I was glad to hear from my
family and see their shining faces for a time. Forty minutes passes by quite
quickly. It was a tremendous blessing to have a short time to do this, because
anything longer than that might have turned my thoughts away from the work and
sucked them back home. That wouldn't have been too useful for the rest of the
evening.
Last P-day I went to a store nearby to buy myself some much
needed brown sunday shoes. After I waited for some time in line, I went to pay
for the shoes, but forgot the pin number for my personal card. The only thing
left for me to do was to use my missionary card, which combined with the only
few bills in my wallet, was barely enough to pay for the shoes. It was a
blessing that I decided against a few different things during grocery shopping,
because if I had bought a single one of those extra things, I wouldn't have had
enough to pay for the shoes. Fewf. And of course, as soon as we got to the car I
promptly remembered the pin, in its shining glory. My brain has a way of making
fun of me from time to time.
For Christmas I got four new
ties, a picture of the Savior, two Spanish-English dictionaries (one visual,
one normal), some vitamin supplements, chocolate, and other things. Christmas
isn't made because of the gifts, but I'd like to think that the things that I
received were useful.
Tony and Staniel didn't make it
to church this Sunday either. It was a bummer. But, with the UC ward changing to
11, they have an even greater chance of making to church. On Saturday a
8-year-old was being baptized, and we invited them to come to the baptism. We
walk to the church, and time passes and they miss the actual baptism. We got
worried. We weren't even sure if they'd make it to see the confirmation, and at
just the last moment we meet them at the front door and guide them to where the
confirmation took place. They seemed to enjoy it, and we promptly took them on
a church tour afterwards. Talk about a close call.
Richard seems to be doing well.
He wants us to meet his wife, but she seems to be working most of the time,
which makes it difficult. We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and he was
extremely interested in the Celestial kingdom. When we gave him the pamphlet,
he said, "Can you leave it open to the page about the kingdoms? I want to
share this with my wife." We're not completely sure where he needs to go.
He will progress the best if we can include his whole family, and that will
require his wife. We're crossing our fingers and praying, because our own
wisdom probably won't be enough.
Christmas on the mission isn't too much different than any
other day of the year. The few differences were the wonderful Christmas dinner,
presents to open when we wake up, and deliberately avoiding knocking on random
doors any time during the day. My companion summed the receptiveness of people
on Christmas well: "They will either be extremely willing to invite us in,
or shocked that we would even dare." We tried to visit Richard, but he was
still at his in-laws when we dropped by.How did the rest of of your Christmas day go?
It went well. Like I said, it wasn't terrible different from
other days. When we couldn't visit with Richard, we asked a member to bring us
home, where we tried to get some more book work done, but I proceed to wimp-out
and fall asleep on the couch. Ugh.
How are the Richard and his family and Tony and Staniel and their little ones?
Richard is doing well. When we last met with him on Saturday,
he decided to visit us dinner, AFTER we had already ate with members. Elder
Vergara got more than his fair share, and had to lug everything home after the
visit. I had warned him, however, and did not feel guilty for him, only sorry.
;-0
Did Elder Vergara enjoy his
talk time with his family?
I believe so. I wasn't present and only heard a few words as I passed by
the room he was in from time to time. I think he saw his dogs from home, his
parents and younger brother.
And how has the Spirit guided you this week as the year turns around?
Just in the simple things. Say this. Go there. Visit him. I've felt a good
amount of comfort as the Spirit confirmed to me that I should be here and that
I'm worthy to do what I'm doing. Thank goodness for Christ's atonement.
Any snow in the forecast?
Negatory.
What was the funniest thing you encountered?
More like the funniest thing that another family
encountered. We had dinner with a family this weekend, and we met the father
who had been away working on school as part of the military. He told us that at
one point during their marriage, they had only been together for 3 years out of
the 12 that they were married, or a number close to it. That must have been
rough. He told of an experience he had while he and their family were driving a
van down a highway going 80 miles an hour. All of the sudden a coyote crosses
their path and WAM, they t-bone the poor animal. It didn't stand a chance. The
father didn't know quite how to react, and mimicked the "Meep-meep"
classic to the road runner. While his wife was shocked and appalled, all of the
kids laughed their heads off. That was a pretty funny story.
-Elder Hall
Texas San Antonio Mission
Posing in front of the trees on Christmas day. Do you
like my snarky shirt I bought from Goodwill?
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