July 4th, 2016
So the transition
between having a car to just being on bikes has been interesting...
Because of the fact
that we had too many investigators, we felt the need to give some of ours to
the other Ceres sister missionaries in our branch. So our teaching pool was
basically cut in half after that, but then some of the investigators that we
kept were not progressing so we had to drop them too. So we've been doing lots
of biking and we've talked to a lot of people in the street but we didn't find
any new investigators this week. I can't believe how dramatic a change that has
been...but I'm not discouraged. I still know that it was an inspired decision
to take our car away, and I have faith that we can still do missionary work
effectively.
It is so stinkin' hot
though! When it drops down to the 90's it feels kinda good since we're so used
to it being in the 100's. But still, I've never sweat this much in my entire
life. We drink lots of water though and Sister Gundersen's friend sent these
towel things that we can wear while we bike to stay cool.
Yesterday we contacted
a referral and it was a young couple. They don't really
believe in God, but the lesson that we had with them was so interesting. They
understood that the Bible isn't completely accurate, that some government had
taken away certain parts and kept the parts that they liked. They knew about
the Book of Mormon already but we explained it again to let them understand
that the Book of Mormon only has one translation and so it sort of
"skipped" what the Bible went through (getting manipulated by man, I
mean). The wife said that you can't know a spiritual experience until you have one,
and she's right. We explained that that's why it's so important to search,
ponder, and pray because that is what opens the door to revelation. We left
them some chapters to read in the Book of Mormon, and even though we may not go
back to teach them, our lesson with them was a very good spiritual
"touchpoint" as President Palmer would say.
We also have this
investigator who has cancer and she is so incredibly skinny I can't
even believe it, and we hadn't been able to see her for weeks because she was
always in the hospital. We finally got to see her again this week, and she was
SMOKING. Seriously woman, you have lung cancer and you're smoking!! We taught
her the Word of Wisdom, and committed her to live it, but the next day she was
still smoking. It made us so sad.
We are still helping
Irene to prepare for baptism. I don't remember if I've told you about her, but her situation is pretty complicated. She really does want to get baptized
though and we are so proud of her for truly wanting to fix her situation so
that she can make that covenant with Heavenly Father.
To answer your
question, I haven't seen Luis or Laura at all since I left Hughson :( They
haven't come to church or anything. I don't really know what's going on with
them but I do want to mail them a letter or something to let them know that I
still love them.
And yes, I'm still
using my musical talents. I'm still playing the organ in the branch, and I've
been teaching Sister Gundersen a little bit of the guitar.
I love you!
-Hermana Aburto
P.S. Did you ever see
Kung Fu Panda 3, or Finding Dory? Or any new superhero movies?
