21 April 2014

Drug Diaries

Sorry if this title isn't quite as inspiring as some in the past may have been. . . I have legitimately started a thing in my journal called "drug diaries" however stay tuned to find out why!

Thank you so much for all of the love this week! I am so blessed! Mom, the Easter package was so fun, I loved all of the cards from you hooligans. Paulson family, thank you!! Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Roy, that was soo fun to get! Allie, Tresa and Mom, thank you for the letters!! It made for quite a joyful Easter week! Since just one of the perks of being a missionary means 4x the amount of usual Easter goodness we were able to make some fun little Easter bags for different people with all that great stuff, so thank you so much! Don't worry, I didn't give it all away:)

Tuesday: This was a weird day because we were so happy throughout even though we apparently had a curse for EVERYTHING to go wrong. It started our pretty typically with Sister C and I running down the hill after the bus and yelling at it to wait whilst our umbrellas were going inside out from the crazy wind. I know this might come as a surprise to some of you that I was chasing after something due to miscalculating how much time I actually had. . .  Because the bus lady (Pearler) is our friend and knows us she just waited and laughed. Aannd I couldn't find my bus pass, for real this time. Then I left my umbrella on the bus and later in the day another at a lesson (I had lost our third one the night before. . . ) Because it had been pretty warm in the days previous I decided to wear only a cardigan. . . It ended up snowing the entire day, good choice. After our first lesson, we were walking to the next linked arm in arm because we only had 1 umbrella and I was freezing. After that lesson the older less-active lady that we were visiting asked us to get her mail for her. Sure, no problem! We actually couldn't get her mailbox open. . .we even called her asking for help and she told us just to turn it. We had to return to her apt empty-handed because we could not open it! She told us it was ok, she would just get it later, pathetic! The great thing was that for some reason this was all hilarious to us and while we were freezing, and flailing and failing we were just laughing our heads off! Lessons fell through, the works. But we were able to have the greatest lesson ever that night with Mandie, seriously, it was one of the lessons you dream about as a missionary. The Spirit was there so strongly, we had a wonderful member there whose circumstances were perfect for Mandie, we were able to ask "inspired questions" and Sister C and I were teaching so unified that it was insane! Funnily enough this may have been the happiest day of my mission thus far! Why? Because the light that the Gospel brings cannot be substituted! It answers every question, every doubt and cam make even the silliest, hardest days seem so great! Also, having the Spirit is absolutely KEY to any spiritual learning. It's so crazy how I can feel a difference when I start teaching without the Spirit, saying something without thinking about it first etc. It's so vital!

Thursday: We got a text from Mandie saying that she was "loving 2 Nephi 4." This girl is amazing! We challenged her to read every single day and showed her how it could bless her and she did it and is loving it! It's pretty cool to be able to watch someone's testimony grow right in front of you and to be right there growing with them. I love it:)

Friday: Don' EVER judge a book by it's cover. As a missionary that seems obvious but I still do it all the time. This big black guy covered in tattoos got on the bus and sat down facing us. I pretty consciously decided within about 24.5 seconds that I wasn't going to talk to him because he wouldn't be interested, he looked mean and I didn't know what to say. So there. The worst! Sister C. waited awhile and then asked him about one of his tatoos. .. . The rest is history, we could barely get a word in edge wise! He was one of the friendliest guys ever and had a great taste in music to boot! He liked Fleetwood Mac and all thanks to you dad I was able to use those hours in the car singing to Aaron Neville, Tim Croche, Marvic Gay, and on and on. He loved old music with "soul" none of this new stuff, he's awesome! He said he was and "old soul." I was pretty much jumping out of my seat by then. He's raising a little 5 year old daughter on his own and his whole life is dedicated to it. He started telling us all of his parenting methods, all about religion, and said he would read the BOM and get back to us, who knows but anyway, lesson learned I hope! It's amazing how Heavenly Father works, we were told by three different people (including this guy, Raheem)  that day that we were there right at the time they needed someone to listen, to cheer them up and to really help in Mandie's case. There is no greater feeling. None. 

Sunday: Speaking of those great feelings. . . Saturday night Belinda called and texted us saying that she and her kids wanted to walk to church with us. Yes! The thing is, it actually happened! That absolutely perfect Easter morning we walked with that perfect little family to church, pretty great right? It gets better. Her boys are 6 and 4 and cheerfully walked the mile+ there and then back afterwards. When we were climbing up the last hill, the little 4  year old Isaac smiled up at me and then grabbed my hand to cross the street. He then held it the whole way plodding up the hill, one little step at a time smiling the whole way. I cannot describe how I felt at the moment. Every single struggle was all of a sudden worth it. Sometimes we can taste little pieces of Eternal joy, teensy slivers. But there it is, and those feelings cannot be forgotten or denied! It was the best Easter present I could've asked for!!

Mandie news: She broke up with her boyfriend and the first thing she tells us afterwards is,"Well, hey. . . now i"m living the word of wisdom!" Gah! The sacrifices she has made even in the time I've known here are insane!! She is so excited to get baptized! She teaches me soo much!

Randomness: Tayler S.U university has a Quidditch league. . .real life. We saw them out practicing the other day, isn't that beautiful?! And now, back to the really important stuff. . . (gosh sorry my letter placement is the worst!) I'll just pick my favorite drug/drunk episode of the week, wish I had more time! We were standing on the corner (tons of students were out and about enjoying the day) waiting to cross the road, I was texting someone back and heard a nice looking student walk across the street and say,"here's 5 20's, the other half will be here next week," he then took a little brown back and smiling went back to his friends. After we crossed there were some students observing  from their porch," nah you do that with Cocaine, you usually sell, blah blah blah." Sister C, " we were just 20 feet away from a drug deal!! I didn't know what to do!" Aaaah, it all came into focus. So surreal, there were so many people out, it was sunny, the people involved looked so clean cut and nice and normal, I mean they probably were. . . So dumb! Students basically out on the corner selling their brains away! Another fun time was when we were walking home at about 8:45. It was us and the drunk guy in front us. Whooo just happened to be one of our investigators. We had a nice but repetitious conversation and made sure he wasn't run over about 3x seeing as he was in the middle of  the road. We'll see later this week if he remembers any of that. . . The absolute weirdest things happen on a mission!

I love you guys so much! Thanks for looking so good in your Easter pictures, I have the cutest family on the planet!

Love,

Sister Ventura~Hebrews 4:14-16