November 24, 2014

Don't eat the Chicken

Well here I am once again writing you in the smoke filled, sketchy computer room with all the lazy men who are addicted to computer games! This is my last week of my 12 week training and Im so excited! Where did these 3 months go?!

This week was an interesting one and sadly I have NO stories about teaching, because we literally only taught about 6 lessons all week! Tuesday we had our weekly district meeting and Hermana Bustamante and I had to teach the elders about the worth of souls. We werent super prepared to teach, but it ended up being really good and we were able to teach by the spirit and it was one of the first times that I felt like we taught really well together! After the meeting we tried to do some tracting, but as always we never have success with that. We ate lunch at our "moms house" and she made us probably the most unhealthy meal ive ever eaten but it was so good. Homemade french fries with meat, fried onions and a fried egg on top. EVERYTHING FRIED! yeah if i come home 20 lbs heavier Im sorry, its not my fault. haha It was bad because Ive been trying to eat good because Ive been sick and then she feeds us that. Wednesday we had to go to pocitos to the doctor because Ive had a non stop headache for 2 weeks now, and the missions president sent us to a doctor there because he is a member. well guess what kind of doctor she sent us to?! a gynocologist! bahaha It was a little weird to be waiting in a waiting room with a bunch of pregnant women and heres the missionaries too. haha Our "mom" came with us and it was actually a good time. We had to wait 3 hours for the doctor so we ended up walking around and we went into bolivia for a little bit! She bought us empanadas and coca cola (my favorite!) And we just laughed the whole time because in the waiting room in the clinic, everyone had the saddest of faces...like they were on point to die. The doctor told me I have alot of "stress" haha well thats not anything new, I am just like my mom ;) 

So that took up most of our day Wednesday and then thursday I had my first interview with the president! It was sooo good to have a one on one talk with him and he literally can read me I think. He gave me some really good advice and really helped me refocus a little on why Im here. The first thing he told me is that my spanish is incredible but I think he tells every missionary that to boost their confidence haha. But he really is an inspiring man with alot of love. Im grateful for him because apparently the last mission president was a little rough and would chew the missionaries out if they werent baptizing. Wanna know what my mission president told me? "Hermana its not about the baptisms, when youre in front of the savior hes not going to ask you how many baptisms you had, hes going to ask you if you bore your testimony, if you loved the people, if you learned and grew" 

Anyways the interview was really good! Afterwards we had to head to Salta to work on my visa papers. So it was an 8 hour bus ride to salta and we didnt get there until almost midnight. We stayed the night with the hermanas in Salta. And then friday we went to the mission office and I just followed the elders around to all these different places to do my papers. It was really boring actually. And we have to go back to Salta tomorrow! so another 16 hours in bus!  But the best part was we had to wait for our bus back to salta and had about 4 hours to just walk around salta! It was a DREAM! I am in love with salta. I wasnt able to see it when I got here because I went straight to my area, but it is beautiful! I felt like I was in Europe or Spain! I didnt realize that Salta is super touristic! there is so much to do! I am definately coming back here after the mission to do all the things I cant do as a missionary! Who wants to come with me?! 

We didnt get back to Aguaray until late friday night and then saturday morning we had to do our weekly planning because we werent able to do it thursday like normal. So that took up time and then we went to eat lunch at Hermano Sixtos house and we ate this chicken that I dont think was quite ready because later that day after our studying, we were in La loma about to go teach all our investigators and it hit me. And it hit me hard. I thought I was going to die. I told my companion we had to find a bathroom asap! But as to our luck, we were super far away from our apartment and no one in Loma has bathroom because its super poor there. So we decided to go to the church which was like a 10 minute walk, I was huntched over trying not to loose everything inside of me and my companion was laughing so hard. It was really funny, but not at the same time. We barely made it in time to the church and I was able to make it to the bathroom. haha So we ended up not teaching that night. We really have bad luck and I really think everything bad that could happen has happened to me here in Aguaray but it really makes for some funny memories. 

Oh the funniest thing happened the other day in language study with my companion. I was just sitting there studying by myself and all the sudden my companion goes "que significa" (what does this mean) and flat out says the F word! I DIED! I have no idea where she heard it but it was so funny because she was being so innocent! The language barrier is so funny to me sometimes! 

So yeah this week we really didnt have any miracles, but as always I have learned something. This week I have been really thinking about the restoration of the gospel and what it has done for me. Everyday I wrote in my journal something that happened that day that happened because of the restoration. For example, thanks to the restoration, thursday I was able to recieve a priesthood blessing from the elders. If the restoration hadnt have happened, we wouldnt have the priesthood. Thanks to the restoration, I was able to pray to my heavenly father every single day because I have the knowledge that he is my heavenly father and he loves me. Thanks to the restoration, My mission president was able to share some inspired scriptures in the book of mormon with me. Thanks the the restoration, I was able to renew my covents yesterday as I portook of the sacrament. I started to realize how many blessings I have because of one moment in time! I am so grateful for the restored gospel!! 

Well thats my adventure filled week! Next pday I will probably have a new companion! I cant believe its already time for changes! Time is flying and Im just trying to enjoy every minute because I know I wont ever get this time back in my life! 

Hoping you all had a great week!  I love you all!!! 

-hermana stewart