Dear Family and Friends,
This week it kind of hit me how quickly my mission has been going by. It's hard to believe it's already February!
This past
Saturday, Demetrio was baptized! The baptism went so well and 4 of our investigators came. My whole district did a special musical number- Teach Me To Walk in the Light (but in Spanish of course). I accompanied us on the guitar and incredibly I didn't mess up too much. :) I definitely have gotten a little rusty with the guitar and it was a little tricky, especially since I was trying to sing in Spanish and play at the same time but it was fun to play again.
It has been amazing to see how happy Demetrio and Alejandra are now that they both are baptized and working together to become the best they can be. When we first met them they had been seriously considering getting divorced and they had been thinking of it for a while. Now they are striving to live worthily so that they can be sealed in the temple to live together eternally. I know that this is not something that happens all the time. The thing that is special about them is that they both wanted the gospel, something that would give them direction and guidance and now that they've found it, it has helped bring them closer together as husband and wife, closer than ever before. They are just SO much happier together and just seeing them and being with them brings me so much joy.
One of their older sons (they have 4- 2 that live out of the house and 2 that live in the house- the one that came is only 20 but lives in Kennewick) came to the baptism and afterwards I asked him what he thought. His response helped me realize how much Demetrio had really changed. He said that the whole thing had actually been really emotional with him and that for the first time he had told his Dad he was proud of him. He never had a great relationship with him before but his Dad had told him he wanted to talk with him more. While talking with the son he said he was almost speechless and didn't know what else to say. He's just really happy to see his Dad making such big changes when before he was really stubborn and didn't seem like he was going to change. I think seeing his parents so happy now, has definitely planted a seed in his heart. My companion and I hope he will decide to listen to missionaries but we'll see.
I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ changes families. Alejandra and Demetrio's family is just one of many that has been helped and strengthened because of the Gospel. They will always hold a special place in my heart. I love them so much.
On a lighter note, this week I feed a cow a handful of hay and got to pat it on the head so that was kinda fun. I also ate goat meat for the first time. It was pretty good- I had it with Alejandra and Demetrio. Their food is always delicious though so I enjoyed it. Also we ate a lot with someone else who just got baptized a couple weeks ago because she almost always makes us something when we come. She is an amazing cook. She has made us so many delicious things. I'll try to describe a couple things she has made for us.
- A green pepper that's kinda big stuffed with some kind of white cheese and then coated in a thin egg batter and fried.
- Potatoes mashed up with onion and seasoning and who knows what else and then shaped into patties and cooked in a pan kinda like a pancake- SO GOOD.
- Enchiladas- she's made several different kinds. One time they were just stuffed with cooked bell peppers I think with onions, but they were delicious. Another time potatoes and cheese, another time some type hamburger mixture. With the enchiladas we often have rice that is also incredibly delicious.
- Sopes...look up a picture cause my description isn't going to be good. She basically formed a flat small circle with raised edges out of some type of dough and cooked it in oil. They put a mixture of some type of meat with potatoes and other stuff on it, topped with lettuce, crema (basically sour cream), Parmesan cheese, and some type of tomato based sauce. Amazing.
- A soup/stew with sausage shaped into patties and potatoes and other things that made it really really yummy. :)
- Chocoflan- basically flan (which is like this milk based jello- really the only way I know how to describe it- you can look up a picture of it too. It's kinda yellow color with dark brown liquid at the bottom) with chocolate cake cooked on top. I've had this a few times and I really love it.
So basically I have come to love Hispanic food, or at least Maria's food. I would eat anything she cooked. Just trying not to get too fat. ;) This is why the mission has us exercise every morning. I now understand why people gain weight on a mission. My goal is not to...but I guess we'll see. I have been trying to work out hard so at least I know I'm trying to keep in shape...actually who am I kidding, I wasn't actually really in shape before my mission but maybe I will be by the end. :)
Well I hope everyone enjoys this incredibly long email- I actually tried to put some more effort into it this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
