It's been a crazy week. And by crazy, actually not that crazy, it's just that time goes by really fast.
We got bikes this week! And, they weren't absolutely necessary...they just cut down our travel time to some apartment complexes. A lady in the ward donated them...and they work okay. One of the seats was falling apart, so she left us with some pink/green/black camouflage duct tape to keep it together, and it looks hilarious. Fresh and unique, but a little trashy too (: It's fun.
The humidity is a little crazy out here, but this least week has been amazing because it has cooled down and dried up a bit. When its super hot and humid, our morning runs our slow going because its harder to breathe, and we come home soaked because its so hot, even at 6:30 in the morning. It's crazy!
We had zone conference this week, and it was really cool. My favorite thing that I learned was that benadryl is not for everyone. There are all sorts of people in the world. People with spiritual heart disease, bug bites, flu, ear infections, eating disorders, etc....and all of these things need to be treated....but these sicknesses can't all be cured by benadryl. Benadryl might work for the bug bites, but that's about it. We all have different spiritual needs, and likewise there are different things that will bring people to the gospel depending on their needs. As missionaries I think we easily get caught into the trap of saying, "Hi I am (Dr.) Hermana Withers, and I am a representative of Christ... what are your symptoms? Well I have this great medicine called Benadryl, and it has worked for so many other people, so I know it can help you with your bronchitis." This trap is so easy to fall into, but I am learning that first assessing a person's needs will help a missionary determine what to say. Everyone needs the gospel, because it is the all curing treatment, we just all need it in different ways for our different sicknesses.
I got my first mail since being here in Virginia this week! I hadn't received anything, and then on Wednesday I got mail at Zone Conference that had been sent to the mission office (because they don't forward anymore) and then I got a letter from Mom and Lauren too. It was sweet! Thanks for mailing me!!!! I promise to write you back too!
We had a cool thing happen this week. We walk past the same apartments every day. We see the same people all the time, and because we stand out as white Americans, everyone knows us. So, we were walking past a house/apartment thing a few weeks ago (I don't really know how to explain them...they are kind of weird) and this guy was sitting on his porch. He stands up, waves at us and in crazy fast Spanish says "Hey, I am a less active member, but I have an nephew serving in Ecuador, and I am from Guatemala but I am working here in America..." and he went on for a few minutes, but I could only actually pick up a little bit. It's a miracle we have never seen him before, and that he was there when we walked past because he works all the time. He asked us if we could find the address of his nephew's mission in Ecuador, so he can send him money for a camera...and we're like "Sure, if you let us come back and talk to you more, you have deal." So we try to go back, and he wasn't there. We go back the next Tuesday, and he was there again! So we talked to him, explained how there were 5 major cities in Ecuador, any one of which could be his nephew's mission...so we had to say...sorry, we tried. If you can get us more information, we can help out more. Then we casually asked him how much he remembered of the story about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was about8:30, so it was just barely dark, but the light from the porch illuminated enough of his face for me to see a trickle of tears fall down his face. He explained how he has been living in America for three years trying to support his wife and kids who are still in Guatemala. He is a young guy, but said he was baptized in Guatemala and just became inactive. Since being in America, he has seen missionaries on bikes all the time, but none of them ever noticed him walking or stopped to talk to him. With surprising determination in his eyes, and with a quivering strength in his voice, he said..." I know the story of Joseph Smith is true." He quoted James 1:5 (which is amazing, no one ever remembers these details!) He said he has been reading the Book of Mormon lately, and again with powerful strength in his voice he said, "I promise you guys I will be at church on Sunday." He would bear more testimony, and then promise again. He promised he would come to church 4 times. And for the rest of the week, we were hoping he was doing alright and still able to come to church. And yesterday, we walk into the room........AND HE WAS THERE. He was in a white shirt, tie, slacks, and polished shoes. He got a little weepy again, but he stayed for the whole meeting, sang all the hymns, and met some of the members. We keep telling him its a miracle that we found him, because we feel like we pretty much know everyone here already....but the Lord crossed out paths and it is awesome. We didn't do anything special that day, or offer any sort of miraculous prayer, we are just trying to be good girls following the missionary rules, and I can already see the blessings from this. So cool.
This Friday, the Washington DC South and North are going to a Nationals game against the Phillies. I don't know how in the world these presidents got permission from the Brehteren in Salt Lake, but we all have tickets and are all excited! There should be about 500 of us there, so maybe you might get to see the missionaries on TV.
Sorry this letter is a little bit shorter this week, I will write more and send pictures next week!
I love you all more than the number of people that say, "Soy Catolico/a"
Hermana Withers
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