Well, it was another busy week. I went to Arica AGAIN, but this time we were successful in obtaining our visas. It´s a nice city, and the weather is good for it being winter, because it´s the most northern. I´m hoping to serve there someday but I DO NOT want to leave Iquique yet. I had a nightmare the other day about being transferred... ha! Do all missionaries not want to leave?
We have this goal of five baptisms for three months, right, and the ¨promise¨ from our mission president is that if we do 100 contacts every week, find 5 new investigators every week, and maintain two baptismal dates a week, that this goal will be accomplished. Last week, we had no dates because Miguel was just getting ridiculous. BUT, as soon as I got back from Arica on Friday we went to visit him and he accepted the 22nd of May as his date! It was a serious miracle, apparently he just felt the spirit while he was reading the chapter we left, Alma 7, and it was so great. I couldn´t believe the feeling of joy as we were leaving his house and walking to our next appt and I felt like I had made an impact in someone´s life, that he was going to baptized and I kind of brought the gospel to him. So great. Our appt right after was with Ivan, who is a little miracle who is all about getting baptized. He showed up at church yesterday alone! He´s been taught by missionaries before and gave up drinking and smoking and drinking coffee and tea when he was taught by them, and is really anxious to have friends in the church who don´t drink. So great. So, he agreed to the 22nd of May as well. And, that´s the last Saturday of the transfer so even if I or Hermana Quiroz get transferred, we´ll both be here then.
Okay we have this crazy neighbor named Mauricio who apparently has been out of town the whole time I´ve been here but he showed up Thursday and now we see him ALL the time. He likes hugging missionaries. Umm, not okay. I didn´t know how to stop it from happening. Also, the other night he knocked on our door and was like I´m hungry, what do you have to give me? I couldn´t believe it; anyone who knows anything about missionaries should know that we do not have money or good food. Ha! We gave him some sodas that come with our lunch that we don´t drink. Que loco.
Saturday was a holiday, Worker´s Day or something. Apparently it´s worldwide but I´ve never heard of it. Anyway, the white handbook says we should utilize holidays as the best proselyting days, but I do not understand that AT ALL. We have 5 appts and all but 1 of them fell through. We spent the 2.5 hours in the morning and then 3 hours in the afternoon knocking doors. No one wanted to listen to us. No one was there. It was rough. At 6:30 we decided to go to the chapel while people were there cleaning it and clean the baptismal font. First of all, they gave us a bucket of soap and a broom. Umm, a broom, to clean the font? What? Anyway, we put a little water in, we put a little soap in, I try to turn off the faucets and it´s not working so we have more water than we want, and THEN we realize that the drain isn´t working. We are in the font, scrubbing without our shoes and nylons on (how scandalous, huh?) and Hermana Quiroz sends me to ask how to make the water drain out. I don´t know the word for drain, or plug, or basically any words to explain this situation. Everyone thinks I´m ridiculous and can´t speak Spanish. True. Anyway, turns out it doesn´t work (don´t really understand why) and we have to mop up the water and squeeze it into a bucket. With ALL the water that´s in the font. It was ridiculous. What do they do when they have a baptism and it´s full?! That was ridiculous. And then there was nothing to dry our feet so we could put our nylons and shoes back on. Sometimes my life here is really ridiculous.
One more funny thing. So we only eat breakfast and lunch here, and then if people at night it´s called once but we never do. Usually I eat an apple while we´re out in the evening because I´m hungry. But last night we were at this house, teaching Omar, who is less active, and his brother is on a mission and his mom isn´t a member, but it was her birthday and she was all over the place so instead of heaving a lesson with a member present (we had Omar´s home teacher with us too) it was just basically a chat about the Atonement, for fun. Anyway, I was starving, and then she asked if we wanted a cafecito. And I was scandalized when Hermano Tapia, the guy with us, said yes, but it was just hot chocolate. So like 25 minutes later she´s like okay sit down at the table and there´s hot chocolate, bread with ham and cheese, and birthday cake. It was crazy. And good. But it was the first time I´ve eaten dinner since we got here and it was realllllly weird. I wonder if I´ll ever go back (just kidding, I´m sure I will).
Anyway, that about sums up my week. The daily grind of a mission is really interesting. I´m sure all the return missionaries know exactly how I¨m feeling right now, and I´m sure everyone who hasn´t gone on a mission has absolutely no idea. It´s a lot of work with sometimes no apparent results. But people get baptized, souls are saved; I know it´s worth it.
I hope you´re all doing well! Oh, by the way, I got that box from you guys last Tuesday, and it takes about a week for my mail from the office to get to me here, so it didn´t even take that long to get it! I also got some letters today. What a miracle! Mail is going to work here. Hallelujah.
