Holey shamoley, this week went by SUPER slowly. Hermana Adair and I are not quite sure why. Just to clear up some questions asked by a few people: No, Hermana Adair was not standing on a box in that picture of us in Toledo. She´s 6´1. Our companionship BEASTS at P-Day volleyball with the District. It´s awesome. Also, yes, I am a red head. I´m not quite sure what happened. I have not dyed it. I never stop getting razzed about it from the people in our district, so if we could just stop with the ginger jokes, I would really be pleased!
Anyways, this week was super slow. I think it´s because we decided to go on a trip for P-Day instead of taking a giant nap, so we were a little tired all week. But that´s fine, because Toledo was awesome.
Tuesday, I was on an intercambio with Hermana Mercado. Man, I love her. It was an awesome day, too. In the ward that shares with our building, there is a new Elder. He told us about a cousin that he has that just moved here from Texas. He said that he would love it if we could go and visit her and her family. He wasn´t sure if she was a member or not. So, Tuesday, we were scheduled to go out into the Boonies to her house. We literally had NO IDEA where we were supposed to go. We had never been there before. That day, I realized just how GIGANTE our area is. There is a whole land that probably has never been touched by missionaries! We are fronteering! Anyways, we hopped on a bus, praying that it was the right one (mostly because we payed €5 to get on it), and headed off for Boadilla de Monte. Our area actually has a beautiful part! Haha. We blindly made it there, and I am really not sure how because Hermana Mercado and I are the two most directionally challenged human beings on the planet. God loves Hermana Mercado and I! We are convinced!
Haha...anyways, we made it to their house, and Yazmine answered the door. They live in a GINORMOUS house in the Spanish countryside. She let us in, and her husband (Mark) was sitting there, drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage. I really don´t know my alcoholic beverages very well, but I´m guessing it was some sort of scotch or something. They were all very nice. They have two kids, Ariana (9) and Aiden (5). They are from the very, very south of Texas. They have THICK Texan accents. It´s actually kinda hard for me to understand them sometimes. Accents are the bain of my existance right now. Yazmine (Elder Gomez´s cousin) was baptized with her family when she was 8 years old, but hasn´t come to church since she was 16. Mark is Catholic. Their kids are not baptized. We are American food with them (ROAST...YUM, veggies, and a SALAD). Mark drank two beers through dinner. After that, we taught a lesson. It was amazing. Mark had a ton of questions about the church and missionary work. You might be wondering if he was drunk or if it was uncomfortable, but honestly, I don´t think he was and it was not uncomfortable at all! The Spirit was super strong. Yazmine had a yearning in her eyes for more of the gospel.-We gave them two Books of Mormon for their family and challenged them to read it every night together and to pray to know that it was true.
Fast forward to Sunday: The Thompsons (Ward Mission Leader with the ginormous house) invited Mark and Yazmine over for Sunday Dinner and a lesson. We came, introduced the two of them, ate another American dinner (two in one week?!), and chatted. They got along so well! After dinner, we taught them the Resoration. All of the kids were involved, and so were Mark and Yazmine. We watched the Restoration video and the Spirit was so strong. Afterwards, we asked Brother Thompson to share his testimony about Joseph Smith and how it has blessed his family. It was amazing. Both Hermana Adair and I were crying. We don´t have lessons like this very often. Mark told us that he had been reading parts of the Book of Mormon and that he really liked it. He also told us that they had been praying together as a family every night since Tuesday. It was amazing. He didn´t drink one beer that night. While we were leaving, Sister Thompson asked us to come over again next week to talk to her friend about the gospel. We came out of there just shocked. Lessons like that don´t happen in Spain! It was a perfect member friendshipping example.
People, invite your friends to learn about the gospel! It doesn´t have to be awkward. Missionaries are actually real people! Part of our job is to form personal relationships with each of our invesitgators, but those relationships are much more fulfilling when there is a member there. Invite your friends over and invite the missionaries! There is such power in a strong family rooted in the gospel.
We also have one other family that we are teaching. They are from Bolivia. Daisy, the mom, is really amazing. We taught them the Plan of Salvation this week, and Daisy said that we filled a hole in her spirit that she had been trying to fill for a long time. They want to be an eternal family.
We are really doing well over here! Today, we are going to the church to play volleyball, eat Texan burgers (courtesy of Elder Gomez´s Texan and Mexican roots), and I´m going to cut the Elder´s hair. Pray for me and for the scissors. Haha.
Mom, I haven´t gotten the package yet. I´m sure that it´s here, but we haven´t had any sort of Zone conference or meeting yet, and that´s when they give us the mail from the mission home. I think I´ll get it on the 1st of October.
I know that the church is true! I see miracles every day. I know that those miracles would not be possible if this wasn´t the true church, if this wasn´t God´s work, and if God didn´t exist. It is manifested to me every single day that this work is a work of miracles. But, those miracles only come to pass if we are faithful and then work hard to do the work of the Lord. Heavenly Father blesses us with victory in all that we do if we turn to Him (D&C 103:36). Do missionary work as much as you can! Heavenly Father will bless you with opportunities that you didn´t even think were possible.
Love you guys!
Hermana Endicott
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