Today officially marks 2 months since I've left home! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by.
Goodness. What a week. There have been some really high highs, and some really low lows. I'm pretty stinking grateful for PDay today.
Let's see... I think the most exciting thing that happened this week was when our water got shut off for three days. I guess the lady in the ward that owns the house forgot to pay the bill or something, so we got to go to our pensionista's house to shower every morning. Our toilet didn't flush, so as we said all week: nuestro baño es muy feo. It's been resolved, but it was an adventure. One night, out of spite, we decided to brush our teeth out the second story window. We felt a bit better after spitting on the sidewalk. (If your water was out for three days, that would make you feel better too. Trust me.)
We talked to our Relief Society President about the food being hard on our stomachs, and ever since we have had soup before our meal every day, and some sort of herbal tea. With every. single. meal. I'm definitely putting on weight, and it's only been three weeks. In almost every meal, I have a huge bowl of soup, an entire plate of rice, half a plate of potatoes and veggies, and a huge serving of meat or chicken. We also have some sort of juice or herbal tea, and either fruit or purple corn goo for dessert. It's impolite to leave food on your plate, and I'm still trying to master the art of eating my bones clean... It's a struggle. This week we didn't eat anything particularly gross though, so that was nice.
Have I told you that the fruit here is fantastic? Everything here is tree ripened, so it's pretty much a million times better than the fruit in the states. I really love the bananas here, and I've developed a love for these really bizarre fruits called grenadias. They're slimy and have seeds like pomegranites, well, kind of. I kind of think they taste like pink lemonade.
I had my first dream in Spanish this week! Mí primero sueño en Español! I don't know what it was about, but Hermana Shelton woke up in the middle of the night to me saying something in Spanish. I was pretty stinking excited.
Spiritual high for the week: I was able to extend my first invitation to baptism. We have this investigator, Guillermo, that we couldn't quite figure out for the last few weeks. But this week, we taught him a lesson on the Book of Mormon. We started the lesson by singing I Know that My Redeemer Lives. He shared some really personal experiences and trials with us, that I didn't completely understand, but he was in tears as he shared them with us. I felt the need to share a quote by President Monson in this month's edition of the Liahona. It said something along the lines of 'When we are obedient to the Lord's commandments, our lives become easier and more simple.' I continued to explain that Heavenly Father loves us. He wants us to return to Him, and in order to do so we must follow the example of His Son Jesus Christ. In tears, I invited him to be baptized. I was grateful that he even understood what I said, because I don't think it really made sense, but he accepted the invitation. It was a really amazing experience for our companionship. We don't have a set date, but he's really excited to be baptized.
We missionaries are hanging in there. I hope all is going well at home. One thing that has been really helpful for us here has been planning Family Home Evenings with the members, and inviting our investigators or nonmember friends of the members to join us. Propose the idea to the missionaries in your ward. It's a really awesome way to help the investigators feel included and understand the blessing the gospel can have in families.
Off to another week! Love you all.
Hermana Schroader
PS Pray for Lucia this week! Her baptism is this Saturday at 8pm. She is so very excited. :)
Goodness. What a week. There have been some really high highs, and some really low lows. I'm pretty stinking grateful for PDay today.
Let's see... I think the most exciting thing that happened this week was when our water got shut off for three days. I guess the lady in the ward that owns the house forgot to pay the bill or something, so we got to go to our pensionista's house to shower every morning. Our toilet didn't flush, so as we said all week: nuestro baño es muy feo. It's been resolved, but it was an adventure. One night, out of spite, we decided to brush our teeth out the second story window. We felt a bit better after spitting on the sidewalk. (If your water was out for three days, that would make you feel better too. Trust me.)
We talked to our Relief Society President about the food being hard on our stomachs, and ever since we have had soup before our meal every day, and some sort of herbal tea. With every. single. meal. I'm definitely putting on weight, and it's only been three weeks. In almost every meal, I have a huge bowl of soup, an entire plate of rice, half a plate of potatoes and veggies, and a huge serving of meat or chicken. We also have some sort of juice or herbal tea, and either fruit or purple corn goo for dessert. It's impolite to leave food on your plate, and I'm still trying to master the art of eating my bones clean... It's a struggle. This week we didn't eat anything particularly gross though, so that was nice.
Have I told you that the fruit here is fantastic? Everything here is tree ripened, so it's pretty much a million times better than the fruit in the states. I really love the bananas here, and I've developed a love for these really bizarre fruits called grenadias. They're slimy and have seeds like pomegranites, well, kind of. I kind of think they taste like pink lemonade.
I had my first dream in Spanish this week! Mí primero sueño en Español! I don't know what it was about, but Hermana Shelton woke up in the middle of the night to me saying something in Spanish. I was pretty stinking excited.
Spiritual high for the week: I was able to extend my first invitation to baptism. We have this investigator, Guillermo, that we couldn't quite figure out for the last few weeks. But this week, we taught him a lesson on the Book of Mormon. We started the lesson by singing I Know that My Redeemer Lives. He shared some really personal experiences and trials with us, that I didn't completely understand, but he was in tears as he shared them with us. I felt the need to share a quote by President Monson in this month's edition of the Liahona. It said something along the lines of 'When we are obedient to the Lord's commandments, our lives become easier and more simple.' I continued to explain that Heavenly Father loves us. He wants us to return to Him, and in order to do so we must follow the example of His Son Jesus Christ. In tears, I invited him to be baptized. I was grateful that he even understood what I said, because I don't think it really made sense, but he accepted the invitation. It was a really amazing experience for our companionship. We don't have a set date, but he's really excited to be baptized.
We missionaries are hanging in there. I hope all is going well at home. One thing that has been really helpful for us here has been planning Family Home Evenings with the members, and inviting our investigators or nonmember friends of the members to join us. Propose the idea to the missionaries in your ward. It's a really awesome way to help the investigators feel included and understand the blessing the gospel can have in families.
Off to another week! Love you all.
Hermana Schroader
PS Pray for Lucia this week! Her baptism is this Saturday at 8pm. She is so very excited. :)