President Archibald is a GENIUS! That was the line of his letter to us this week. Goodness, he is so great. I love President and Sister Archibald!
We really did have a lot of fun this week. Hermana Kim and I decided to make a new commandment for ourselves: Thou shalt not enter thy house in the nighttime without having contacted ten people. So we contacted up a storm and have started already to see the fruits of our labor! In the five days since we set that rule we've made 56 contacts. Not all accept, of course, and that's a whole different story, but there are a lot of possibilities here. There are a lot of prepared families!
I think the biggest struggle with investigators in this area is keeping their commitments. We have taught some seriously hardcore lessons in which the Spirit was so strong, using the scriptures and examples and parables and relating the commitments specifically to the investigator. You know, we teach people, not lessons. But then they don't show up to church, or we go back and find out they didn't read or pray after we left! So that's pretty frustrating. Therefore we are working on finding new ways to teach and invite and verify commitments. Will you pray for us to receive inspiration on that?
I'm really grateful for priesthood power. A ward member came with us to visit a less active sister on Tuesday and her aunt, who she was very close to, had just passed away. He instantly offered to give her a blessing and it was beautiful! Men, always be worthy, ready, and willing to use your priesthood authority to bless God's children.
We talked about why we should never go swimming as missionaries. D&C 61:14.
14 Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.
Also, a recently reactivated sister who accompanied us on Thursday taught us some phrases in Quechua.
MANANKANCHO: There's nobody here.
HAKU RIPUNA: Let's go!
IMAYNAN KASIANKI: Hello. How are you?
PANKANKI: Who are you?
Ah también. Hermana Kim asked me to cut her hair this week, so I did. It's pretty darn cute. I was living vicariously through her as I cut it short (missing my short short hair but accepting the fact that I would probably receive hate mail in Spanish if I did that here), and if she hadn't started to throw a fit I would have cut it shorter. Anyway, we were eating lunch later on and she just couldn't get the length of her hair out of her head. She sometimes calls me Hermana Hedwig...I don't really know why that started...but she stopped to look up from our game of Uno and simply said, "What a shame, Hedwig. What a shame."
She loves me.
On Friday we were knocking doors in the morning and as we passed a certain house, she began to explain to me in English, "In this house lives a señor..." I gave her the word in English. "Gentleman." She smiled and said, "Sí. A gentle señor."
Also we sang some good old My Chemical Romance walking to an appointment in the afternoon. Hermana Kim got really into it and started whisper-yelling, "WHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY MY FATHER TOOK ME INTO THE CITY TO SEE A MARCHING BAND..."
We ate some delicious soup with weird meat in it. She asked what it was and I said I thought it was the fat. She grimaced and said, "Of what, MONSTER?"
Also, we contacted a man while we were standing waiting to make copies in a corner store. He was really nice! He asked where we were from and I said I was from Cajamarca, a part of Perú where a lot of gringos live. He didn't believe me and I told him the truth. We invited him to church and he said, "Look, I would love to, but I would just go and debate with all of your doctrines." I asked him what doctrines and he started to tell us that we didn't believe in Jesus Christ and God having the same purpose. I explained very simply the Godhead and he was like...Oh! Alright! Great! And without too much hesitation he made another joke about Cajamarca and slowly walked away laughing. We discussed later the how clear it was that the Spirit had testified to him of the truth of what we said and he was kinda stunned. Never forget your testimony!
Also, yesterday was real trunky in church. Everything was about eternal marriage and the family. I took notes and cried. It was just so darn sweet. NONETHELESS. I'm going to come home and hash out that epic feat of finding my exaltation in just a little less than FOUR months, and UNTIL then, I am STILL CONTACTING FAMILIES so that they can figure out theirs.
I am really happy.
One more thing! We started out our district P-day early today and spent three hours hiking around in the clouds. I'll send some pictures. It was the adventure of a lifetime. HARD because we got lost and the hills here are extraordinarily steep and lacking in trails, but so much fun! Our district is very close and I feel so blessed.
The journey up Ensenada Mountain begins.
Feeling pretty accomplished!
Our district (minus Hermana Kim...she was taking the picture. There weren't exactly a ton of other people up there)
My attitude about weekly planning
The sun came out for the first morning in months this week! Then it went back into hiding.
I love you all! Make good choices!
Hermana Hewitt
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