Howdy Ya'll!
Sometimes it is slightly overwhelming to fit an entire weeks
worth of experiences in one little email but I will do my best. This week FLEW
BY and I am loving almost every minute. The only time I am not pleased is when
we get dropped by 5 investigators in ONE DAY! Yes... That happened. Missionary
life is a life of rejection, but I believe it is a PRIVILEGE to be rejected
100000 times for my Savior. I love Him so much, He truly gets me.
SO I went to "street school" this week! One of our
DARLING members whom I absolutely adore, is a Peruvian. On Saturday she made us
a traditional Peruvian meal called papa agua caina. This meal is basically
lettuce, potatoes, egg, and a special Peruvian chile cheese/cream sauce... Yah!
We also had boiled purple corn juice with fresh citrus, cloves, and cinnamon.
It was surprisingly tasty! Of course after we finished our papa agua caina we
were served a MOUNTAIN (and I kid you not... a mountain) of rice and chicken.
Classic! HOWEVER, the sweet woman son ate with us and I received a full
fledged education in the drug wars of Moreno Valley. WOWZERS. Apparently the
black people and the Latinos are at war with each other all the time. He said
that everyone is more scared of them than they are scared of the police in
MoVal! People die! He also said that at night, Police literally have to patrol
the streets, with a loaded gun. I was oblivious to all of this, but now the
constant sirens and drug busts multiple times a day make sense. I stared at him
wide eyed for about 20 minutes as he changed my perspective of my happy little
MoVal. I take a lot of comfort in the fact though that God protects his
missionaries. What a blessing!
One thing that is very interesting about Spanish-Land in
California is the process of committing people to baptism. When you pop the
question of baptism to investigators and they say yes, your first reaction is
JOY right? Yes, BUT in this culture, it is very common for families to have a
few layers. Typically, women marry very young or have children very young. When
their first marriage doesn't work out they leave and find someone else. Because
they are already married and don't want to deal with the hassle of working out
a divorce, they move in with someone else and start a family with them.
Interesting right? So usually we have to break it down for people and make sure
that they are married and have resolved past relationship commitments. It
definitely puts a huge pause on baptism for sure. GAHH..
Okay, remember Felipe? He was my second baptism here and he
is an absolute DREAM! He is so excited and loves the church so much. He is 74
years old and is so full of energy. He loves to tell people about the word of
wisdom and he shares his darling testimony in every possible moment. We like to
bring him along as a team up and he always says the funniest things to us and
to other people. Last night he told us that because he is completely bald, he
needs to wear his "gurrito" or beanie all the time. Then he told us
that it makes him feel like a " cholito" which is a little gangster.
As we struggled to breathe from laughing so hard, the 74 year old man lovingly
told us that he was our "homie". OH MY GOODNESS> I about died. Old
Latino people don't really get all the American slang terms but all that coming
out his mouth was a hoot and a half. I LOVE him!
PUES... This week has been a blessed one and I am learning
so much every day. Repentance is such a beautiful word guys. The whole purpose
of missionary work and this life is to help people be clean. Repentance through
the Atonement of Christ is the means to achieve that cleanliness. WHAT A
BLESSING! Remember to use that gift and continue to "turn" yourself
to Christ everyday. I love you all!
Stay Safe & God Speed.
Love, Hermana Tobler
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