They Tried To Make Me Go to Rehab...

Week 35

February 13, 2014

But I said no, no no! Don't worry, I'll explain that later. Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a great week! 

So let me tell you about Yon.  Hermana Smedley and her old companion visited him and his less active family about a month before I came, but hadn't been able to go back since. In that lesson Yon didn't believe in God. Well, we were able to make another appointment, and when I was talking to Yon I wasn't sure if it was the same person Hermana Smedley had described to me. He was great and seemed to have lots of faith in God. So we told our mission leader about our investigator in Kaira (pronounced like cousin Kyra - shoutout! It means 'frog' in Quechua, fun right?) and he wanted to come with us on our next appointment because he had a reference for us there. There was a former investigator in Kaira that he had a dream about and needed to go back to visit. So our mission leader is showing us the reference's house and turn by turn, it turned out to be Yon's house. Apparently about a year ago he almost got baptized. God led us to him again, so maybe now is his time.

Remember Vilma (Melani's mom)? That same day we met and taught Olimpia (Vilma's sister and Melanie's aunt) She has a lot of desire to follow God but is living with someone and sometimes has trouble with drinking. But we are working with her. She already has recognized an answer to her prayer through a dream (seriously, lots of dreams here). We invited her to be baptized and she told us she wouldn't commit because she was scared she would drink again and she knew baptism was something to be taken seriously. While she was talking, the Spirit brought a scripture to mind. I had her read D&C 39:10 and we didn't say anything afterward. Just silent. The scripture was so perfect, and the Spirit touched her heart and she eventually just said, "Well, it says it quite clearly, doesn't it?"  She felt the Spirit so hard it was fun to watch. She has many hurdles left but it was an incredible lesson. The gospel isn't for perfect people. It is what helps us change so that one day we can become perfect in Christ.

We have an investigator who is very addicted to cigarettes. This week my companion and I were studying about overcoming addictions in Preach My Gospel and we got to an activity that said to think of a habit you have, something you do without even thinking. I told Hermana Smedley, "I think I have an addiction to speaking English" and she was just like, "yep, that's it."  So we gave up English. We have made sooooo many language goals together and failed at all of them. But this would be like a new twist. I asked Hermana Smedley what the rules would be - like if there would be any exceptions when we could speak English and she asked if those with an addiction could drink just one drop of Alcohol - it's still alcohol. Good point. So we quit English cold turkey and it was hard! On one particular occasion I accidentally without thinking spoke in English to Hermana Smedley and she responded in English and we realized it with horror at the same time. A few minutes later I caught myself singing the "They tried to make me go to rehab" song and I realized that I must be in the denial stage! The next day is when I hit rock bottom. I found out the Olympics had started and I started to sing "God Bless the USA" at lunch. And wow. For some reason these past weeks I have just come to realize that I LOVE America so much. And I wasn't homesick, I just love America!  And I got emotional. And started to cry! I was just trying to explain to my comp and all I could say was "I just love America". I felt like that girl on youtube with the "I love cats" video. She just makes that statement and begins to cry. Except America is way cooler than cats. And I think Hermana Smedley was just kinda confused so she's just like, "you can take a few English moments if you want".  And then I realized how addicted people feel. It was like drinking away the tears. So okay, that's gotta stop.  And yeah, we are still working on it. But the road to recovery is long and hard. So just don't get addicted to anything, ever. That's my advice (reminds me of Michael Scott's advice: don't do anything to anyone, for anyone reason, at anytime, ever, at all, for any reason...      Well. Yeah. And I'm staying in San Jeronimo but they are taking Hermana Smedley away from me. It looks like I'm going to be in a trio with a gringa and a latina so I will speak Spanish. Promise. Love you all! Have a great week!