Another week in the life of a missionary here in San Jose completed. Check. I try to make a list of things to tell people every week, but without a doubt I will forget something. I really miss the ability to text not only that but there is never any time to really write. It's crunch time here in the library!
The other night we went to the mall to eat because we had a little extra time before a missionary correlation meeting and the Elders were going to be late (of course - ha). It's a glorious mall and I realized as we were walking around that my eyes were about ready to just pop out. It's kind of how I feel every time I go to Vegas. There is just so much to look at, it's overload! The stores were all calling out to me and the theater had a life size picture of Batman which I swear was telling me to come see the movie. Temptations! When we left I had to wipe away the drool and re-wet my eyeballs from all the not blinking I did.
We got to walk around the tiny 'downtown' near our apartment the other day to do some contacting. It reminded me of all the boutiques in Austin and I got a tad bit homesick. The weather was wonderful though so I knew I was no where near Austin. Cyn mentioned she was jealous of the weather out here, and it's true, it's nice...when you are outside. The truth is most of the time we are inside with families and they don't use AC here...or fans...or anything that prevents you from burning up like toast inside. It might be a culture thing, a money thing I don't know but believe me it's hot up in here. Speaking of the culture, when I was in the MTC they kept telling us that we should spend no more than 30 min per lesson and that 45 should be the absolute max. Well around here that is not happening. We are lucky to get out of some one's house in under an hour and half. They just love to talk. I wish I knew what they were saying. But they are such a loving people. I love that. I think they like me ok out here. My hair certainly isn't getting me anywhere like I'd hope it would. I haven't been complimented on it not once since I've been here - what is up with that?! Maybe they are too distracted by my reflective skin color.
Someone...ahem, Lizzy, made a comment in one of her letters recently about how my emails 'radiated positivity'. I promise, I am still me, just like a super righteous version, but I can honestly say the mission has been surprisingly a lot more upbeat than I thought it would be. It might be my supreme level of maturity, but things are really rather grand. That is not to say there are rainbows and unicorns all the time - except when I get a unicorn plastered letter from Shanna who, by the way, wins the award for most sparkly, full color newsletter. Well done and thank you. But anywho, there are certainly some rough moments - this often feels like the most awkward version of life possible - trying to save souls that are pretty content not even looking at you. I am pretty sure I am never going to pop out of bed at 6:25 am (that's right our President likes us to arise 5 min before the rest of those lazy missionaries) and be super stoked to plead with total strangers to find salvation. The wonderful truth though is that God reminds us everyday He is here and this is sanctifying work. Just the other day, I went to grab my daily ration of water and noticed that we only had a few left and 5 more days til preparation day - annoying. Just a few hours later during service however, someone brought me a jumbo sized bottle and later that night another family gave us an entire case. These are small things, but huge reminders of whose work this is, that we are not forgotten, our labor is valued, and we are literally blessed with all we need.
For some grand news - we have a baptism scheduled for next Saturday! Woohoo! We also picked up two new investigators this week. We are on a roll! It's such a weird feeling to be on a spiritual high all the time. It really feels like you are walking on clouds. In fact when we walk around contacting, I sometimes feel like I'm in this bubble of goodness and I simply can't understand why no one else can see how glorious the gospel of Jesus Christ is. Luckily, some people do!
The Holy Ghost has been my buddy this week. It's remarkable the subtle way in which he directs this work. I'll read something in the morning that will be perfect for a lesson later, or I'll feel like we should go talk to someone or even silly things like stopping to fix my shoe timed us just perfectly to meet up with someone wanting to hear our message. I feel like I walk around with my jaw dropped open all the time at the tiny and perfect miracles that are orchestrated around us all the time. It makes me wonder if I was wearing blinders all the time before the mission, but one thing is for certain, when you can recognize those little blessings He will trust you to send more and thank heavens for that! We sure need all the direction we can get!
xoxo,
Hermana Hall
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