Monday, July 22, 2013

Update~The Kiss?

Oh my Gosh.
Well this has been a crazy week. Our baptism fell through again. We honestly at this point don’t really know what to do about her. Although, we are working with some amazing families right now and we feel like we will have an explosion of baptisms very soon. We are working with a family, the Flores, they have two kids, one is my age the other is 13. The father is inactive and the mom is Catholic, but they are all trying to find something more in their life.
We were walking the other day and had inspiration to walk down a street and the first house we saw we met an awesome family that had been praying for guidance, Family Fernandez.
We are also working with the Salazar family, who are awesome. It’s just a lady and her husband, probably in their 40’s. They are very conservative and remind me of a family from the 50’s, sweaters and all. They are the family that took us to Coconuco the other day.
All these families are amazing. 
out tracking with Sergio in tow

All right, now the interesting part of the week:
Well I do believe I may be the only missionary to be kissed twice in less than 24 hours. 
So here’s the story: 
We found another family of 3 ladies, a mom, her daughter and her niece. We helped them build their bed, they just moved into the area. We went to visit them the other day and the mom’s friend was there, and when she went to leave... BAM, she kissed me and walked out the door. My companion let out a noise similar to a dying cat and his face turned redder than a tomato, which is fairly impressive as he is black, hahaha. Sergio, who has become my best friend here (he is the branch president’s son, he spends every day with us and he’s 18), didn’t know what to do. My companion, such a trooper, attempted to continue with the lesson but ended up just erupting into laughter, which made Sergio explode. However, I was still sitting on the couch in shock, hahahaha. Oh my gosh, I had no idea what to do. That my good friends is what we call a “snake” here in Colombia. 
Then Sunday at church there was a new member that got baptized on Saturday. Not by us, there are 4 missionaries to every ward. When we went to leave I gave her son the "missionary hug”. Then I went to give her a firm handshake when I saw the lips getting ready for take off. She hit my cheek and my companion let out another gasping wheeze very similar to a dying albatross. I leapt up told her sorry we can’t do that and ran for my life. Literally RAN out of the church and into the street with my companion and Sergio close on my heels. 
Oh my gosh it’s been an interesting week. 

Now that I feel fairly adequate in my abilities to talk and teach, my companion and I are starting to have the alpha male fights, ha-ha. I am not a good follower because I am always the Leader. We had a boy scouts meeting with all the missionaries and of course the instructor made me leave the group because he said the other missionaries needed to stop depending on me to lead them in a maze activity... My companion was the next to leave. We are both very strong type A personalities, which make us very good missionaries. We are very easy to talk to and naturally dominate conversations, which makes us good teachers. Unless both of us are fighting over the steering wheel. Eventually we will figure it out or come to blows, jk. He is honestly the best companion. 

Saturday we needed to get ourselves ready for the baptisms that were happening in the branch, but our baptism ended up falling through... Jehovah Witness creating more doubts in the investigators. However, little by little we are helping Evelyn move through these doubts.
The other missionaries Elder Jones and Ramirez had a family baptism. To bad the font is broken. Sergio, Elder Borg and I had to empty, slash clean the font which hadn’t been emptied in who knows how long. It was green and full of algae. When I stepped into the font there was a cloud of green and it left footprints. We had to empty the whole thing by buckets, which took 2 hours, yikes. But we did it! 

I eat Sancocho and rice everyday with the occasional grilled chicken. I like it but would enjoy a little variety once in a while, ha-ha.

The members here are amazing. They have fully embraced us into their lives. 

I’m now the Gospel Doctrine Teacher. Yup, I found that out on Sunday. The first lesson I had to teach, with little under and hour to prepare; The Law of Chastity. Oh my gosh, that was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. In SPANISH. I could have done it fine in English but there are many words I do not know that go along with this lesson. It’s even harder when you have a “snake” sitting front and center winking at you... oh my gosh.
I guess the last missionaries were fairly flirty with the members. Elder Borg and I are trying to change that standard but Jones and Ramirez aren’t helping. It’s hard to gain the respect of all the members when they think you are flirting with their daughters.... No surprise. 

I love it here, the weather is absolutely perfect. We have one of the largest zones in Popayan, Americas. We walk everywhere, I love it. At times I feel like singing “Climb Every Mountain” from the Sound of Music cause we do just that. The other day it poured and we were soaked through and through, lightning everywhere, crazy storm, but still I love the weather here, it is perfect. 

The people here are amazing. I’m learning so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of faith.
Philippians 4:13 
Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece
All things I can do through Christ who strengthens me. I think that is how it’s translated 
There is a reason it says All things. 
The scripture is not some things I can do through Christ 
It says ALL THINGS
All things we can accomplish through Faith, but remember Faith without works is dead. 
I love you all so much 
Elder Lyle

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