Familia! Wow, another wonderful week en La Falda! (8/11/10)
Sounds like you guys are B-U-S-Y! I hope all´s well, though! Mom - thanks for always writing me! Sorry about your birthday weekend, but it sounded like everything happened for a reason. And thanks for going to Shelby´s wedding for me- we always said we´d go to each other´s weddings... well, I wasn´t sure where I would be at the time. And Elizabeth Rennie too! I can´t believe it - we were just little girls in Young Women´s together and now, they´re MARRIED! AHHH! Nope, not going to think about it... not going to think about it... haha! :)
Ok, so I know everyone is sooo busy, but you all are NOT going to believe what happened this week... We got chased by a crazy dog!!! YOu know those mission stories where it´s important to run faster than your companion... yeaaaahhhh... it REALLY is a good thing I´m faster!! :) haha We were walking down an alleyway that was dark, so we were walkikng in the middle of the road when suddenly a dog charges us. I yelled at it, ¨Sali, che! Basta!¨ with my Argentine accento, but it was coming at us full blast with big bulgy red eyes and I bolted! My companion too- pobrecita - she was panicking and panicking! I´ve never seen her run so fast, haha! We booked it for about 15 seconds and finally the dog went away after we got the other street. Now Hermana Abarzua refuses to walk down that street.
David - Un contacto en the street. We started talking about the Apostacia with him and I testified that the plentitud de evangelio fue perdido - that we didn´t have all of the authority, etc. on the earth after the apostles died and he looked at me and said, ¨Que raro!¨ (How weird!) ¨I´ve never heard of this before!¨ He said thank you and left,but I sat there and thought, ¨Wow, it IS weird to people because it´s different AND they feel that it´s right, but it´s new.¨ I thought it was wonderful that he said that. These doctrines are peculiar to them, because they recognize it inside with the Holy Spirit but they can´t pinpoint why. I want to help them find this wonderful truth we take for granted!
I had another experience that was really special to me. When we go to centro for P-day to get our money from the bank or buy things that we can´t buy in our area, there are often beggars or homeless people selling things. Often I´m in a hurry or I think, well they´ll probably just go and spend money on drugs, but as a missionary, I´ve looked at them differently. I want to help them MORE. I´m a servant of the Lord and I souldn´t walk by these people for any reason. We were standing in line for the bank and a lady who was having a bad day and took it out on me said, ¨You´re with the church, aren´t you? Why don´t you help this man?¨ She was honry, but her words stung me. I started to talk about Bishops and the importance of the humanitarian aid and she just said, ¨Um hmm,¨ and stormed off. My comp said, ¨It´s ok Hermana, she´s just mean. And our money is for us to us... etc. etc. ¨ But I couldn´t let it go. As we left the bank (my comp took out money), all I had in my bag was 2 pesos and a piece of candy. So, I leaned down to the man and said, ¨Here. This is all I have. God loves you.¨ I gave him the 2 pesos and candy and walked away. As I left, the Spirit filled me and I felt more like a disciple of Jesus Christ than I have my whole mission. It wasn´t hardly anything, but I was to give my ALL. If that means sacrificing 2 pesos and a piece of candy to help someone in need, I want to serve the Lord. Everyday I see people who live from paycheck to paycheck - people who don´t have anything. I want to help them more than anything. I want to bring them unto Christ!
Another experience with a hombre malo. My comp and I started contacting a man who said he believed in the Bible, but then she started telling lies and said, ¨Jesus Christ was not resurrected. It´s something they made up and put in the Bible for people to believe...¨ or ¨We don´t need to pray, God knows our soul and our words don´t mean anything to him...¨ All kinds of false and foolish doctrines of men. ANd worse he started getting angry and had dark, black eyes... my comp started getting frustrated and started arguing with him... and I had an incredible spiritual experience. When he said, ¨Christ wasn´t resurrected...¨ in my heart I was filled with the Holy Ghost. ¨YES, He was and He LIVES!¨ My testimony was strengthened and in the midst of adversity I felt peace and strength. I said, ¨I´m sorry, Sir. But Christ lives! HE LIVES! And you can know by the power of prayer...¨ He woudln´t listen and so we left, but I am so grateful that in this moment of adversity and lies, I was able to have a testimony building experience. There are so many people lost, like this man. They don´t understand, they are using their agency to do wrong, or for whatever reason and I want to show them the light! The gospel is light- it´s truth- it´s life eternal! It´s LA VIDA ETERNA! We offer joy and happiness!
I was talking about the happiness the gospel brings with a new investigator, Beatriz, and she said, ¨What I would give for some peace and happiness!¨ She put a smile on her face as we talked to her about families... I am really hopeful that she´ll keep listening and progressing. Happiness and peace is what we offer as servants of the Lord! This is the plan of happiness, the plan of redemption... and I am so grateful for this opportunity to testify of this happiness in my broken Spanish to these wonderful Argentine people!
I love you all SOOO much!!!
Animo y Adelante!
Hermana Tingey
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