Can you all say crazy? That is the only word I can think of to adequately describe our week. And it seems like there are so many more things to tell you all seeing as it's been like 10 days since I've been able to write you all!
I was soooo happy to be able to go back to my old area of San Carlos last Saturday for the baptism of Jaime. Erika screamed and cried when she saw me. It was such a treat to be able to see them and spend a few hours with my beloved friends of my old ward. When Jaime saw me, the first thing he told me was that I kept my promise... I can't describe how happy it made me to be able to see him make this covenant with our Father in Heaven. He just seemed so happy. I was also very happy to be able to talk to my family in the house of my beloved friend Oscar! It's funny to she how on in real life, things don't really change a whole lot. My brothers all seem freakishly tall to me now. But it's great to be able to hear their voices and see how everyone was doing. Happy Mother's Day mommy!
On Monday we had a huge Pday activity as a mission where all of the Elders split up by countries to play in an all day soccer tournament. They get really really into soccer here. I don't remember who one, because I was catching up with all of my peeps! Yeah, I've got enough time here in the mish to have peeps now. It's pretty fun. It's interesting to see how everyone has changed and grown in their mission. Almost all of us also took a trip out to Chili's. I think the poor servers were a little overwhelmed with almost 200 foreigners on a Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday we had a pretty cool multizone conference with President. We have been instructed that we are a bilingual mission, and that every missionary should be learning Spanish or English. The prophet has asked that all missionaries that don't speak English, learn it. It will be of benefit to them in their work and their callings. With that, we now have permission to watch a few selected Disney movies in English. Woo hoo! He even trained for an hour in English. It was cool. He also taught us quite a bit about the powers of good and evil, and how we can and need to combat the powers of evil (because they are so real!). He explained to us that we need to be like the Lord of the Rings when confronted with evil, YOU SHALL NOT PASS! I could see that he practiced by the way he yelled and made me jump out of my seat. But it is really true. We need to be firm in our decision to do what is right and fight the good fight. In my studies of the Book of Mormon I have seen how much Satan controls our hearts to move us where he wants us. It's so important that we can keep our hearts pure to protect ourselves and those around us.
On Wednesday my companion had to go to immigration and I spent the entire day in an area neighboring my old ward. That was really hard for me. But I did get to enjoy a day with a sister from my group where we were able to think about deep things in English, which I haven't been able to do in a while. Sometimes it makes my head hurt to think in English...
On Saturday we were also able to help a brother get baptized. His name is David. I think he was my first baptism that was just a normal contact off the street. He's from the jungle, and is one of 17 brothers and sisters. Crazy, no? But he read all the way to Jacob in the Book of Mormon all by himself when we asked him to read 1 Nephi 1. We figured he was ready to get baptized. Ha! It was a small service, but it went nicely. He is very content to be baptized, and we hope to help him receive the priesthood in the following week.
It's getting chilly out here. We're buying scarves and gloves, and everyone is starting to give us soup and hot herbal teas with our lunch. Sometimes they give us Ecco (Mormon coffee), or mazamorra, which is like a hot fruity mix of jello and pudding. My favorite is arroz con leche, which is almost like hot tapioca, but with rice!
Anywho. I think that about sums things up for this week. I love you all. Hope I didn't leave out anything too important...
Abrazos!
Hermana Schroader
PS Today I've completed 11 months of my mission! Ah!
I was soooo happy to be able to go back to my old area of San Carlos last Saturday for the baptism of Jaime. Erika screamed and cried when she saw me. It was such a treat to be able to see them and spend a few hours with my beloved friends of my old ward. When Jaime saw me, the first thing he told me was that I kept my promise... I can't describe how happy it made me to be able to see him make this covenant with our Father in Heaven. He just seemed so happy. I was also very happy to be able to talk to my family in the house of my beloved friend Oscar! It's funny to she how on in real life, things don't really change a whole lot. My brothers all seem freakishly tall to me now. But it's great to be able to hear their voices and see how everyone was doing. Happy Mother's Day mommy!
On Monday we had a huge Pday activity as a mission where all of the Elders split up by countries to play in an all day soccer tournament. They get really really into soccer here. I don't remember who one, because I was catching up with all of my peeps! Yeah, I've got enough time here in the mish to have peeps now. It's pretty fun. It's interesting to see how everyone has changed and grown in their mission. Almost all of us also took a trip out to Chili's. I think the poor servers were a little overwhelmed with almost 200 foreigners on a Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday we had a pretty cool multizone conference with President. We have been instructed that we are a bilingual mission, and that every missionary should be learning Spanish or English. The prophet has asked that all missionaries that don't speak English, learn it. It will be of benefit to them in their work and their callings. With that, we now have permission to watch a few selected Disney movies in English. Woo hoo! He even trained for an hour in English. It was cool. He also taught us quite a bit about the powers of good and evil, and how we can and need to combat the powers of evil (because they are so real!). He explained to us that we need to be like the Lord of the Rings when confronted with evil, YOU SHALL NOT PASS! I could see that he practiced by the way he yelled and made me jump out of my seat. But it is really true. We need to be firm in our decision to do what is right and fight the good fight. In my studies of the Book of Mormon I have seen how much Satan controls our hearts to move us where he wants us. It's so important that we can keep our hearts pure to protect ourselves and those around us.
On Wednesday my companion had to go to immigration and I spent the entire day in an area neighboring my old ward. That was really hard for me. But I did get to enjoy a day with a sister from my group where we were able to think about deep things in English, which I haven't been able to do in a while. Sometimes it makes my head hurt to think in English...
On Saturday we were also able to help a brother get baptized. His name is David. I think he was my first baptism that was just a normal contact off the street. He's from the jungle, and is one of 17 brothers and sisters. Crazy, no? But he read all the way to Jacob in the Book of Mormon all by himself when we asked him to read 1 Nephi 1. We figured he was ready to get baptized. Ha! It was a small service, but it went nicely. He is very content to be baptized, and we hope to help him receive the priesthood in the following week.
It's getting chilly out here. We're buying scarves and gloves, and everyone is starting to give us soup and hot herbal teas with our lunch. Sometimes they give us Ecco (Mormon coffee), or mazamorra, which is like a hot fruity mix of jello and pudding. My favorite is arroz con leche, which is almost like hot tapioca, but with rice!
Anywho. I think that about sums things up for this week. I love you all. Hope I didn't leave out anything too important...
Abrazos!
Hermana Schroader
PS Today I've completed 11 months of my mission! Ah!