This week I started to love Aldo Bonzi! It took three weeks but I am finally feeling like I have a relationship with a few families in the Ward. I feel more comfortable with the área too. We have actually been having a lot of lunches with the members. The members here have more money so the meals are better and and we always have dessert unlike San Vicente.
We are going to have a baptism next Saturday!! Her name is Trini and she is 13. We have been spending a lot of time with her and her family. They are a part-member family and are really poor. They have 5 kids in the family. They also have several aunts and a grandma that live nearby so there are always a lot of people when we come over. They live really messily and in a small shack- type house with a yard the size of 2 of our gardens. On this small plot they have 4 horses, ducks, dogs, chickens, cats, and a pig that all except for the horses just roam around. It is such a crazy environment and the door is often just left open so the animals just come in and roam around. I was sitting at the table and I felt something touch my leg and it was the pig! It is moments like these that I think "Wow how my life has changed- how did I end up here!" But seriously, I love their family so much.
So our área is pretty big so we have to ride the bus a lot to get from one end of the area to the other. Last week, I had a traumatic experience where I was left alone on the bus! Hermana Molinero and I were both in the back but she wasn't sure where to get off, so she went to the front to ask the driver. I thought: the bus is kind of full and I don't feel like wading through a lot of people so I'm just going to stay in the back. The driver will open both the front and back doors if we need to get off sooner that my compi thought. I payed for my laziness when the bus stopped and my companion got off and the back door didn't open! I was mortified as it drove away and I saw my companion through the window outside standing on the sidewalk with a look of shock on her face. So I began to quickly make my way to the front of the bus begging perdón to the people in the aisles and shouting ¡Pare, pare! (Stop, Stop). I think the driver noticed I was a bit stressed and so he stopped. Luckily, I got off only about a block away from my companion. All the people in the bus probably thought it was funny and my compi was laughing like crazy as I ran to catch back up with her.
It rained the first 3 days of the week this week so the work was slow and it was another one of those moments of "How did I end up here doing this?" We spent all afternoon walking the streets in the cold rain and knocking houses trying to contact people with little luck. But the other part of the week was a lot better and we actually taught a lot. Other than Trini, our investigators aren't progressing so we are going to discontinue teaching a lot of them. We'll just be searching for people to teach. There are a lot of less active members though so we spend time visiting them too.
We made divisions with another companionship in Banfield and I was with a Hermana Menezes from Brazil who has 10 months in the misión. I loved my time with her and got to see new ways to teach and find. I was amazed how she followed the Spirit as we contacted an old investigator. She was a lady maybe in her 60s and at first she didn't want anything to do with us. She was about to close the door but Hermana Menezes was persistent and asked if we could at least sing a hymn for her. She agreed and we sang "Nearer my God to Thee." It was amazing to see how the music invited the Spirit. Afterward, the lady's face changed completely and she was a lot nicer and actually let us in and we were able to teach a lesson. It was amazing that I had just met Hermana Menezes. She had no idea if I could sing and we had not planned to do that, but thanks to her quick thinking, we could teach someone a little more about God's plan for her and promised blessings that come from living the góspel of Jesús Christ.
Persistence is a trait I love in my companion too. I am learning that it is important to be direct when contacting people and in lessons too. Hermana Molinero is so direct and firm in her testimony and can teach with power and authority. I am not naturally super direct, so maybe that is one reason that I am with her so I can learn. She is super obedient and we get along fine...for the most part. :) Nah, shes great. She just has an attitude sometimes and is super sassy. She has convinced herself that Aldo Bonzi is one of the hardest áreas in the misión. She got along really well with her last companion too, so she often misses her. This was hard with members too at first because everybody loved the sister that I replaced, but now I am gaining the trust and respect of more people.
Oh and I was able to meet two new Hermanas from the States this week that have 3 weeks in the field now. This was my first time meeting American hermanas that are younger than me in the misión. I felt so strange. I remember when I was like them. This helped me realize how much I have improved in the language and how much I have learned. They both went to the Provo MTC and got to sing in the missionary choir for General Conference! What an experience! I still feel like I am new, but now I am not the newest! I was able to promise them that the language does come with time and give them a little hope that the misión isn't so bad! I could empathize with them- one of them was having a really hard time adjusting.
So yeah... I am enjoying the misión a lot more now and the weeks are passing quickly. I still struggle to express myself in Spanish in the form I would like sometimes, but the people are impressed when they hear I have been in the misión for 4 months and they all say I talk well, so that is comforting.
Love you guys!
Audrey's Friend Rehmat stopped by for a Visit to the McBride Home
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