Hey it was a weird week!
So the smoke of success died down, human nature set back in and brought reality with it. Many of those we found ready and open have resorted to evasion. Some have even gone as far as hiding and lying. I'm still pretty puzzled as to what would cause a grown man or woman to avoid two young "church people." One mom told us she would be out of town with meetings all day and when we went to the neighborhood to check on Onna, her neighbor across the street, we discovered she was busy meeting with a lawn chair and the sunshine. This kind of behavior only frustrates me because I realize we are grossly misunderstood. In NO way am I here to corner or convince people! If you don't want to meet with us that is totally fine! When she saw us she panicked and went inside. Later she came back out and we ended up talking to her, letting her know that it was totally fine if she didn't want to learn more. She's still a great lady! And as missionaries we only invite. Her response was that since she "already has a bunch of rosaries it would just be easier to stay Catholic." Good luck to you, my friend.
Another problem we run into is that EVERY time we introduce the church into someone's life or they start learning more, someone comes out of nowhere spewing false information about the church. It could be anything from claiming we're a cult and worship the devil or that we're not actually Christians or that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. People indoctrinating others makes me so mad! It's disrespectful, and most of the time they don't care enough to ask us what we actually believe. The concept that we would claim to believe something that we don't actually believe (aka would lie about it when asked) is so funny to me! It kind of makes us out to be superhuman. As if once your baptized a Mormon you lose your soul or something really terrifying. While being a missionary I've really come to see the part of people that is superstitious and scared stiff. By all means- don't talk to those 20 somethings. They'll ruin your life. Anything you do, just don't be open-minded. When I was younger there was a Baptist church that had a sign outside that said, "Don't pray about the Book of Mormon. That's how they get you." So funny.
On a nicer note, while we were visiting Onna we went to check on a few other people in the area and were stopped by this guy working on a house. He spouted out his address and phone number, saying that he learned about our church a long time ago but then when he got married he stopped looking into it. He (Carlos) wants us to teach his family! He has a twelve year old daughter and a ten year old son. He talked about how he realizes now that his family is lacking religion and is curious to see how being taught by us might help in unity and peace. He was great! We hope to be able to meet with their family this week.
In other news! We had a dinner over at the Castillo family's house with Akelis (remember the lady from Cuba we're teaching?) and it was really fun! Akelis speaks English really well and wants to be a teacher so we normally speak to her in English, but the Castillo family is less comfortable in English so the whole night was in Spanish! I love getting back into the flow where it feels normal and I can pretty much just speak my mind without a problem. It was cool to see Akelis open up a little more, too. Language barriers always seem to cause a bit of a problem, even if you speak another language well. There's something significant about your primary language! Akelis is really great. I'm grateful to know her. Elaine is doing well also, in case anyone was wondering :) She's just so cute. Love Elaine!
I'm sending pictures of the beautiful skirt Austin sent me! Laney Hawes happened to wear a skirt really similar so of course at least one picture had to be taken. Laney is the best. She's also recently been extremely curious about "Sister Raines' missionary and if we will actually get married." She keeps asking Sister Thomas whenever we're far enough apart. Haha! Laney is also convinced that I should cut my hair and just when I think she's forgotten she brings it back up. So tempting! But I don't think I will yet. No worries, everyone.
This week I have also really missed Austin! Ha I guess that makes sense considering it was our 2 year, but I just realized that I'm really glad I get the chance to understand what it feels like to be without him for so long so that when I get a chance to make it work I don't do anything stupid! We talked to one of the older women in our ward yesterday for a while (Father's day, her husband has passed away- not a great day for her.) and she talked about how earlier in their marriage it was really hard! Sometimes they were both really dumb (she told stories haha wow!) but by the time they were older she looked at him as one of the greatest men ever to walk the Earth. Quite the change! She advised us to be patient and selfless in our relationships. Sometimes it just takes a lot of time haha but people turn out okay in the end. I'm grateful for people who help me to avoid future mistakes!
Oh I almost forgot to mention! Last week the whole zone went on this crazy beautiful hike and so I'm sending a few pictures! It was so great. I love days like that.
That's pretty much it for this week! I hope everyone is doing well. Till later!
