The Weekly Semana‏

June 11, 2012

Well well well,

Let's begin!

So yeah, this week has been pretty good. I've liked it quite a bit. We were working pretty hard and seeing a LOT of trial and error stuff, but it was a good learning experiences and we're leaving from it stronger for this week.

I have to write this email fast because I got distracted looking at the transfer plans (this transfer's changes are crazy!), but no worries, I will be sure to include the following.

1. A funny story of the week I'd like to call, 'What Are You Doing In My Face!?'

2. The crazy changes of the transfer.

3. A spiritual thought/experience.

Sound good? Good. Enjoy my word-salad. (is that how you spell salad? It looks weird. You know, the thing with veggies and stuff. Okay.)

First, I'm sure you're all curious from the title of the weekly story, but it's really quite simple. 

Well here in Mexico, what girls do when the enter the room and say hi, is they give a little hug and a kiss on the cheek. We, being missionaries, can have none of that. But luckily only women of the same age that already have a pretty good amount of time knowing a person do that, so it is very rare that we have problems with it. 

Although I had heard stories of missionaries being caught off guard with a kiss on the cheek, it'd never happened to me, so I'd never thought about what I'd do if the situation presented itself. Well that was a mistake, my friends.

The other day, my companion and I knocked a door and were let in by a very friendly man named Mario who had talked to the missionaries before. Well, as we were getting to know him a bit, we asked about his famiy, and he called his kids to come out and meet us. So, his 12 year old daughter (Mari) came out and introduced herself, shook my hand, and leaned into my face. I honestly have no idea what I did or how I reacted, but my companion described to me afterward laughing, that I got super red in the face, I backed up and had a face of horror, as if someone were attacking me, and the only words I could get out were, ''...um...està bièn asi...'' which is, ''...um...That's good enough...'' (not a direct translation, but it brings about the same sense of what I said).

So, she backed off and I explained, still red in the face, that we can't do that kind of greeting as missionaries. She shrugged and walked off and we continued on with the lesson. It was pretty interesting and actually went really well. The problem is that Mario works out of town for 15 days and comes back for 15 days and that's his routine, so it'll be a bit of a challenge to teach him.

After we left, my companion just started laughing as he described to me my look of terror as I not-quite-naturally reacted to the Mexican kiss greeting.

So that was pretty funny, but now I'm thinking of better ways to react so that I don't look bad if that ever happens again. Haha

Alright, now on to the changes. Well, my district is growing again. One area next to mine is being ''white-washed'', which means that both Elders are leaving and two new ones that don't know the area are getting there, and now they'll be in my district, so we'll be a district of 6 again. 

Then, among a lot of other changes, ELDER BILLINGS IS COMING TO POZA RICA! Wooooh! Haha I'm seriously excited. He's my MTC companion, and I've never been in the same zone as him in the field, but now we'll be in the same zone, and not just that, but he'll be a District Leader too! So we'll be seeing each other in leadership stuff here in the zone as well. I'm super excited.

And, because I'm short on time, I'll move on to the spiritual experience.

The other day we went to visit a woman who likes to be called Guty (goo-tea). She is about 55 yrs. old, is in a wheelchair, has diabetes, and has been struggling every day of her life and had lost faith completely in God. As we talked to her, she told us that nothing mattered, and that she didn't want to talk about God, because she didn't believe in ''that stuff'' anymore. Since she was born she'd disabled and had to use crutches. Then at the age of 20 she was hit by a car and had spinal injuries, and had to be put in a wheelchair. From there she got diabetes and is about to have her legs cut off for good in a matter of weeks. She said that she had hope her whole life and that she was always praying for something to change, but that nothing ever did.

Then she explained that about a year ago, she just decided to give up. She was done believing. Well, as we pulled out scriptures and really let her and the scriptures have a conversation rather than us be talking, she opened up a little more and told us about other things, other doubts, problems, and experiences that helped us to really get to know her. In the end, she told us that she wants to believe. She has the desire to believe in God, but that she can't. Well, that reminded me of Alma 32 again, and so we talked about that desire that could grow into faith if she really used it. We invited her to pray and ask God if He was there and if He loved her, and we left her with a prayer.

Well, that night and since I have been praying a lot more honestly and more... I can't think of the word in english... Well anyway, it's been more like a conversation than just asking and giving thanks and ending. Something key I've found is that when I'm praying for others, I never run out of things to pray for, and I feel great. Then I receive answers and instruction if I pause and think about things. I've learned that we really do need to listen as well as talk. So I invite all of you to do that in your prayers. Tell God how you are, ask Him questions, and listen. He'll answer. 

I have lots of faith and hope that Guty will find her answers and I will keep praying for her and others because it brings me happiness. Love you all a ton, and I'll talk to you later!

Elder DeFreese

1. These three ties cost me a total of about $9 American. Yeeeeah for bargain shopping!

2. Funny story here. This last week we had a zone conference and I saw this Elder, Elder Loayza. He was in my district in Teziutlàn and is a good Elder. Well anyway, he told me that we needed a picture together because he was probably about to be transferred from his zone in Tuxpan (Zone Conferences here are of multiple zones) and that if he were in the other mission, we wouldn't see each other again. But not only is he being transferred now to my zone, but to my district! Wooh! He'll be one of the new Elders that gets added to my district, so I'm excited for that too.