FUNNY STORY! Last Monday while walking down the street, two young adult men said to us "Sisters! What's good?" To which I so wittily responded "The gospel!" Their response? "Eeyyy..." Hahahahaha I'm so witty.
FUNNIEST, MOST UTAH MOMENT OF THE WHOLE MISSION THUS FAR:
In a singles ward a stake high counselor was reading a letter from the stake presidency or something, trying to get people to come to an activity (which isn't hard to do, so I don't know what the extra effort was for), and he choked on his words and giggled a little bit when he said "your... future eternal companion may even be there. Or even the brother, sister, cousin of your future eternal companion..." And he was trying so hard not to laugh when he said it. I was DYING. I was probably the most irreverent missionary they'd ever seen. I was trying so hard not to die laughing. Ayyy, mi madre...
BEST THING OF MY LIFE. Ready?
Monday night we went to see Lenin. We talked about the Ten Commandments and keeping the sabbath day holy. We talked about it and we went over any questions he had, and talked about working on Sundays, etc. then he said "Ok, did you want to say anything else? I wanted to tell
you something..." So we let him take the floor and he shared with us an experience he had with the spirit, and how he felt like after that experience he felt really prepared now for baptism. He started crying, and thanking people. Then he stopped and said "Mainly you though. Without offending anybody, out of all of the people who have helped me, you've been the most important. You were like my little angel. When you got here, everything started clicking together and I understood. Then you invited me to baptism, and I finally felt like I really wanted to" or something like that. WHAT?! I was crying like a baby. This kid is amazing. And he thinks I'M and angel?! HE'S AN ANGEL!
BREAKING NEWS!
I MADE A FUNNY MISTAKE IN SPANISH! I think it's my first time (of it being funny). So we were getting ready to leave Lenin's, and we were planning some baptism things. So I say to him "Quien quiere que se bautice?" And he looked at me funny and said "Pues, yo me bautizo, no?" I just started busting up laughing, then rephrased it and he said "Ooooooohhhhh..." I still think about it and laugh. "So who do you want to get baptized?" Hahahah
Whoa. So now that we talked about something highly spiritual, let me tell you about these tacos I had last week. There's a tiny place hiding behind the big buildings of downtown Provo called Brassas. They even had LENGUA. Mmm. Dad, another hole-in-the-wall place I need to take you to! Family rode trip in April when I need to come back? We can all go to conference! :) OR come pick me up? That could he cool too. Utah in February :) BEAUTIFUL! Your choice. I just need dad to have these tacos...
Fun fact: I spelled "mision" in Spanish, and I found two words in there. "Mi Sion." My Zion. Man, that's cool. And it's kind if legit.
Now... The moment you've all been waiting for... SATURDAY! Baptism day! I literally almost texted everyone involved and said "Happy baptism day!" I'd been awaiting this day for awhile. I was ready for these kids to make that step, and I was ready to stop worrying about event details. Everything went SWIMMINGLY. Well, for Stevens' baptism (his name is Stevens. That's common the Creole spelling of Steven. The last S is silent). There were a lot more people than I had anticipated, especially since we hadn't had contact with Stevens' ward until half way through the week of his baptism! They were in the process of changing EVERYTHING in that ward, so they didn't have a WML, and the bishopric had literally just changed that week prior. It was insane. But we got it all organized, and it all went very well. I was so relieved! :)
Now, Lenin... He's such a trouble maker. Hahahaha We were at the JSB (yes, there's a baptismal font in a BYU building, ON CAMPUS.) waiting for Lenin to show up, and we got a text from his ride/fellowshipper/neighbor/friend saying he was in the shower. This was at 2:40-ish, and the baptism was planned to begin at 3:00. So I was freaking out, and having a minor anxiety attack. Then they finally showed up a little late and we sent them right away to get changed. Haha Little Lenin hugged me twice. Hahaha We may have to explain this hugging thing so he doesn't get offended when I extend my hand as a greeting. Hahaha I didn't freak out though. I was cool as a cucumber. I just appropriate hugged him back. Hahah
I gave the talk on baptism, and to be honest... I thought it was kind of cool. I may be a little prideful, pero I thought it was a pretty good talk. Hahaha I'd had a week to prepare a 5 minute talk on a topic I teach frequently, in the language I feel comfortable teaching in. EASY. Everybody and their PURPLE GRANDMA came up to me and told me I was talking so fast, like a native speaker. Maybe I was talking so fast because I was nervous? I wasn't so super nervous though. I was just trying to finish so I could sit down, probably. No matter how comfortable I am speaking in Spanish, public speaking will never be my #1 favorite thing.
Tender mercy: Homemade Argentine dulce de leche. Our dinner appointment was with an Argentine family. She brought out this jar of dark something and asked us if we wanted it. She said her dad had made it. HOMEMADE?! Yes. And I have been enjoying it thoroughly.
Yo, there's been so many languages in my life this week: Italian, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, Finnish, Swedish, Japanese, German... I was in heaven. Just a fun little snippet for you.
Baptisms pt II: Confirmations
YES!! So we went to Stevens' confirmation. It was amazing. The ward (mostly newly moved in members and all new leadership) just enveloped him in fellowship. EVERYBODY was talking to him. I'd been worried because I've never known anything about his ward, but I felt so at peace leaving him in the hands of this ward. They're amazing. Actually, the WML's younger brother invited Stevens' brother to church without even realizing that he was his brother, and HE CAME! AND there was a girl who had just come from her mission in PARIS, and she is a BOSS at French, and she translated for his brother (Pedro). He said he wants to learn more, so we're going to start teaching him on Tuesday! :)
Then we went to LENIN'S ward. We have been able to be involved with this ward, and I was already in love with this ward. So they do it backwards with RS/Priesthood first, then Sunday school. Because Lenin had to work, so they confirmed him during priesthood. So we were there sitting in the front row of a room filled with no one but men, listening to this BEAUTIFUL confirmation. I was trying not to laugh. I've noticed that's how I express happiness when it gets too big. I end up laughing. But in the prayer was said something about how he can serve a mission if he so chooses to. Afterwards, the bishop asked him to share his testimony. In his testimony he said "Me encantarÃa servir una misión..." I felt like a proud mom! I've wanted to mention something about serving a mission, but I didn't want to push anything, when he wasn't even a member yet... But I'm glad it came from Heavenly Father and not me. He would make the best missionary.
We're going to go to the temple with both Lenin and Stephen sometime late September/early October. I cannot wait. Enserio. I love going to the temple with new members! It's always the BEST.
So here's the thing... This weekend is the whole universe's stake conference. Saturday night, guess who's speaking... YO. I'm speaking. I hate speaking in English... We'll see how this works out. It's only 8 minutes, so let's pray I don't take up too much time. I tend to ramble when I'm nervous, which is bad since it's in English. I know more words, so rambling is dangerous! But SUNDAY, we'll be in the Marriott center! I'm super excited about that! :)
So Jennafer, our 8 year old investigator, wants to meet the prophet. I so wish I could set that up. I would probably cry my eyes out seeing her talk to the prophet. Come on, were in Utah! There's got to be a way to figure this out. Hahaha
Anyway, I'll let you go now. No need to read my million stories. Hahaha
Thanks for everything, lovelies! Stay good, play fair, and floss your teeth!
Hermana Willis
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