Hermana Ray
So the smoke of success died down, human nature set back in and brought reality with it. Many of those we found ready and open have resorted to evasion. Some have even gone as far as hiding and lying. I'm still pretty puzzled as to what would cause a grown man or woman to avoid two young "church people." One mom told us she would be out of town with meetings all day and when we went to the neighborhood to check on Onna, her neighbor across the street, we discovered she was busy meeting with a lawn chair and the sunshine. This kind of behavior only frustrates me because I realize we are grossly misunderstood. In NO way am I here to corner or convince people! If you don't want to meet with us that is totally fine! When she saw us she panicked and went inside. Later she came back out and we ended up talking to her, letting her know that it was totally fine if she didn't want to learn more. She's still a great lady! And as missionaries we only invite. Her response was that since she "already has a bunch of rosaries it would just be easier to stay Catholic." Good luck to you, my friend.
Another problem we run into is that EVERY time we introduce the church into someone's life or they start learning more, someone comes out of nowhere spewing false information about the church. It could be anything from claiming we're a cult and worship the devil or that we're not actually Christians or that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. People indoctrinating others makes me so mad! It's disrespectful, and most of the time they don't care enough to ask us what we actually believe. The concept that we would claim to believe something that we don't actually believe (aka would lie about it when asked) is so funny to me! It kind of makes us out to be superhuman. As if once your baptized a Mormon you lose your soul or something really terrifying. While being a missionary I've really come to see the part of people that is superstitious and scared stiff. By all means- don't talk to those 20 somethings. They'll ruin your life. Anything you do, just don't be open-minded. When I was younger there was a Baptist church that had a sign outside that said, "Don't pray about the Book of Mormon. That's how they get you." So funny.
On a nicer note, while we were visiting Onna we went to check on a few other people in the area and were stopped by this guy working on a house. He spouted out his address and phone number, saying that he learned about our church a long time ago but then when he got married he stopped looking into it. He (Carlos) wants us to teach his family! He has a twelve year old daughter and a ten year old son. He talked about how he realizes now that his family is lacking religion and is curious to see how being taught by us might help in unity and peace. He was great! We hope to be able to meet with their family this week.
In other news! We had a dinner over at the Castillo family's house with Akelis (remember the lady from Cuba we're teaching?) and it was really fun! Akelis speaks English really well and wants to be a teacher so we normally speak to her in English, but the Castillo family is less comfortable in English so the whole night was in Spanish! I love getting back into the flow where it feels normal and I can pretty much just speak my mind without a problem. It was cool to see Akelis open up a little more, too. Language barriers always seem to cause a bit of a problem, even if you speak another language well. There's something significant about your primary language! Akelis is really great. I'm grateful to know her. Elaine is doing well also, in case anyone was wondering :) She's just so cute. Love Elaine!
I'm sending pictures of the beautiful skirt Austin sent me! Laney Hawes happened to wear a skirt really similar so of course at least one picture had to be taken. Laney is the best. She's also recently been extremely curious about "Sister Raines' missionary and if we will actually get married." She keeps asking Sister Thomas whenever we're far enough apart. Haha! Laney is also convinced that I should cut my hair and just when I think she's forgotten she brings it back up. So tempting! But I don't think I will yet. No worries, everyone.
This week I have also really missed Austin! Ha I guess that makes sense considering it was our 2 year, but I just realized that I'm really glad I get the chance to understand what it feels like to be without him for so long so that when I get a chance to make it work I don't do anything stupid! We talked to one of the older women in our ward yesterday for a while (Father's day, her husband has passed away- not a great day for her.) and she talked about how earlier in their marriage it was really hard! Sometimes they were both really dumb (she told stories haha wow!) but by the time they were older she looked at him as one of the greatest men ever to walk the Earth. Quite the change! She advised us to be patient and selfless in our relationships. Sometimes it just takes a lot of time haha but people turn out okay in the end. I'm grateful for people who help me to avoid future mistakes!
Oh I almost forgot to mention! Last week the whole zone went on this crazy beautiful hike and so I'm sending a few pictures! It was so great. I love days like that.
That's pretty much it for this week! I hope everyone is doing well. Till later!
Hermana Ray
No comments:
Post a Comment