Well, this week was kind of random and crazy
and maybe a little of everything else in between! Haha!!
To start, we had to say goodbye to the
lovely Sara Samaniego who just left for her mission in Brazil this week. She is one of our best friends and her family
is so solid. Her parents are both returned missionaries. Hermana Samaniego washes our clothes and they
feed us every Tuesday. They are so great,
and I’m totally going to miss Sara!!
She’s going to be awesome in Brazil!!
Saturday we went to the temple for a
special ward activity where the Missionaries walked around with all the menos
activos and investigators and explained what happens in the temple.
We spent the last week without any fans,
because all 3 of our fans broke!! Haha!!
One broke when a fan blade flew off... one of the wires broke on the
other, and the 3rd emergency fan overheated and kind of blew up a
little... Ha!! But, worse than no fans was 2 days without
electricity, which naturally implies no AC... That called for some desperate
measures. So we took cool showers in our
PJs and went to bed completely wet... we didn’t get much rest but managed to
stay relatively cool thanks to a miracle "breeze" that came in (with
the mosquitos) and essential oil towels Mom sent (Thanks Mom)!! The bummer was that the power only went out
after we came back from the temple on Saturday, so when Sunday rolled around
and we couldn’t go out and buy anything to prepare without power!! Haha! Thankfully
we had gas and water and enough fresh food remnants from the week that we were
sustained on our own version of a vegetable quiche – it was really yummy! :) We did everything with the limited light of
our propped up flashlights... It was
quite an adventure, but, I am glad that was yesterday and we can leave it as a
"memory" now! Haha! The power is back, so we have an air
conditioner and a cold fridge, and we are up and running again here in Mariano!!
:)
So, there’s more to share about
yesterday... Sunday wasn’t just an adventure... there was definitely a little
crazy that kicked in too!! Haha!!
Our ward in Mariano starts at 8:00 AM
and it‘s about a 25 minute walk, so, normally we leave a little early to walk
by a few investigators or menos activos...
just to give them a little support to go to church. Yesterday, we decided to go by a recent
converts house, so we left just before 7:00 AM to have enough time to wake them
up and help get the kids ready if we needed to.
:) We weren’t even 2 blocks away
from our house, when we saw a group about 6 guys walking up. We get approached a lot, guys making comments
or cat calls, so, we prepared to just ignore them, look straight ahead, and
keep walking. pasa lo que pasa. As we
got closer it became clear that some of them were drunk, and that’s not really
anything new either... but when they started talking to us, one asks us why we
never talk to them, "por que nunca nos hablan... nunca nos hablan ellas"
and for a moment it all seemed pretty harmless and we keep going, but as soon
as we are almost out of the clear. The last
guy is lingering back a bit - and he is obviously intoxicated... to the point
where he´s barely walking. He stops
right in front of us, so, we try and walk around him and then he began to
corner Hermana Valenzuela and she couldn’t get around. Struggling to fight his state of drunkenness, he
reaches for Hermana Valenzuela’s bag - and has it in his hands and says with
liquor coated breathe, "tu celular, dame tu celular"... she kind of stood their with her hands on her
bag too... as I am telling the guy "sueltelo, basta basta" and
trying to get him to leave... but he
didn’t move... So, without even thinking
I just went straight out and punched the guy in the shoulder!... I didn’t
know what else to do! He wasn’t
listening and he wasn’t leaving. So, after
I gave him my hardest punch to the arm, he let go and ran off to catch up with
his friends.
Afterward, Hermana Valenzuela and I just
kind of paused looking at each other - like, what just happened??? And after a brief moment, we just continued on
to go and get our family to church.
We got to their house and woke them up
and found out that they were headed out of town, so they couldn’t come with us :(
But, we left them with a little thought
and a prayer! :) And then, as we started
to leave to make our way to church, just as we left the house, one of their
relatives comes out after us saying "disculpe, disculpe hermanas"
(Excuse me, excuse me, Sisters) AND IT WAS THE SAME GUY WHO JUST TRIED TO ROB US!! He is extended family to our recent converts!!
(We can call that a small world
moment!) :P He approached us and took our hands, begging
us to forgive him... he said the guys he was with were bad influences and he
really hopes we can forgive him. He kept
apologizing and Hermana V and I just kept telling him that he was forgiven,
that he is totally forgiven, and that he should go and have a great day, but stay
clean from things like that. Turns out,
he wasn’t a bad guy, he was just caught up in bad things and wanted to be part
of this "gang" and so, como su "iniciatory" (for his
initiation) he was told to rob us.
All this took place, and we still made
it to church on time!! Haha!! But, yup, we were definitely ready for a
little nap! Haha!
Don’t worry Mom, we are on the Lord’s
errand and we are protected!
I love this work and I love this
mission. This work is so inspired and I couldn’t be more grateful to be here!! :)
I love you all :)
Take care! :)
XOXO
Hermana Fardos
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