I had a few things written down that I wanted to include in this email, but I didn't bring it, so this might be short.
We did a service project. We were supposed to go to an elementary school, unload a bunch of cardboard boxes of food off of a semi, move them into the gym, put them in piles, then help families collect their boxes and take them to their cars. Our GPS took us a little further than expected and we thought we had gotten the address completely wrong because it took us right into what looked like the middle of the South. Or maybe the inner city. I'm not really very familiar with either one. But we locked our doors.
When we actually got there, there were other missionaries and a semi truck with some sort of other-dimensional interior that allowed it to hold way more boxes that seemed physically possible.
Once it was all unloaded and before the families came, we got a nice little pep talk about how "today all of you are actually going to be able to make a difference in someone's life." And on the inside all of us missionaries are like "What do you think we DO everyday? We call this the work of salvation!"
But they did mean well. It rained, we moved the boxes, I regretted leaving my jacket in the apartment, and then we left to help out with a youth activity. That was also pretty fun.
We had an interesting lesson that started out talking about the Sabbath Day and ended with us trying to explain that we had never encountered anyone who was possessed by demons, so we don't know the procedure for casting them out. I guess its an epidemic in Africa, so our lack of expertise in that area made us look unofficial or something. Whatever.
We had a new investigator come to church with us! It is so funny how excited and nervous that makes us. We got to her house early to make sure her ride found the place and everything. We knocked on the door 10 minutes early and no one answered, felt awkward, sat in the car for a bit more, then actually went in. And I spent most of that morning thinking about how great it would be. So of course, we ended up walking in late to church, minor issues kept us (the missionaries) busy in the hallway while she was in class not knowing what was going on, we had the most boring and irrelevant class in the existence of the Sunday School, and we had forgotten to tell her that it was 3 hours long. We apologized a lot to her. We really hope she decides to come back.
We have been given a challenge to talk to 23 people every day about the Book of Mormon. It was around 8:30 last night and we still needed to talk to more people. So we walked around in the parking lot of Walmart and gave out cards to people. It even had an element of excitement because we were trying to make sure the security guy driving up and down the rows didn't see us. Like Pacman or something.
Maybe two weeks ago we were asked about our opinions on the "Muslim threat to Christianity that the world is facing." We were like "um....no one has ever asked us that. And we don't hear the news..." As missionaries, we make snap judgments about people, like whether to start speaking in English or Spanish to people (if you choose wrong, they aren't interesting in hearing anything else). But I don't know if I agree with the idea of who is or isn't a threat. We gave a card to a Muslim couple bringing in their groceries from the car. They said "Thank you! You want a water bottle? Please take one. Or you want something else? We live in that apartment, the one upstairs. If you want other drink, please come, ok? You want water?" I kind of want to go back just to say hi, because not everyone is that nice. Not by a long shot.
An amazing/stressful thing.
First of all, a quick explanation so that you understand how extreme this situation is. When He was around, Jesus called 12 apostles to preach, receive revelation, and do miracles. In the Church today, we sill have Apostles.
One of them is coming this Friday.
We are having a meeting with the whole mission to hear him talk.
They asked me to give the closing prayer.
I'm not sure if this is a widely known or obvious fact, but saying prayers in public stresses me out like crazy. It's amazing that we have the opportunity to talk to God, but I much prefer doing so in private.
It is said "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart." I try. It is just so easy to imagine myself tripping on the stairs or accidentally slipping into Spanish or something. But I will trust.
Have a great week.
Hermana Pace