Chapter 30: Another One Bites the Dust

It was a rainy day, when I was reminded of a part in Princess Diaries. She is driving to the ball, when her car breaks down and she exclaims, “Is this what I get for driving without a license?!” Then it abruptly begins to pour! Well, a couple of weeks ago I wrote something in this email around the lines of, “And now we have more investigators than the Elders combined!” Now, we are being humbled big time. It all started Monday night when we received the phone call from one of our investigators named Ruben. He started, “Hermanas, I really am interested in your message, but my girlfriend isn´t comfortable with your church, so I will just come by the church when I come.” It was really sad to lose that family, and little did we know that it would be a bad omen for the crazy week that was awaiting us. The next day we were on our way over to teach Aglaece and Mygl—our most progressing investigators that we have. As we walked up to the door of the building, we noticed Aglaece was just leaving, and she was just like, “Oh sorry Hermanas! I completely forgot that we had that cita today! Can you meet tomorrow at the same time?” That was just fine with me, but then I asked, “That´s fine, but where is Mygl?” Then it was like a movie: there bursting between us with all his scrawny strength is Mygl. I barely had time to catch myself from falling backwards to realize that he had a suitcase in hand and he was going faster than I knew a 60 year old man could go!! I just looked frantically back at Aglaece, and she had a smirk on her face, and I asked her, “What just happened??” and she said, “He hasn´t been paying his rent for the past couple months so I kicked him out.” Little did she know she just kicked out our investigator preparing for baptism this week. The only Spaniard, interested investigator was running away from Castellón. Naturally, my companion and I took off, running down the street as fast as we could screaming, “Mygl, Mygl!! Espere!! (wait)”, but our frantic shouts were to no avail (not to mention slighly embarassing), and that was the last time we have seen our little Spaniard, and he won´t answer his phone. However, I knew that the next day would have to be better because we were meeting with Hussan, our Muslim investigator with a thirst for Christianity. So, this whole last week we were scrambling to find an Arabic Book of Mormon, and although difficult, thanks to some connections I have with the mission office, we received an Arabic Book of Mormon. We were on our way to drop it off at his house, practically skipping since we were so excited to show him the Book (he´s been asking about it incessantly) when we received a call....with his name on the caller I.D..... I almost didn´t answer it. This feeling of dread just filled me. Oh. No. I answered it very hesitantly, and this is the horribleness that met my ear, “Hermanas! I just wanted to tell you that I got a job is Valencia, and I have no idea when I will be back. It could be days, weeks, or months.” Well I said, “Hussan! We just got your book for you today and were just on our way over to your house to drop it off to you, are you still home?”. No, no he was not home. He replied, “I just got to the train station 5 minutes ago. I´m sorry, and we´ll be in touch in the future.” My companion and I just sat down on a bench and just stared out into the smokiness of the common, empty, European street. We were being struck down for my snobby comment I knew it. I just turned to my companion and said the words to the classic ballad of Queen, “Another one bites the dust....” Disappointed, we continued our days of knocking on doors and street contacting to try and find new investigators. The next morning greeted us with a bitter overcast. I knew it was going to be a good day, it just had to be right? We had two different appointments scheduled with Romanian families that we were excited about. I love teaching families, because I love testifying of the blessings of the gospel for the family. Well, we rang the bell at the bottom of the building, when this voice comes over the speaker and says, “Who is it?” we replied cheerfully, “Hi Magdelena, it´s the missionaries!” Normally, the door clicks meaning they let you in, however the voice replied, “Uh....this isn´t Magdelena...this is...uh someone....she is in the hospital...don´t know what she will be back...” It was obviously our investigator. Right then someone else walked out of the building, so we snuck in and went up to the door and she answered it with a look of “Oh man I have been caught”, and told us she just doesn´t want us to come over anymore....This week was turning into a joke! So we walked over to the next family, and we get up to the door and the mom answers and says, “ You know what Hermanas, we just don´t have  time to listen to your messages anymore. I am sorry.” And another one goes, and another one goes...... My cute little companion turned to me and said fighting back tears, “Hermana, what are we doing wrong?” and I was just thinking, “I don´t know. God is probably just punishing me for being a horrible, arrogant trainer.” haha But I replied, “Sometimes you have to go through humbling times as a missionary to recognize the good times.” I think I only meant that half-heartedly because I seriously thought we must being doing something wrong as well. Haha So, my objective for the rest of the week was simply to make my trainee feel a little bit happier. I have 5 bits of advice for missionaries to stay sane/happy:

1.       It´s ok to stop and get chocolate. It always helps.

2.       With number one, once you have lost most of your investigators, chocolate only gets you so far. Buy ice cream and sit down and enjoy the company of your companion.

3.       Belt Disney songs that make you smile. While you are at it, quote your favorite Disney movie. We quoted Emperors New Groove about 3 times this week. “Llama, he´s supposed to be dead!” :)

4.       Now, you are probably all thinking this is why they don´t have any investigators, but then comes this next piece of advice—recognize that God loves his missionaries and is with us every step of the way and that this is His work, and He doesn´t send us here to fail. Whenever you need reminding of God´s love for you, just pray and read the Book of Mormon. There is so much power in that book.

5.       Count your many blessings!

6.       Ok, so really I have six. Don´t be afraid to laugh. Really. This was an awful week, but there was definitely some funny moments. For instance:

We were knocking doors when this woman opens the door—calm, cool, and collected—when we proceeded to tell her that we were missionaries and we had a song about God´s love that we wanted to share with her (remember Gospel Caroling). She promptly responded, “I am sorry, but I was just about to throw up, can you come back another day?” Ummm....yes....we will leave you right to that. Haha!
Then, the next door, was this half-naked super grumpy looking man that looked like he was a little damp. We started telling him that we were missionaries (just because I had no idea what to say when I saw him, and I was trying not to laugh) when he interrupted us and said, “I was right in the middle of a shower, if you will excuse me!” and slammed the door in our face. We just looked at each other and laughed so hard! Then the next day we were doing the same thing when this cute little grandma opens the door with glasses bigger than her face and when we told her who we were and what we wanted to do, she just shouts in the graggly, shaky voice, “NoOOoo! Not the Mormons!!” tried to close the door quickly, but didn´t quite have the strength and continued her half shout; “Nooo!! Nooo!!!” we slowly backed away and we could still here her protests two floors down the builidng hahaha Needless to say, not a successful week, but some very memorable memories. Haha I guess what I am trying to say is that we had an awful week, but we tried to make the best of it. I know the Lord is guiding His work, and we are going to work harder than ever to get it going here in Castellón, Spain. The ward here is incredible, so I know I have been so blessed. I love you all and can´t even express how grateful I am for your constant support and prayers. Les Quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins