- Our ward mission leader, who was disappointed when we informed him that breakfast would not be included in our mutual 7:30 AM meeting with the bishop. That guy.
So I have a new companion: Hermana Hartley. She is driving, and we get lost a lot because she doesn't know this area yet, and I am not very good at giving directions. We sometimes use both of our GPSs at the same time and hope one of them tells the truth, or at least gets us close enough to an area that I recognize. Definitely an adventure.
My new role in the companionship is to take care of the cockroaches. I was hoping it wouldn't end up like this, pero asi es la vida ( "that's just life", or something along those lines.) Sometimes I lie to my companion about the cockroaches. She asked if they would ever crawl on her in her sleep. I told her that they wouldn't, although it did happen to Hermana Pollock once before. Ignorance may be bliss.
As missionaries, part of our job is to talk to everyone we see. I am not very good at it, but Hermana Hartley is. I am walking, then suddenly realize she went off to go talk to someone. She was so excited by that fact that we get to teach everyone we meet. I told her about my ongoing issues with Burma. But I still love her enthusiasm.
We heard about a member of the church who used to live in our apartment buildings, and we were requested to go look for her and find out if she still lived there. Her last name was definitely Hispanic sounding. When we found her, she was black and spoke to us in English. English with an African accent. After talking to her for a bit, we asked her where she was from. Apparently, there is some tiny part of Africa that is owned by Spain, where people grow up speaking Spanish, but learn English with an African accent. So confusing.
We were driving in the car and there was a ton of traffic. Eventually, we were going so slow that the GPS asked us "Would you like to switch to pedestrian user mode?" Nope. Luckily, we weren't going to a lesson, otherwise we would have been around an hour late. Sometimes things like that happen and we are late to lessons and then people don't want to listen any more.
This Sunday, a girl in the ward here just got home from her mission and spoke in church. It was really strange to think that in about a year, I will be doing the same. We are starting to make a ward mission plan for this year, involving planning activities that we want to take place later this year. We live and plan like we will be here forever. Actually, I might be in a new place in a little over a month. But wherever you are, those people around you are your people. Next year is unknown, because even a few weeks away is unknown.
Even though we finished reading the Book of Mormon a week ago (a great adventure, in which I learned that it takes about a full hour of reading each day to finish it in 37 days), I decided to start right over again from the beginning. I take out all my colored pencils, and just have a great time. One of the phrases/ titles I was highlighting a lot today was "Lamb of God", a title that refers to Jesus Christ. I like it because it brings to mind the Law of Moses and Passover and everything. The children of Israel were saved from destruction by marking their doors with the blood of a lamb. We are saved by the Blood of the Lamb. To me, the title "Lamb of God" is one of the most interesting full of rich symbolism. Another study note: in English, Christ is also referred to as the "Word of God", which in Spanish would logically be "Palabra de Dios". But it isn't. It is translated as "Verbo de Dios", or "Verb of God". I am still working on figuring out the significance of that.
So that's what's up with me. Have a good week!
Love,
Hermana Pace