Back to the Motherland: Ontario is verrrrrry different... (July 21, 2014)

Hola familia y amigos!

So this week has been very interesting. With some members and people we teach, it almost feels like a novella (Spanish soap opera) all the things that happen to them. Some people completely change their mind about learning more and others tell us all about their dramatic lives. It makes things interesting for sure.

Specifically, one day this week, we went to visit a member. We were talking to her and she was going through a LOT with her family and other things and she was really really sad. And then, on top of that, it was her birthday and everyone had forgot, even her husband. She even broke down in tears in front of us and we had JUST met her. That's how much pain she was in. So we decided that we were going to do our best to make her birthday special. Immediately, we had appointments we had to go to, but later that night, we went to Walmart and bought her a card, flowers, balloons, and a tres leches birthday cake. We had all of this and went to drop it off to her. So we were standing on her porch, holding all this stuff when from the house across the street, the branch president and 1st counselor walk out from visiting a member. They see us and we all start laughing at how ironic this situation was. Pretty great.

Another fun thing that happened is we went to the quincenera of the girl we had briefly met, Esmerelda. She was so cute and sweet. We actually got there just in time for all the dances and ceremonies and traditional stuff. That was pretty cool. PLUS, we found people we knew and sat with a member of the branch, Hermana Galvez. It was a fun night. Esmerelda really appreciated that we came and I'm so excited to go teach her this week.

This week, I also had a really cool experience. I have really good days with understanding and speaking Spanish, and then some days that aren't so good. One of these hard days, I was feeling sad about Spanish and just wishing I could know it perfectly. Then the next day, when I was reading in the Book of Mormon, I read in Omni 1. It talks about how they find a people out in the middle of nowhere who had all these problems. One of them was that their language was corrupted and they couldn't communicate. The solution was that they teach them all the same language and educate them, then they're able to work together in unity. Really? That story was exactly what I needed. It was literally about the same problem I'm having and it was a reminder of what I need to do: study and work hard to learn the language. There is no way that was a coincidence. Heavenly Father answered my prayer and gave me exactly what I needed.

I hope you all have a great week and stay safe in all you do!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

Sometimes when I leave my water bottle in the hot car and then open it to get a drink, it explodes on me.