Love you guys. Keep up the good work!
Hermana Coppins
We have this goal of five baptisms for three months, right, and the ¨promise¨ from our mission president is that if we do 100 contacts every week, find 5 new investigators every week, and maintain two baptismal dates a week, that this goal will be accomplished. Last week, we had no dates because Miguel was just getting ridiculous. BUT, as soon as I got back from Arica on Friday we went to visit him and he accepted the 22nd of May as his date! It was a serious miracle, apparently he just felt the spirit while he was reading the chapter we left, Alma 7, and it was so great. I couldn´t believe the feeling of joy as we were leaving his house and walking to our next appt and I felt like I had made an impact in someone´s life, that he was going to baptized and I kind of brought the gospel to him. So great. Our appt right after was with Ivan, who is a little miracle who is all about getting baptized. He showed up at church yesterday alone! He´s been taught by missionaries before and gave up drinking and smoking and drinking coffee and tea when he was taught by them, and is really anxious to have friends in the church who don´t drink. So great. So, he agreed to the 22nd of May as well. And, that´s the last Saturday of the transfer so even if I or Hermana Quiroz get transferred, we´ll both be here then.
Okay we have this crazy neighbor named Mauricio who apparently has been out of town the whole time I´ve been here but he showed up Thursday and now we see him ALL the time. He likes hugging missionaries. Umm, not okay. I didn´t know how to stop it from happening. Also, the other night he knocked on our door and was like I´m hungry, what do you have to give me? I couldn´t believe it; anyone who knows anything about missionaries should know that we do not have money or good food. Ha! We gave him some sodas that come with our lunch that we don´t drink. Que loco.
Saturday was a holiday, Worker´s Day or something. Apparently it´s worldwide but I´ve never heard of it. Anyway, the white handbook says we should utilize holidays as the best proselyting days, but I do not understand that AT ALL. We have 5 appts and all but 1 of them fell through. We spent the 2.5 hours in the morning and then 3 hours in the afternoon knocking doors. No one wanted to listen to us. No one was there. It was rough. At 6:30 we decided to go to the chapel while people were there cleaning it and clean the baptismal font. First of all, they gave us a bucket of soap and a broom. Umm, a broom, to clean the font? What? Anyway, we put a little water in, we put a little soap in, I try to turn off the faucets and it´s not working so we have more water than we want, and THEN we realize that the drain isn´t working. We are in the font, scrubbing without our shoes and nylons on (how scandalous, huh?) and Hermana Quiroz sends me to ask how to make the water drain out. I don´t know the word for drain, or plug, or basically any words to explain this situation. Everyone thinks I´m ridiculous and can´t speak Spanish. True. Anyway, turns out it doesn´t work (don´t really understand why) and we have to mop up the water and squeeze it into a bucket. With ALL the water that´s in the font. It was ridiculous. What do they do when they have a baptism and it´s full?! That was ridiculous. And then there was nothing to dry our feet so we could put our nylons and shoes back on. Sometimes my life here is really ridiculous.
One more funny thing. So we only eat breakfast and lunch here, and then if people at night it´s called once but we never do. Usually I eat an apple while we´re out in the evening because I´m hungry. But last night we were at this house, teaching Omar, who is less active, and his brother is on a mission and his mom isn´t a member, but it was her birthday and she was all over the place so instead of heaving a lesson with a member present (we had Omar´s home teacher with us too) it was just basically a chat about the Atonement, for fun. Anyway, I was starving, and then she asked if we wanted a cafecito. And I was scandalized when Hermano Tapia, the guy with us, said yes, but it was just hot chocolate. So like 25 minutes later she´s like okay sit down at the table and there´s hot chocolate, bread with ham and cheese, and birthday cake. It was crazy. And good. But it was the first time I´ve eaten dinner since we got here and it was realllllly weird. I wonder if I´ll ever go back (just kidding, I´m sure I will).
Anyway, that about sums up my week. The daily grind of a mission is really interesting. I´m sure all the return missionaries know exactly how I¨m feeling right now, and I´m sure everyone who hasn´t gone on a mission has absolutely no idea. It´s a lot of work with sometimes no apparent results. But people get baptized, souls are saved; I know it´s worth it.
I hope you´re all doing well! Oh, by the way, I got that box from you guys last Tuesday, and it takes about a week for my mail from the office to get to me here, so it didn´t even take that long to get it! I also got some letters today. What a miracle! Mail is going to work here. Hallelujah.
Love you guys. Keep up the good work!
Hermana Coppins
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