!! By the end of the lesson, I was practically sitting on the armest, looking at my comp like "HELP ME" and he was just laaaaughing. The worst part was, mom and dad were rooting her on practically! They kept making comments like, "Isn't our daughter so beautiful? We're so proud of her! She's so smart too!" It was, possibly, the worst experience of my entire life. I don't think they're going to progress, so I'm considering just not going back...but that might be a sin...I just don't know.

So, we had our most succesful zone activity yesterday, that's what the picture is.

 

We got letters, and I didn't get even one! So this is me with some other missionary's letter, pouting. Elder Peterson got letters. He was happy. Although...it's probably my own fault. I'm HORRIBLE at replying! Anywho...in the activity, we got statistics of missions from around Central America! Turns out we are 5th in baptizing in all of central america, 2nd in retention, and 2nd in attendance at church! I LOVE THE COMPETITION! He told us that between number 5 and number 6 in baptizing, there is a really big gap. WE MUST GET TO NUMBER ONE!!! I felt kind of like I was in DCI again, competing against the other missions! But this is a LOT more important than any drum corps! This month we're moving up! I can just feel it!

Ok! Well...I'm off to get to work again! Pegram, I LOVE YOUR EMAILS!!! DON'T EVER STOP!!!! And tell Durfey and Petersen that they're slackers, but that I love them anyway.

Have a great week everyone!
Muchisimo amor,

Elder Hopper