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| Sister and President Riggs strike again with a Thanksgiving package!!! Thanksgiving surprises!! Thanks Patti and Mike! Isn't that tree adorable? |
This week was much better, even though we did send someone to the hospital (who came back with a combination of weird diagnoses which don't make sense). The nursing calls were calmer, crazy as usual (elbow rashes, nasty stomach virus with missionaries dropping like flies, an elder who complains about falling asleep during studies in the AM hahaha, pink eye, etc), but overall calmer...as was our missionary schedule. We did have meetings, nursing and missionary; however, we worked hard. Hermana Cook and Hermana Tingey are great. They're learning tons!! I have seen serious leaps of growth in both of them. Training really does make you put your best foot forward. I wish I would have trained a long time ago. I have discovered so many new things in the gospel and as a missionary. I guess I've got a life-time of growing to do. Thank goodness for that.
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| Santa Lucia! Hermana Cook's 1st empanada. Chicken and Cheese |
Weird Chilean fact: all of them have 2 scars the sizes of dimes (or larger) on their upper arms. I finally asked them what vaccine they were from and they said a combination of hepatitis and measles. Some of them say they're vaccine was placed wrong, had balls of infection and huge scars after, and had them surgically removed (only to be left with a dime size scar anyway). I still do not understand what vaccine they are receiving. I'm grateful I don't have scars on my arms, just sayin.
I totally had a Marilyn Monroe moment! Let's just say I couldn't think about it much because I was turning red. Anyway, so we're walking by the hospital and there's this vent in the ground... I didn't realize that cold air was coming out... until I see my skirt at eye level. No worries no one noticed...or at least before I screamed they didn't. Oooppppssss.
Story time... well 2 cool stories... You know, I'm learning that everyday is completely different than another. One day is extremely sad and you cry in the lesson because your soul hurts from someone rejecting this message of hope, love, joy, etc; then the next day, after enduring to the end, talking to everyone, and praying with lots of faith, you run into amazing people who really have been prepared. So here's a few of them:
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| With Martin... He's amazing |
(1) Martin - 14 years old - grew up in the Evangelical church - has never wanted to be baptized - believes in God and Christ - lives with his dad and grandmother - on the shy, but willing side - very sober and intelligent - point blank, a mystery to me. We contacted his grandmother a few weeks ago. She didn't want much, but I had a feeling when we were talking with her that her husband had recently passed away. So I asked her and yes indeed he had passed away a few months earlier. We talked for a few minutes with her and she told us we could come back, but didn't know when. So we retuned this week to see her and Martin answered the door. She was not there, we started to leave, and I felt we needed to talk to Martin. So I asked him if I could give him something. He said of course and we talked for a bit about God and prophets. I practically interrogated him with questions about religion and what he believes. He answered many of my questions, but still left me not completely understanding or satisfied with who he is or what he believes. Why did he never want to be baptized in the church he grew up in? Anyway, Hermana Cook taught him an object lesson about prophets and he told us to come back in 3 days. We definitely went back. Haha. Returning to his home we found him, his uncle, his aunt and her boyfriend. They invites us right in... we sat down... and taught them all about the restauration. AND Martin taught them the object lesson about prophets! In that moment, I saw him as a missionary... it was sooo amazing! I have not seen such interested people before in months. You could just see in their eyes that they were soaking it all in and wanted more. That's not to say they agreed with it all; however, they listened intently, gave us their direction for other missionaries to teach them, and have committed to read the Book of Mormon. How cool is that?!? Best part, Martin went to church with us yesterday! Talk about hitting him with a Mormon bang. Haha.
(2) There's a couple, Hector and Javiera, and their daughter, Anastasia (5), who live down the hall from us in our apartment building. He's from Uruguay and looks just like Chris Martin from Coldplay (no joke); she's from Chile, speaks fluent English, and is adorable. I met him a long time ago (months ago) in the elevator and always felt I needed to talk to them. But the moment never came. I don't know if it didn't come for a reason or if I lacked in faith. However, finally, I kept thinking about them the other day and said okay I'm gonna just go knock on their door. And we did. THEY'RE AMAZING. :) He grew up in the church; he's been an inactive member for all of his life. His parents are temple workers and family history gooroos in Uruguay. He remembers a lot of the teachings of the church; not that he agrees with them all though. They are legit, amazing people. When we knocked on their door, she greeted us like we were long, lost friends who hadn't visited in 20 years; she was so excited. They told us they were drinking and smoking (Friday night) but we were more than welcome to say and they would listen. I felt we needed to stay, so we sat out on their balcony and we talked for a few minutes. It made me feel so grateful for all of my non-member friends, their respect for my hatred of alcohol, and the acceptance I have learned from them. I honestly don't know if I would had say there if I hadn't had the Maine experience and learned to appreciate all types of people outside of the Utah bubble. Anyway, we have an appointment with them too. I feel we have found some amazing people to teach and amazing, new friends. :)
It rained Saturday. A lot. Bad part: I sent my rain boots back to the office 2 weeks ago. Opps. Let's just say, I didn't know what it was like to swim in your own shoes... but now I do. My feet by the end of the day were itching. I hope I don't get some kind of weird fungus or growth. Gross. Pray for my feet. Hahaha.
I tried to send you all legit, amazing, Christmas packages.... the USA will not accept clothes from Chile. How stupid is that?!?! So sorry, but you'll all have to wait till I can get home and send them off. Brandon says to just send them to Canada and then have them shipped to the US.... hahahaha... I might think about it. For now, we'll just say my Christmas presents will be Skype calls! =) Not too long now!
EVERYONE!!! Use the new video of "christmas.mormon.org" and #heisthegift ... or in Spanish "navidad.mormon.org" and #elesladádiva. Let's go baptize, retain, and reactivate!! There's a no better time than now... it's HIS time... it's Christmas time.
Love,
Brooklyn
P.S. Mom and Brandon, I still go to bed every night thinking about what I'm gonna eat for breakfast. Haha.
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