Chapter 54:
Mojitos, Miracles, and Marlon
Every missionary has
to make their mark in the ward. I think if the members can relate to their
missionaries, they trust them more and they work better with the missionaries.
So, I was thinking that the last couple of Hermanas that have been here played
the piano and sang...so singing was going to be out of the question. I had to
be more unique. So, instead I decided I would be the party Hermana. So, for one
of the ward family home evenings, I made mojitos. (non-alcoholic of course
haha)....and it was a big hit!! Everyone loved them! So everyone has called me
Hermana Mojito, and the member work, believe it or not, has even improved! It´s
all about the members in the missionary work. :D So this week, my companion had
stomach flu, so half of our week or so was spent in our piso while I completed
the usual Betty Crocker chores: cleaned the house, reorganized furniture (I
haven´t really missed the tv on my mission until these couple days), cooked,
cleaned some more, contacted every person who has ever been taught in our area
since 2006 to see if they would be interested once again, and so on. Nobody was
interested. Haha Oh well, I had to do something. However, God truly blessed us
with a lot of miracles. We met some golden investigators this week that I
really hope progress. Marlon is definitely the favorite. He was contacted
before by missionaries, but never had the time. He is 21 and from Ecuador, and
he studies in Barcelona but lives here in Vilafranca. He is basically an
atheist, but wants to learn more about the church. We met with him and he is so
willing to do anything to find out if it´s the truth. In fact....HE CAME TO
CHURCH!!! I couldn´t be more excited. He left saying, “I feel really good. I
want this to be the truth. I will keep coming until I know; I´ve never been in
a church like this where everyone wants you to know for yourself and not just
because it´s in the Bible. I love it.”I was so excited. There are so many who
claim to have faith, but really do not act on it. Finally, I am teaching a
positive atheist who has the courage to act. It was such a tender mercy. Also,
we met with Eusebio, a man from Bolivia that we found the other week. He didn´t
show very much interest until we came yesterday. Wow. He had the first 10 pages
or so of the Book of Mormon completely marked and cross references and
everything. It was so wonderful. We invited him to be baptized after having a
powerful Restoration lesson with him, and he said, “If God tells me, how can I
say no?” The power of the Book of Mormon, my friends. So, right now we are
waiting for these two men to receive their answers. Most of the rest of the
week was pretty hard.... We were rejected many times and did a lot of walking,
but hopefully planted some seeds. Alberta, our Africana told us this week, “I
can´t wait until I have the Holy Ghost to help me. I just can´t wait to feel
closer to God.” She´s so cute! Africans are so funny though...SO enthusiastic.
After every prayer she´s just like, “Thank you LORD! AMEN! Uh HUH!” On the train today there was another African
man who sat next t us, and he said, “I don´t know if your busy, but I would
like you to explain what you name tag means on your shirts. Does that really
mean that Christ has a church?” Oh yes. We explained to him a little of the
church and he said, “I like you. You are happy and show love. There are so many
people in this world who are sad because they don´t have anything. They just
don´t recognize that with God, you have more than everything!” I love Africans.
And I think it was great advice. It definitely
put a smile on my face. So, remember with God, you have everything!!
Les Quiero,
Hermana Hopkins
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