Word of the week: “ultimo traslado” (last transfer)

This week was a great week to end the transfer and start my last transfer as Hna. Pelton. WEIRD! We discovered an untouched neighborhood in our area, so naturally, we knocked nearly every door and found lots of cool people! We found one woman named Evelyn (about 25 years old) who is a young mom currently suffering from depression. We were able to share the Book of Mormon with her and went back to follow up with her a few days later, but she hadn’t read. We re-testified to her and by the end, she was flipping through the book and telling us how much she hopes she can feel what we feel when we read the Book of Mormon. Yesterday was the obligatory, national elections day (for their president), so church attendance was a little rough because all adults are required to vote in specifically assigned locations and if they don’t, they are fined. The problem then is that you have to stand and wait in line, sometimes for a long time, before you can vote. It was hard to tell people to not worry about it and to just come to church. Hopefully this upcoming weekend will be better for getting people to church. But, back to Evelyn—when we went to her house last night, we had a FABULOUS lesson with her where we went back and explained the restoration to her and how we have the Book of Mormon. It was a very unique lesson for a couple of reasons: firstly, I apparently have arrived…my facial expressions that I did all the time at home have crossed over and apparently I am unknowingly making those faces again. Evelyn just thought I was so funny and just kept cracking up. Someone called her and when she answered the phone, she even told her friend that he/she needed to meet us because we were so funny. She even asked her friend if she could give us his/her address. Hahahaha! It only took me about a year and a half, but I guess I’ve finally become myself as a missionary…in another language. Hahahaha! Ok, but on a spiritual note, I tried to control my funny faces as we taught her and the spirit was really strong. Hna. Goddard thinks that it’s weird to share the First Vision experience (as it, recite the memorized verses), while I think it is the most powerful tool that we have for inviting the spirit into a lesson. So, she glazed over sharing that experience, but I felt that we should really share his words, so I recited it to Evelyn and just was quiet as I finished…for a few seconds. The room was absolutely still. I testified to her about Joseph Smith and the restoration and then asked her how she felt. She just kinda giggled and said that she didn’t know how to describe how she felt, but she felt weird. So, I asked her if she felt peaceful, happy, hopeful, to which she agreed. We then we able to testify to her, right in that moment, that she was receiving her answer that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore the truth. It was a great lesson and a great reminder to me of the importance of the first vision. We also found another young mom named Rosa, who is angry at God because her mother died about 10 years ago. We shared with her a little about the Plan of Salvation, since she had never wondered about where she came from or why she is here on the earth, but she had often wondered what happened afterword. She literally had no idea and no opinion, though being Catholic, she likely believes in the concept of heaven and hell. As we were sharing and testifying to her about what our Heavenly Father has provided for us as a guide for our lives and the kingdoms of glory, she scooted her chair over closer to us so she could see what we were explaining out of the pamphlet better and so she could hear us better over her young son playing in the background. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she told us how angry she has been at God for taking away her mother and how she struggles to believe in the Catholic church. We have an appointment with her tonight and I am really anxious to meet with her again. She asked us if we were going to invite her to church---YES! PLEASE! Her husband was just sitting there in the background playing on facebook and had no interest in listening to us, but she was quite attentive. We also saw great blessings this week in terms of member references! Franco, a recent convert (18 years old) who just decided that he wants to serve a mission, hooked us up with his cousin. We went over and taught Claudia with Franco and it was a great lesson! We let him testify and explain concepts to her, so he could practice and so Claudia could feel the testimony of her cousin. The lesson went really well and when we saw Franco at church yesterday, he told us that Claudia liked the lesson and wants us to come back sometime! Woohoo! Transfers are this week on Wednesday. As of right now, we don’t know for certain what is happening, but I’m 99.9% sure that I will be staying here with Hna. Goddard in San Luis to finish the training program with her and to wrap up my mission experience. I’m excited to stay because I have lots of friends in the ward and the members are finally starting to have more confidence in us. I’ve been trying to be extra happy and extra loving with the members over the past transfer and it’s really paying off! If nothing else, the members seem happier and we are happier knowing that we have a family away from our own family. Not much else to report. Hna. Goddard and I are excited to start a little “bucket” list of things that we want to do together before I go home. For example, each day we are going to draw a “task” out of a jar that will be our challenge for the day. One of these tasks is to find the ugliest dog. Another is to contact someone riding a bike. And yet another is to take a picture of the other companion doing some street contacts. It should be fun and help keep us energetic as the weather is starting to warm up. Thanks for all your love and support. See you all soon! Hna. Pelton