COLONIA!
Hahaha.
Gotcha. Yep folks, another change is over! Where did that time go? Ni idea, but
what I can tell you all is that this change FLEW. And I have officially
completely four changes in the mish! In a couple of weeks I will hit six months
which means in a YEAR I will be home. Uhhhhh what? By the way, the AP`s always
like to pull your leg when they call you for changes. So Elder Gesh calls us
and goes "Hermana Zumeta, usted se queda en Colonia! Y tendrà una nueva
companera! Su nueva compañera será..............(long long long
pause).....Hermana Dolan!" In English, he said "Hermana Zumeta! You
are staying in Colonia, and you will have a new companion! Your new companion
will be......Hermana Dolan!" Yeah, I just about had a heart attack folks.
But no worries, because I`m staying here another change with Hermana
Zumeta!
So
anyway, not a whole ton happened this week. Guadalupe gets back on Friday!
Woot! We missed her! We felt the Spirit a lot....as always! We found a new
investigator! Woot! Her name is Nelida and she`s....old, haha I don`t know how
old. But her husband passed away 3 months ago so Alma 40 was the perfect
clincher to get her interested. We have to go slow with her because she takes a
little bit longer to understand things, but no worries, in due time we`re going
to dunk the crap out of her in the aguas bautismales!
In a
couple of days the Senior missionaries that will be Branch President are
coming! H O L L A. We are seeing a lot of amazing changes here in this branch
and with them I have no doubt we`ll see even more. It also means President
Smith is coming this weekend to sustain them in church! (he is the Stake
President of Colonia) And Saturday night he`s going to go out with the 4 of us
missionaries to visit some people to get them to go to church that Sunday. We
are going to have him meet Guadalupe, and we are also going to take him to
Maria. We think he might have some good inspiration as to what to do.
Good
news and bad news about changes: I`m staying! Hna Zumeta is staying! Elder
Trucolo is staying! Buuuut Elder Espinoza aka Espinoziiiita is leaving. He`s
been in Colonia longer than any of us and he`s sad to go, especially because in
a few weeks he was finally going to see the first baptism of Colonia. But
that`s the mission, and he can feel good knowing he planted a lot of seeds
here! Also Elder Teloma (from my CCM group) is leaving the zone....buuuuuut
Elder White is coming! Sorry I`m so excited about that, but I came to Uruguay
without any of my Hermanas from the ccm. Soooo yep. That`ll be fun! I told my
companion to make sure she tells him he looks like Zac Efron when she meets
him. He hates that.
We had
a Noche de Hogar with the same family we spent New Year`s Eve with in the area
called General to say goodbye to Espinozita and Arguello. We started and ended
the change in the same place. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this family. I love Guadalupe, I
love Mary, I love Maria and Miguel, I love my fellow missionaries, and I love
the Lord.
Changes
always make me nostalgic. Seeing people leave an area and how sad they are just
makes me think of what it will feel like to actually leave the mission. There
are so many times that I find myself walking down a road and think "I`m
walking down a street in Uruguay...and soon I will never do that again." I
want to make sure I live up every moment and do all I can as a missionary so
that I can leave with no regrets. I love being here so much. Even when we have
uneventful weeks like this one, it`s still a good week because it`s a week as
an instrument in the hands of God. How awesome is my life! How awesome is
LIFE!
Okay
so that`s really all folks, but first a piece from my studies, and then a funny
story:
I was
studying the Atonement the other day, and I read a part in the book Our Search
For Happiness that talks about it. It says "he suffered such great mental
and emotional anguish that it caused him to bleed from every pore." And I
started to think about that. Sometimes, it seems like the Savior`s bleeding in
Getsamane was an essential physical part of the Atonement...and it was....but
it was not suffering given to him by Heavenly Father, rather it was a suffering
caused himself. He has so much love for us that his emotional anguish literally
caused him to bleed. Think about that.....suffering so much EMOTIONALLY for
someone else...for their pains, and sufferings, and sins....that you start to
bleed PHYSICALLY. That`s also why the Father couldn`t take it away from him:
first of all, because the Father knew it was an essential part of the plan, but
second of all because it wasn`t a pain caused by the Father; it was a pain
caused directly by the Savior and His love for us. How incredible. Don`t take
this as doctrine haha. It`s just my thoughts. We will never be able to fully
comprehend the Atonement, but the more I learn about it the more I`m
amazed.
Also,
funny story:
Sometimes
during personal study, we come across these scriptures called "trunky
scriptures." They may be about marriage, about family...they may not even
be that trunky at first glance, unless your name is Elder Trucolo and you
already have a fiancee. Then everything is trunky. So I come across a scripture
in Matthew 19: 4-5 and because it`s trunky (haha just read it), I text that to
the Elders. IN about 2.5 seconds, they respond with 1 Nephi 11: 10, 15, and 20.
Don`t read the verses in between. Just read 10, and then 15, and then 20.
Hahahahahhahahaha I died. Apparently it`s well known by all the Elders, but it
killed me. Read it read it read it. It`ll give you a good laugh. You`re
welcome. ;)
So
anywho, da da da da dats all folks. Remember, the Savior`s felt your pains.
Talk to Him, because He knows you. And He`s a really good listener. :)
I love
you, I love you, I love you!
Hermana
Dolan
Also,
fun facts: Ranch doesn`t exist here, nor beef jerky or instant oatmeal. Just
"food" for thought. People just add a gallon of oil and vinegar to
their salads and I`m just over here like "where`s the Hidden Valley?"
haha
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