Well this week was a wonderful one full of many experiences. Last Monday we had such a wonderful and relaxing P-day and left at 6pm all ready to work and preach and we were walking down the street when I saw ahead of us a super dead, petrified cat that had its face all mad and its paws in the air. It was SO gross. I started screaming and my comps starting running around screaming too and they had no idea why for a minute hahaha. So we freaked out about that and then 10 minutes later we passed this house that had a super aggressive and angry dog. Everyone in this area (Francisco de Orellanas) has super mean dogs but all have a protective rod iron fence around their house. We had to go back by the house like 2 minutes later and it was sitting up super straight ready to pounce. But it had a thick fence and we didn't think anything so Hermana Aragon started growling at it as a joke and it somehow made itself super skinny (this dog was Super dog) and leaped through the thick rod iron fence in attack mode running at each one of us! Well, the key part in all of this is that Hermana Hernanadez has a lot of fears but her MAIN fear is dogs. So it started chasing her and I literally thought it was going to bite each one of us. It was crazy and I don't know why it stopped at our legs when it was running at full speed but thank heavens it did! Hermana Hernandez almost died--she couldn't breathe and was walking like a drunk woman afterwards haha poor thing. We were all screaming, etc and then started laughing about our crazy luck and going over what had just happened out loud as we were walking away when a bat flew in our faces and almost ran into us. It was flying super low to the ground and in our faces and I bet you can guess again that yep we freaked out, ran, screamed etc and the whole park and street full of people had a 10 minute show of everything that happened and these 3 crazy missionaries screaming and running around. hahaha
Also this is the rainy season in Ecuador and with the rainy season comes....GRILLOS. Supposedly that translates to crickets but let me tell you they are NOT normal crickets. They are huge, gross, cockroaches with legs, wings, that jump and fly around and have invaded our house. I think I've killed like 30 grillos. They are so sick!
Tuesday was an incredible day full of blessings of the Lord! We also instituted our Plan #1--Plan MACHETE. We were SUPER direct with two investigators named Gisela and the other Cesar. I literally surprised myself and honestly couldn't believe I was saying what I said and how I said it but they all clearly and finally committed to go to church, do the other things, etc and it felt good to know we testified with ALL we had and the Spirit was present and the Lord helped us. Funny how I never imagined myself being so bold, clear and direct but it's our responsibility to be so at times. Especially here in Ecuador--sometimes other forms don't work a lot of the time haha :) Hermana Angulo: I have officially replaced you as the machetera of the mission for now :) Like mother, like daughter in the mission, right? hahaha
Wednesday was not as great of a day and we had an absolute horrible lesson with an investigator who didn't feel a single thing in our lesson or when we testified, and we were a bit distracted, etc. Wow it was such a wake up call for me and I felt like a failure after that lesson. How can you expect the Spirit to testify of our words if we aren't 100% there in the lessons??! duh. It was a horrible feeling to hear that response but such a learning experience.
We have been pretty dang frustrated with the attitudes of our ward members and leaders here because they think we are super women or something or that all the responsibility falls on us somehow because we are full time missionaries. NOT true! In fact it should be the opposite. They admitted to us that they know what Preach My Gospel says and they know all their responsibilities, etc but that they don't have all the time to do those things, so basically, they said we know what the prophets said but we don't have time to carry that out so you guys can do it. And they all take it upon themselves to tell us what we do wrong and give us ideas that we actually already know and do but their attitudes have killed us! Yesterday I was SOO mad--I don't remember being this mad in a long time after meetings on Sunday but we will slowly help this ward and the members improve! We have some activities planned and capacitations planned as well.
Wednesday night we stayed up way late talking with Hermana Calderon (other hna that lives in our house) and she shared her life story. Wow. I will tell you all in detail when I get home but we all take SO many things for granted sometimes. She has had such a hard life and is only a convert of 3 years who didn't know anything or remember much about what the missionaries taught her when she came so she has had to learn it all here and LOVES the lessons and the Book of Mormon now. She is so strong and amazing to me and I don't know how she has gone through everything she has gone through. Sometimes I question why I have been so incredibly blessed by the Lord--I have so much to learn and much to improve!
Thursday a Jehovahs Witness rung our doorbell over and over again until we finally went down to see who it was and apparently he had found out we lived there and had come to give us a pamphlet to read with our Bible to know the truth. bahahahahaha I was thinking in my head..really?! I told him we respect his religion but we have ours and know the truth and thanked him for the offer but declined. All the hermanas were like geez Hermana Bryan, you came and literally all these strange and crazy things happen here! haha One thing is for sure, my mission is never boring!
Comp inventory was wonderful on Thursday and I love my comps!
Friday the 13th! My 6 month anniversary in the mission--crazy!! We had a conference for all the trainers and their greenies. For 7 hours. No joke it was SUPER long. I was half excited to go and learn from Pres Amaya--I love that so much. But the other half of me was dreading going because I knew I would face people expecting to see Hna Palma and all those feelings returned. I felt guilty or not good enough as a trainer but talked myself out of those feelings--incredible how the adversary uses every experience to get us down! We learned so much in the conference about the role of the Holy Ghost and how the Holy Ghost teaches our lessons for us when we rely on him and have his Spirit with us. It was wonderful and I was reminded of a lot of things--it's always great to get those extra boosts and reminders of how to be and improve.
So it was super long, the conference--and I was getting pretty tired, etc but Pres Amaya told us he wanted to end the conference with a video clip. It was really special and touching--the story of how a normal man and his simple, heartfelt, not eloquent testimony touched the heart of Brigham Young and began the conversion process. The Spirit carries our simple yet heartfelt words to those around us.
Pres Amaya stood up and we all thought he would close but he surprised us by saying that to close he wanted to end with a few people bearing their testimonies. I immediately and knowingly started half smiling to myself because I felt that I would be included in that. He only asked 3 people: an elder to start off, me, and his assistant who is going home tomorrow because he's finished his mission. While bearing my testimony, I looked down at the hermanas and Hermana Hernandez began to cry and I looked down at their smiles and just felt the love and amazing Spirit of this work. I felt so blessed to know these people, to share who we are with each other and it was a meaningful experience to me that reminded me that the Lord never forgets us, shows His trust and love for us. What a blessing.
We have had some wonderful experiences by using our plan machete and plan #2--Plan Espiritu--to fully rely on the Spirit while teaching and doing all we can to be worthy of that company. This work is incredible and I can feel of it everyday. How blessed I am to be here. Papa wrote me in December and his words have helped all of my comps here in this house especially Hermana Calderon as she has SUCH a difficult situation with her companion. I copied Papa's words and they are hanging on the wall to remind us all that this really is an intense and fast learning course for us and every experience is to help us in our futures. Anyway they wanted me to thank Papa a million times over for his words and counsel! They are all being blessed by my wonderful family :)
Scripture of the week is Luke 22:43 that talks about the Atonement but I noticed something I never had noticed before is that Heavenly Father sent an angel to help Jesus Christ during his sufferings. Even the Son of God needed an angel's help during his hardest time and I KNOW that our Heavenly Father sends us angels everyday of our lives to help us on this mortal journey. We need to recognize these angels in our lives and thank them and also recognize that we will be given unseen strength and visible tender mercies every day if we can recognize them. The church is true! The Book of Mormon changes lives. Let it change yours and let those angels help you! I love you SO much!!
Stay strong and always Keep Moving Forward!
Love,
Hermana Bryan
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