28 Octubre 2015

28 Octubre 2015

Okay, let's see how this goes.

Investigators:

We have a lot, but here are the ones that have progressed the most.

1. Esther De la Rosa-- Mother of a guy who was baptized 3 weeks ago in another ward. She's coming to church and loving it, but she's reticent to put a baptismal date. We're also teaching her daughter Joselyn and her aunt (88 years old and deaf) but they haven't come to church yet. She also just happened to bump into one of her best friends in the church this last Sunday. So there's a built-in hermanadora. (friendshipper).

2. Nayeli, Juan Valentin, Patlan-- a group of friends that are listening to us. They haven't been able to come to church yet, but they're all very interested and have  TON of hard questions for us. They are all reading the Book of Mormon. We have a Noche de Hogar with some active members and them tonight, so I hope it goes well!

3. I don't remember her name-- we just met her on Sunday. We went to eat at her son's house. Her son, by the way, is the first counselor of the stake presidency. We're eating and talking and it turns out that she's not baptized. So then we share a message and she says that she's never been convinced enough to be baptized, even though she's been to church with them a lot. All four her children were baptized about 15 years ago. She says that that same Sunday morning (as in this last Sunday) she just happened to grab her granddaughter's Book of Mormon and opened it up and saw the scripture in Alma that says ''this is the day given for man to prepare to meet god'' or something like that. I don't even remember and I don't have my scriptures handy right now and they'd be in Spanish anyway. At this point in the narration during the lesson, she just busts up crying incontrolably for about 5 minutes. The spirit just soaked that room. And then she says. ''I think it's time for me to be baptized. I think God is telling me that.'' So yep. I hope it all turns out well. She just happens to be in Piedras Negras for a month before going back up to Houston. And we just happened to go and eat with her son that same Sunday.

We've been taking Alejandra Castro out to preach with us. She just got back from her mission in Tabasco about 4 months ago and it's really nice to be teaching with a member that can just take out the scriptures and knows exactly how the lessons are supposed to go. She's determined that we're teaching wrong, though. She told us a whole long list of things that she would have done differently (basically a whole bunch of object lessons) and that she's going to make us a box of visual aids to take around preaching with us. So then I told her: "Wow, look at you, caring about the investigator. I'm just thinking about the lesson with a member present." (Translation: I'm just glad our numbers are going to look really good this week.) That made her mad, but then I told her I was just kidding and that we would consider using any visual aids she made for us. So then she forgave us. And then came to another lesson the next day. So that's good. :)

We made enchiladas and horchata today for lunch. Well, I made the horchata, my companion the enchiladas, which, by the way, are NOTHING like what we call enchiladas.

Horchata:

1. about a handful of rice sitting in water for about a day. Works better with warm water, but obviously when it's sitting around for about a day, it's not going to be warm the whole time. Also maybe oats.

2. about half a can of canned milk.

3. cinnamon and lots of sugar.

After blending the rice (and oats) and water to the point of being a little bit of sludge at the bottom of the blender and lots of milky looking water, you pour in a lot of water and lots of sugar and some cinnamon. And some canned milk. And that's it. I know some people also throw in vanilla and maybe peanuts and even coconut, but those are just variations. An hermana from Guatamala told me basically: If it don't got peanut, it ain't horchata.

This week is going to be crazy. On Wednesday in the morning we're leaving to Saltillo. We're not coming back until Friday very early in the morning, like around 5 or 6. Then we're going to have General Conference on Saturday and Sunday. So basically, we're going to be working Tuesday and Friday, and that's it. But good news is: GENERAL CONFERENCE! And I might get a chance to see the Familia Alvarez in Saltillo because we're going to be stuck around there for a whole afternoon waiting for the bus to Piedras Negras.

Miss you all! Los extraño!

Elder Taylor