Alright so this week felt
kind of short because everything was pushed a day back. So last Tuesday
just wasn`t my day. I spent forever trying to figure out the ingredients
to my mom`s cookies in Spanish. In the end there were two things that I
just kind of guessed and hoped for the best. I spent pretty much my
whole day cooking and making that batter. Let me tell you that mixing a
double batch of cookies with no blenders is a pain and quite the work
out. After I finally got everything all mixed well, I realized that I
didn`t have chocolate chips. So we ran to a shop really close and bought
a chocolate bar but it wasn`t enough chocolate. But I didn`t feel like
going all the way to a real store to buy some. After everything the oven
just wasn`t getting hot enough and the bottoms of the cookies were
getting torched and the tops just weren`t cooking fast enough. We went
ahead and ate them and the tops were ok but they just were nothing like
my moms and definitely lacked chocolate. Kind of a bummer. Probably not
gonna try that again any time soon because I didn`t get anything else
done. On top of everything while I was running up the stairs I busted up
my shin pretty good and not one but two pretty bumps there.
So
Wednesday was awesome. District class and a package from my mom! Gotta
love American snacks. We also managed to stay out of the sun and indoors
by teaching some lessons! Nothing too special there. We`re visiting an
older lady in our ward and her husband who isn`t a member. She can`t
come to church and he doesn`t hear or see very well so we can`t really
teach him too much. I don`t know how much he will be able to progress
but either way I know they enjoy our visits and that`s all that matters.
There names are Ninfa and Juan. Super awesome. We also taught Alex and
Carola we`ve officially taught them every lesson so now we are
reteaching some stuff a little bit more in depth. . We finished the day
by teaching a less active Erika. Nothing super special with her but we
are getting to know her better and she seems to be remembering more good
memories with the church which is good.
Thursday
we didn`t really teach anyone that I can remember. Kind of a tougher
day. It was hot and we didn`t really teach that I can remember.
Friday
was another really good day. We had lessons with Alex and Carola and I
really felt like I was doing better at listening and focusing in on the
people. We tried to be short with them so we could have time to visit
some other people after them that said they would be there. Of course
they weren`t and we walked to a couple other houses and then the idea
came to me to go visit Guiermo. Remember the story of the drunk guy who
is a singer and his mom is a less active member and his younger brother
has some pretty severe disabilities? Yup him. We haven`t visited there
in a while cause we can never find him there but sure enough we show up
and he`s there. He`s like "I`m in the middle of eating but... come on
in." Easy right? So his guitar is sitting out so I asked him to play
some stuff for us. He had been drinking again but he didn`t seem too
drunk yet. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find out he`s actually
pretty good and I actually enjoyed listening to him. We had a short
thought with him and I felt impressed to tell him that our message could
change his life if he would let it. He told me that he`s pretty set in
his ways but he`s willing to listen for the least. That`s all I can ask
for! I know that if we can have a cool lesson with him and he feels the
spirit that he will start to change some of his ways.
Saturday
it was really cool cause I had another experience where I really felt
like I was following promptings from the spirit. We were just doing our
thing walking and the thought came to me "Carols Cardenes lives close to
here right?" I look up and we are literally crossing over his street.
So I`m like "lets go visit Carlos Elder Ortiz." We swing by and yet
another house we can never get into has someone come out. It wasn`t
Carlos it was his nephew but good enough. We got to talking with him and
he was talking about how his grandma is in a lot of pain and that he
wanted us to give her a blessing. So we got to go in and give a blessing
to her. It was a really cool experience. It`s amazing how Heavenly
Father just puts you in the right places at the right times.
Sunday
we got to go to a baptism of an investigator that Elder Ortiz was
teaching over in Cerro Colorado that is now getting baptized. He`s been
involved with the church for 12 years! Elder Ortiz and Elder Pope
baptized his daughter and then they got transferred. Well my mission dad
Elder Bullock got transferred over there and Rey got baptized! Really
cool thing for Elder Ortiz and for my mission papi. I was happy for the
both of them. Sunday ended at Alex and Carola`s eating once and I just
have to say that this was a good week.
Don`t
have a quote this week cause I left the journal at home but I will say
this. You can feel the spirit a lot more when you are happy. I`ve been
so focused on making sure that I`m not doing things against the mission
handbook and because of that I`ve been worrying and overthinking a lot
of little things. I really tried to start focusing on the stuff that I
can and should be doing this week. Like enjoying the people and my
companion and just working. I was so much happier and in the shortest
week of my mission we taught more lessons than I think I`ve ever taught
in a normal week of the mission. It was a really cool lesson for me.
Love you all!
Elder Shell
P.S. Yeah I realized that I never explained the title of my email this week
but Elder Ortiz has been having some gnarly nosebleeds. I mean they are
pretty gross. He had about three on Friday and they are supposedly being
caused by the heat. We talked to the wife of President and she gave us
some advice and told us that less and less blood should be leaving every
time. If more blood starts leaving than is right now he is gonna have
to go see a specialist but that isn`t something he can do here so he`d
have to go back to Mexico and probably just finish the mission early. I
really hope that it quits and please keep him in your prayers.
BIGGEST SHOUT OUT OF ALL
Biggest shout out of all goes to my big sister, Sister Kirsten Shell.
She is finishing up her mission here and she has been the biggest
example to me and I know she was a truly consecrated servant of our
Heavenly Father. The biggest shout out of all gets it`s own email ;)
Love you to death Kirsten!
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