Yesterday was so long. We watched church movies, played pool in the club room in our apartment, played with balloons that Hna Hartley's family sent in a package, did laundry, talked to the smokers next door (the only people outside), had a lesson cancel, and complained. And that was our day.
I feel like last week was long. We had exchanges, but different. We had another companionship of hermanas in our apartment for two nights. We double worked our area, so we split up and had a bunch of lessons when you add them all together. It was different, but good.
We did see one miracle that was pretty awesome, although probably only to us. We have one guy that we teach who hates coming to the first hour of church because he finds it boring, with too many crying babies and slow music. He loves the second hour (Sunday school) because the teacher really knows his stuff. Anyway, our friend came to the first hour last week to try it out one last time, and his review was... (drum roll)..."50-50"! We were pretty excited. And, even better, he came back the following Sunday! We were pretty shocked. We have been praying for that for a long time. I mean, he obviously doesn't love it yet, but this is a huge step.
That's about all that I can remember from the week. We had some pretty normal times knocking doors, teaching people who love us, teaching people who are thinning "Who sent these kids out here??", trying to hunt down people we were suggested to find, and other such things. Heard some life stories, saw strangers cry, ate too much food, laughed at ourselves.
The phrase "endure to the end" is translated in Spanish as "perseverar hasta el fin" I don't know why, but "persevere" sounds so such more pleasant than "endure". Anyway, continuing forward is a pretty big deal. Some people just amaze me. We have a friend that we visit who got married at 14, lost her husband some years later when she had 5 young kids, and sewed 200 dresses per week for 10 pesos. As in 10 pesos per week. That's less than a dollar. And she just talks about how happy she is to be able to see her kids all grown and with their own kids. And you can't help but love her because she is so sweet and positive. Sometimes, many times, we go to lessons and we aren't the ones teaching. We learn so much from the lives of the people around us. I am so glad to be here to know these people and to be able to offer them whatever little bit of help that I can. We all learn together, and it is something wonderful.
Have a great week!
Hermana Pace