ZAPOS

WEEK 28

        What a week.   First off, Hna Silva and I were blown away with how many menos activos we found.  Seriously, we contacted like 6 or more in one single day!  It´s crazy to think that there are in reality a little over 600 member here in this ward but only 200 mas o menos that are active.  One group will be in church one week and another the other.  We usually get an average of 100 members that come every week.  BUT... this week... guess what?  our asistencia was…!?  140!!!  No lie.  My heart was so full.  Plus it was fast and testimony meeting.  We had tons of less actives come!!   18 to be exact.   Pelusa Vasquez, this cute 21 year old who we have recently been visiting and she was like pumped to come back.  Then we had Flia Pavón come again.  Bishop announced, I believe, 5 or 6 of the young men in our ward who are preparing for missions.  Made me cry because three in particular I have been praying for and we have been visiting/talking to them about the mission.  One of them, Miguel Britos, got baptized within the last year.  He bore his testimony, along with Alejandro Rivarola, and Luis Zabala.  The entire familia Almirón got up and bore their testimonies. They are such a solid family and it was so awesome.

        They (flia almirón) gave us sombreros cuz, HOLY cow, the sun is coming out.  I have never sweated like this in my life.  You seriously are wet 24/7 - bleh.  And it´s not just sticky wet it´s like dripping!  haha - but hey it rained twice this week so it cooled down.  Wednesday it poured like no other and we were walking home from a service project that we were doing with our zone near our area.  Everything was dripping.  We came home quickly changed and left the house again with rain jackets, boots, and umbrellas to find the sun had come out.  I wanted to get a picture of the streets but didn´t get a chance to cuz it was pouring too hard.  They were literally like rivers and running super fast. 

         Oh exciting news... saw my first ZAPO!!! Frog -  I haven´t looked it up in the dictionary yet, but there are Zapos and Ranas.  The big ones are called Zapos. It was in the street when we were contacting one night.  Bigger than my hand with cool spots all over.  They make the weirdest sounds here. It´s hilarious, a lot more than just ¨ribbut¨.   They cry and chirp like crickets.  Super rraro.  

         Okay so we taught lesson 2 (Plan of Salvation) a lot this week.  Two lessons in particular I wanted to tell you guys about.  First, we had a lesson with familia Almirón and Flia Duarte (Kristhian, our new member :), and Celia).  Man, I am telling you guys the spirit just took it away.  Celia was so attentive and willing to listen.  When Hno and Hna Almirón started talking about the temple, Celia had THE biggest smile on her face.  They told her about baptisms, which was PERFECT because they just happened to have gone to the temple the other day and do family names so hno Almirón was crying and bearing his testimony. So powerful.  Then they mentioned being sealed for time and all eternity.  Celia and Kristhian both wore the biggest smiles like ¨please let´s go right now¨ and this energy of joy just filled the room.  We sang ¨Soy un Hijo de Dios¨ (I am a Child of God) to finish.  It was so powerful. 

        Second, remember familia Reyes ?  well, we went back, and every time sweet Ramona  (the mom) was happier and happier.  We taught her about the plan of salvation and she said a peace and joy just filled her heart as we asked her what this new conocimiento meant to her.  It was so sweet!  An answer de Dios, hello!  Plus she said she has been praying and one neat part is that she has been thinking about our message lately and she says when she prays for help or thinks of us we happen to pass by.  Seriously, the Lords hand is in this work; it is his work, right? :)  I love being a part of it, every minute of every day.  Worrying about the salvation of others (what really matters in life) instead of having to worry about school, friends, the mundane things. 

         I am reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish all the way through (finishing it). The goal was before my birthday but now I am changing it to Christmas :) It was little too daunting (20 pages a day or 10 hojas)  loco... so I am shooting for Christmas but seriously I have already noticed an increase in my understanding of Spanish and speaking.  Oh and wanted to say how much I love this ward.   They really have become like my family and I wish I could serve my whole mission here in Loma.  It has been an absolute blast.  We have lots of goals, activities, and altas expectativas for the ward especially to increase our asistencía.  

I love you all so much.   xoxo

Con Cariño,

Hermana Owen

"We become what we want to be, by consistently being what we want to become."

                   -Richard G. Scott