Hola y'all,
This week was kind of super wild. It was amazing. We had SO much to do. I have some pretty fantastic stories.
So one day we were knocking doors, and not finding any success. Wahoo. The trailer park was kind of sketchy, but we decided to keep going. We got to the last door on one side, and a nice Hispanic lady opened the door. She was super nice and it was the best. She told us she was from El Salvador, so we asked her about papusas. She told us she was making them the next day, and asked if we wanted to come make them with her. Um yes. So the next day we showed up and made papusas with her! They were straight up the best papusas I've ever had in my whole life. They are really yummy soft corn tortillas with chicharon (pork stuff) and queso inside. They are divine. So, we made them with our new friend, Carolina. All of a sudden, she says, "Oh, I gotta go pick up my hija from school. There's juice in the fridge and ice in the freezer. Be back soon." and leaves!!! She just left us in her house. Two strangers. Eating papusas and juice. It was actually magical and I loved it. So that happened. And now we're going to go teach her. It was great.
That's us eating papusas while Carolina picks up her daughter from school.
Legit the best papusas I've ever eaten in my life.
On Thursday we had MLC, Mission Leadership Counsel. It was phenomenal. Brother Donaldson from the missionary department came and trained us. He talked about Connecting People with Heaven. It was so amazing. During the whole conference, I felt like we needed to go see a referral that we had got a few days ago, so after the conference ended, we went to her house. Her name is Elena, and she is awesome. She is going to start reading the Book of Mormon and is so excited about it. She also came and played soccer with us. Awesome. Anyway, after we visited her, we went to dinner with Josh at Fahrenheit. It's AMAZING. It's on the 21st floor in Uptown Charlotte. You can see all of Charlotte from up there. It was beautiful. And the food was amazing. Wow!
Literally just me and my best friend, Charlotte.
And Hna Dibble. She's nice too.
Josh took us out to a restaurant called Fahrenheit and it was magical. Blessed.
Then Tanya's baptism happened this week. It was beautiful and amazing. I love Tanya. I wish I could have recorded the spirit that we felt at Tanya's baptism. It was amazing. The day of was crazy for us! The zone leaders called us right after we finished planning and asked if we could have an hour long zone planning session, so we did. Then we rushed to have Spanish class, rushed back to play Saturday Soccer, then we got word that one of our people we're teaching, her dad passed away. So we made some brownies and printed off a conference talk. Well, we tried. We went to our office to print off a talk for her, and the programs for the baptism, but there was this guy.... he was taking a millennium with his homework. It was 4:30 pm and we were panicking. So we flew over to the Mattsons and borrowed their printer, and then ran over to Veronica's to drop off the brownies and card, and the zone leaders called us. This was the conversation:Them "Sisters, we just drove by the church. Your baptism is in an hour, and your car isn't there. The font isn't filled, is it?"
Us, panicking, "We KNOW, elders, we know."
Them "Well, would you like us to fill up the font for you?"
Me, literally crying, "YES PLEASE!" So basically the zone leaders saved the baptism. But we got to the church about 5 minutes after that, got everything set up, and Tanya and Hermana Labrador got there 30 minutes early. That is unheard of, folks. PS, Hermana Labrador is our member who has basically adopted Tanya and it's the sweetest thing I've ever seen. It was so great. Anyway, Tanya was so nervous, bless her. She doesn't like all the attention, but a lot of people in the ward came to support and help her. It was SO sweet. The program went really well, except the pianist didn't show up, so dear Sister Mattson had to play, but she forgot her glasses.... so then I had to play, and conduct at the same time ;) ah man I loved every second of it. Tanya did so well. She was super nervous when she got in the water, but after, she was just shining and radiant. She absolutely loved every minute of it. We asked her how she felt and she just said "like a weight has been taken from me." Weird how that happens when we take upon us the name of Christ, our burdens become lighter. So it was an amazing experience. All the ladies in our ward want to adopt her, but I told them to get in line. They all adore her and just want everything the best for her.
Those are the Labradors, the members that low key adopted her.
Hna Labrador calls her mija. My daughter. Its the cutest thing.
Wow. Sorry my emails are 3,000 years long. I just love being a missionary. It's the greatest thing ever. The Spirit is just all over the place and I love it!
Funny story of Hna Dibble: We were drinking our sleepy time tea right before bed, so I commented about the peppermint in it. Me "mmm, peppermint helps you sleep, so that's probably why it's in the tea." Without skipping a beat, Hna Dibble says, "Hmmm, maybe that's why Santa sleeps so much." Oh laws. I died. It was the funniest thing ever! She didn't realize she'd said it until it was out. Oh my, it was great.
So the week was basically awesome. Love it. Love y'all. Love the Gospel.
.....and loving it
Hermana Belliston
