Okay you guys, remember how I said last week that I wasn`t sure about Colonia? Okay maybe I didn`t. Maybe I only said it in my head. But PSYCH, I am so sure about Colonia!
We have had a lot of little miracles. I`ll just talk about a few of them, as well as random tidbits:
1. On Tuesday, I talked to some English speakers! They were waiting for a tour bus in front of the place where we buy groceries. We walked passed and I didn`t even pay attention to the fact that they were speaking English. Hna Zumeta said "did you hear them? They were speaking English." But us and the other 6 missionaries kept walking. I said "Hermana! LET`S GO." So we went and like an idiot the first words I could think of to say to them were "excuse me....you`re speaking English." As if they didn`t know. Hahaha. Anyway, the woman was from New York and the man was from South Africa. I bore a brief testimony to them, which, by the way, is SO hard to do in English now. It was so rough. I will apologize in advance for my homecoming talk, because if this is what it`s like with 5 months, who know what the full 18 months is going to do to me. Anyway, the woman didn`t accept the card i gave her, but she was super nice. And the man did! So who knows. But it was cool. I heard there are a lot of English speakers here because of tourists, but they were my first experience.
2. Wednesday! We`re trying to find a menos activos house and we look kind of lost...haaa like always. This guy asks us if we need help, and he points us to where we need to go. We thank him and keep walking, but then he says "wait! where are you two from?" And we starting talking about where we`re from and what we`re doing here, and talked about the message we share as missionaries. He was SO open. More open than anyone up until that point in Colonia. He gave us his number and address. Turns out he lives in the area of some other Elders in our Zone, but it was a good reference and we hope they get to teach him and his family! His name was Andres.
3. Thursday! So let me explain how garbage day works here. People put their sacks of garbage on the side of the street, and on garbage day the truck goes up the street while 3 or 4 men run around grabbing the bags and throwing them in the truck. Well, we were stopping by our house on garbage day, and we walk past one of the garbage men. He first said "hola! como andan?" but we didn`t here. Then he said it again. Then all of the sacks of garbage in his hands spilled to the ground. We went to help him, even though he told us not to. Haha psych we`re missionaries bro, of course we`re going to help. But anywho, he talked to us for a good five minutes and made his coworkers get the rest of the garbage on the street. We gave him a pass along card, and asked if we could come by his house. He said yes and gave us his address...in the SAME area as those Elders haha. But if we can help them out, that`s okay. I told them to MAKE SURE THEY FIND HIM. Because he was so great! SO great! Our little miracle for the day.
4. We are starting to get some investigators! Some are old from what the Elders had before we divided the area, but some are just contacts of some really open people who fell right into our laps! Holy crap boy scouts. Colonia is on its way!
5. So there is this AMAZING member named Mary. She basically acts like a black woman, she`s got so much sass. I love it. She had referenced us to her neighbors and we had a couple of lessons with them, but the husband doesn`t believe in God and the wife has a lot of health problems. So one day in the street she asked us how it was going. We told her all of the problems, and she said "let`s go." So she stops by her house for her scriptures, we go to their house where at the door she says "let me talk," we sit down, and she just immediately goes into what the church is all about and her conversion story and how she believes that they can believe. It was just a half hour of crazy awesome Mary testimony. The Spirit was so strong. You guys! She is INCREDIBLE. I seriously walked out speechless.
6. MIGUEL Y MARIA. You guys, I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THESE TWO PEOPLE. I cannot even explain to you. Miguel is a member and is sealed to his wife who passed away, and is now married to Maria who isn`t a member yet whose husband passed away. They are in their 80`s, and are the cutest people I have ever met in my life. They are just two big cups of sugar, seriously. I have already decided I am adopting them as my Uruguayan grandparents. They told us to make sure we leave every Friday at 7:30 free for them, just like they did with the hermanas who were here before. We are going to really focus on helping Maria get to baptism. Miguel has such a strong testimony, and she already has them! Hermana Zumeta told me after eating the most delicious chocolate cake at their house after the lesson, that I was just sitting there with a big dumb smile on my face while we were sitting at the table eating and talking to them. But I couldn`t help it! Afterwards, there was a big awesome rainstorm that we got to run home in, and I was just laughing like a bafoon. Haha. I literally fell asleep like three nights this week with a smile on my face. We don`t even have these grand miracles, but all of the little ones add up to so much joy!
7. I am so enjoying teaching our Elders english! Haha. They are like our big brothers. The other night the poor guys missed their bus and had to walk home. So they call us and say "You won`t believe what just happened to us." and then while they`re walking home, they have me teach them English. hahaha. They are also picking up phrases that I say, like "oh my gosh!" and "for suresies!" and "wait wait wait wait wait....what?" (that`s what i say when I don`t understand them haha). But seriously, we`re probs going to do classes in English for the youth. I am so excited! Although I have no clue how I`ll do it....how do you start to teach someone English? Any counsel would be much appreciated. Haha you guys, our language is so great, but so weird. Also, side note: my three Latino missionaries think I`m nuts. My comp calls me "her crazy Gringa." Haha it`s coo´.
8. We ate lunch at the Branch President`s house yesterday. He and his wife spent a month and a half in Utah a few years ago, so we had a whole conversation about it. First time EVER I could talk about my city with someone who knew what i was talking about! The 3 other missionaries were mesmerized while the wife explained temple square, and I just sat there thinking about how lucky I was that I LIVE there! I miss my sweet Salt Lake!
9. I haven`t given ya`ll a good story of "Hermana Dolan and her silly Spanish" in awhile. Here it is!
Okay, so Temple Square in Spanish is called "la manzana del templo." Manzana also means apple, and it is also not the word for square. Don`t ask me why it`s called that. But anywho, I assume it is the word for square. So I`m trying to explain something about a square to the other three misisonaries, and the whole time they think I`m talking about an apple. Then finally, I ask Hermana Zumeta "manzana is also square, isn`t it?" No. No it is not. Haha so I explained my logic to the three of them and they`re like "that....kind of makes sense that you would think that." Hahaha guys, pray for me.
10. Have i mentioned I LOVE Colonia? Because I LOVE Colonia! It is definitely different, and the branch needs a LOT of work, but it is so beautiful, and there are some truly wonderful people here! I love opening an area, I love being able to work with 4 missionaries, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Hermana Zumeta! She and i have a lot of fun together and she is so sweet and so patient with her crazy gringa! I AM IN LOVE. So much joy! Tender mercies in every day, and little miracles too! Some seeds we`re planting with our gazillion contacts, but some seeds we finally get to harvest, and that`s why we`re here!
Look for miracles in every day! I love you, I love you, I love you!
Hermana Dolan
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