BUENOS DIAS!!!
I hope this email finds all of you happy and excited to hear a little bit about life south of the equator.
I want to tell you about a few things before I get to the important things.
Okay, first, this week I ate some more weird food. First was cow stomach. Yes, I ate the lining of the stomach of a cow. And it was so so weird and I was genuinely surprised when I liked it. I was trying not to think too much about what I was eating, slightly enjoying myself, then they put a plate of peppers in front of me so I thought, "Yeah I´ll try that! Peppers have always been my thing!" YEAH...that was a big joke. Never, NEVER in my life have I eaten anything that spicy. And of course I ate a giant chunk of it. I´m not exaggerating when I say that my whole face was on fire. I could not breathe...I could have sworn that my mouth was just bleeding, same with my nose. I don´t even know how to explain it. But nothing made it better, I tried to eat rice, but it just made it worse! Hahaha looking back it was hilarious, but as I was silently dying, crying, and drooling, I didn´t think it was that funny. Mother, you´d be fine to eat those. The people here eat them like candy, so I thought I´d be fine...Yeah well now I know. NEVER. AGAIN.
Also, apparently a few days ago there was a pretty strong earth quake. It was in the night time, and I somehow managed to sleep through it. Every night, I sleep perfectly fine. I have never once had a problem sleeping...and nothing except my sweet, soft alarm in the morning wakes me up. Anyway so everyone keeps talking about how crazy this earth quake was, including my companion. But I was just sleepin´ my first experience away. Everything is fine though, it wasn´t a super bad earthquake. But I guess that this time of year it´s a normal occurrence....I´ll keep you posted on that. As far as I know, it´s not anything to worry about. But if it happens again, the good news is that I probably won´t even notice!
So, in other important news....WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM!!! I can´t even explain my joy. Recently, I´ve been thinking a lot about the purpose we have as missionaries. "Invite all people to come unto Christ..." Our purpose isn´t JUST to baptize. We do a lot more than that. So sometimes I struggle when we talk about goals to get baptisms every week, or whatever. Obviously baptisms are important, but we can´t just be focused in that...it´s something really interesting about the mission, and there are a lot of feelings involved in that topic, and it´s something that I just don´t really know how to explain. But, we had our first baptism. And all of my worries about that subject just kind of disappeared. Hermano Pedro was BAPTIZED! I was sitting there, listening to the talks, watching Pedro, and I couldn´t help but think of my own baptism. The way I felt then, and all of the things that have happened in my life since then. All of the blessings that I have, thanks to that decision I made. I mean, look where I am right now!!! It´s amazing. Honestly, the gospel changes lives. I have a testimony of that. And as I watched Hermano Pedro get baptized, I realized that YES, we do want people to get baptized. Baptism is just the first step we make. It´s the beginning of a life in the gospel, the first "acceptance" of the invitation to come unto Christ. Yes, we have to focus on other things too, but yes, baptism is a beautiful, important thing. It´s such an interesting thing to think about.
Something cool about the baptism is that I got to play the piano! There was no one else that knew how, so I played the two songs that I know how to play. It was such a special experience for me, the baptism. I couldn´t stop smiling, and there were certainly tears. When I cry, my face turns red, and when my face turns red, all the Latinos make fun of me. It was worth it though. :)
One cool thing that happened this week is that one Hermana in our ward here took us to meet someone to teach. In the mission, that´s called a reference, and we LOVE references! We were super excited about it, and so was she. I had read a scripture earlier that day, Doctrine and Covenants 84:88 which says "And whoso areceiveth you, there I will be also, for I will gobbefore your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my cSpirit shall be in your hearts, and mine dangels round about you, to bear you up.. I had told my companion, Hey, this scripture is telling us that if this person accepts us and wants to listen to us ("receives" us), that means that Jesus Christ is literally there with us." So we went to meet the reference, and as we were walking to the park, I saw the man that was waiting with the hermana, and I realized that we had met him a few weeks earlier - he was one of our street contacts!!! He had told us that he wanted to listen to us, so we took his address and everything, but for whatever reason, we had never contacted him again. But that morning, there he was, just waiting for us. I literally can´t explain the way I felt...that promise in that scripture is true. I just knew that the Lord had led us to this man. And as we were teaching him, I just felt the Spirit so strongly...I spoke perfect Spanish. That´s not even a joke. It just came out of my mouth and I wasn´t even thinking about it. It was one of the best lessons we´ve had. AND, he accepted baptism, right then and there!!!! HE IS GOING TO GET BAPTIZED!!! These are the moments when I realize that this is the work of the Lord. I don´t do anything, He just does His work through me. It´s a work of miracles. Think about it...we didn´t contact Carlos after that first time. He would maybe never have learned about the gospel. But he was one of the very few people that are "chosen" for us, so the Lord made sure that he was put in our path again. "Que milagro" Seriously...it was a miracle.
And sorry, I forgot my camera cord, so I can´t send pictures, but I will next week! I owe you lots of pictures...I really am sorry about that. Next time!!!
Also, I have officially completed 12 weeks here. It´s unreal, and the time really does fly. Our first transfer is over, so we might have exchanges...we find out tonight. I will tell you all about it next week.
Well, I love you all so much. Thank you for everything. I got a letter from Nana, Tommy Madden, and the Krells this week in the mail...THANK YOU SO MUCH! I loved that!!!
I pray for you guys all the time. I love you so much!!!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Michelle Scott
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