I thought I stepped into Regina's Pizzaria in the Italian district of Boston- where might youask? At a lady's home in our ward. actually not even in her home- on her front step.. she didn't let us in. But- we have been trying to track this woman down for months now - and we finally met her! she is not a member anymore- so she says - but she did say she would never turn down an opportunity to talk about God -yay! so we will be going back.. but regina's - she was born and raised in Massachusetts and she sure sounds like it! the only other time I heard that accent so thick was in that pizzaria. neat. i am excited to go back and talk to her more.
We experienced another miracle this week with a less active - but alas - it needs a back story. all of these things I tell you have back storyies.. why can't y'all just be here so I don't have to explain it all - just come experience it with me! actually- don't. that would be horrid. I don't think I could be a missionary like that. There is a reason we are isolated from family and friends except through words.. anyway- back to the backstory. We are teaching the most wonderful woman named Shariy- she has been meeting with missionaries for almost two years now. yikes! but we love her dearly- she met the missionaries while she was at her friend Doris's house. Doris is a member who is probably in her late 60s or early 70s and was baptized when she was 20 something. She has not been to church in a very long while. For the past few months, whenever we would go to teach shariy- Doris was there too so we have formed a pretty good relationship with her. One day, the sisters who sserve in Doris's ward asked us about her - because the RS president there knew she was good friends with shariy and that we were teaching shariy. We told the sisters that we love doris! they then told us that they have not been able to get in to see her - nor has anyone in their ward been able to get in to see her either - she opens the door and would tell them to go away and that she did not want anyone from the church coming to see her anymore. What??? And then she moved - where? Into our ward!! how awesome! and so we went to visti her the other day- without shariy - and when she opened the door - her face was beaming!! she was so happy to see us! It was so wonderful! she will be back to church in no time. just a few more concerns to clear up and she wil be whistling a different tune. We love Doris.
I learned another important lessosn this week too- a lesson about faith. We are teaching a member who has struggled with activity in the past named Stephanie. Right now her and her husband are going through some pretty substantial financial difficulties and all kinds of other.. crap really. They have really been struggling. last week she just broke down crying- completely unsure of what to do. We called her home teacher and he came over and gave her a priesthood blessing (isn't it so neat that we have the priesthood - I mean, how great is that??) and then he told her that she needed to talk to the bishop. wise idea. Then - when we met with the bishop for our weekly council, he asked if we would have a lesson with her on the blessings that come from tithing and fast offerings - oh but of course! anyway, we did just that - and we learned that she had a very misconstrued perception of what fasting was- so we cleared that up and all kinds of other questions and it was so neat becasue here this woman is - not sure how she is going to pay her mortgage not sure how she is going to put food on the table for her kiddos and we tell her to not only pay 10 percent of her income for tithing but to also pay fast offerings - and what does she say? okay. I will do it. I need God's help right now and I know this is going to allow him to help me. How cool is that! and now her testimony of fasting, fast offerings, and tithing is just going to blossom and bloom.
and as always- awkward things happen.. this week was at lunch. but not just with sister brown and I - it was with the whole zone.. we had zone training meeting this last week and afterward we all go out to lunch together. usually we go to some fast food place where they can handle such a crowd so it is no problem.. but this week, a member in the zone leader's ward told them about the best restaurant in Rio Rancho- called Saigon 2. sure! we will all check it out. we walk in - and it looked like we walked into golden jade- only smaller! and there were 24 of us! hello! did someone just call in the brigade? there were probably 5 people in there already and they all just looked at us like who in the world are all of you! but the three Vietnamese people working there handled it just fine. and the member was right -it wsa so good!!
Also- with all this weed pulling we have been doing I have gotten quite a bit of dirt under my fingernails- but I have also learned how to get it out! go do dishes for an hour and a half! your fingers will be so pruny even your palms will have wrinkles! that was a wild day- and I realized while I was standing at the kitchen sink for so long - I stand the same way mum and kemp do- with one foot stacked on top of the other. hmmm. we must be related.
oh and more exciting news! we were basically handed a little boy who will be baptized next month! we will just need to go teach him the lessons and he will be ready- you are probably ultra confused right now.. if you look in PMG on page 206 it teaches you that any child over the age of 9 years old qualifies as a convert baptism and therefore needs to go through the missionaries. Last night while talking with our bishop he informed us of a little boy in the ward who turned 8 last september but did not want to get baptized. He said he wasn't ready. The boy went and saw him on sunday told him he was ready and who he wwanted to baptize him- only that brother will be out of town and won't be back until he is 9 - so that means he is a convert baptism and we get to fill out the paperwork! yay! but how cool is that? A little boy of 8 years old who recognizes the importance of being baptized and wanted to wait until he was ready- and he is! we are excited for him.
One other story to bore you with before i sign off- this one from my scripture study- I guess there are two things that I will tell you about my studying- the first is in Alma 11 what an incredible chapter! Except the beginnning part.. all the money- who needs it? Well it has to be in there for a reason right? but I never understood it - so this week I traslated t into some dollars and cents - put it into modern perspective just to see what all the fuss is about - so here is what I got -
1 Leah= $1
1 Shiblum =$2
1 Shiblon=$4
1 Senum= 1 Senine= 1 measure of grain= $8= pay for a lawyers whole day of work
1 Antion= $12
1 Amnor= 1 Seon= $16
1 Ezrom=1 Shum= $32
1 Onti= 1 Limnah= $56= pay for seven days worth of work.
then I learned why this is even significant- Zeezrom offers Amulek 6 onties if he will deny the existance of God- 6 ONTIES!! that is 42 whole days of work- 6 weeks worth if you are working every single day!! that is a lot of money- but Amulek has his stuff together becasue he would not deny God. would you turn down that money? what about church? would you not go to church for just one sunday if someone offered you that money? how deep is your conversion? hmmm...
and actually I am out of time - so I will tell you my other story next week - will someone tell me the literary term for when you know what is going on in the story but the characters in the story do not?
I love you all!
Sister Stuart
I keep thinking I need to come up with some cool signature to end each letter with - but you aren't going to get many more of these- so maybe it is too late.. or maybe I will still come up with one.. any ideas?