Emily - Vigo Week 11

3.22.09

Hello My Dear Family...
Well I got some great letters from mom and sister this week. I needed both of them really bad. Sister Jess I cried and laughed through your journal entries. Everything you said sounds way too familiar. It will be funny to read journal entries together after the mission.
Today we had a great pday. We finally organized that every companionship has to plan a pday. Today we went to a beautiful park that reminded me a lot of Manitou park. We played ultimate frisbee and baseball. Then we ate together and took some pictures. I really enjoyed it because we were kind of away from the city and it felt good to play hard even though now Im exhausted.
We had a couple random experiences this week. An older lady looked over at us while we were waiting to cross a street and said sois hermanas which means are you sisters. I said no and she asked while you look a lot alike. Which I dont know how that is possible because Im like three feet shorter than H. Rudder. Anyways we walked with her up the road a ways until we came to a little cafe. She was like hey come in and ill buy you a coffee. I said sorry but we dont drink coffee. She was like well just come in a sit with me and get a pop or something. She grabbed my arm and pulled me in so my comp. followed. We sat down at a table and she talked our heads off. She had like a cycle of 5 stories that she told over and over again. I took me a while to notice. She told us how lonely she is and that her husband died about four years ago. She said that she doenst have anyone to talk to and she gets really bored in her piso all by herself. Anyways she goes to mass everyday at 8 and drinks a coffee about two hours before it starts in a cafe right next to the church. She REALLY needed someone to talk to. I wanted to share the plan of Salvation with her but Im not sure she was all there. She would ask the same questions over and over. Then the question she asked would trigger the same story. Oh well Im glad we could be there for her to have someone to listen to her. Hopefully we will see her again on the street on her way to mass.
We stopped by on Thursday night to visit a family from Romania. When we got there we heard a lot of noise inside. We knocked the door and when they opened we found the entire extended family inside. They live in a VERY small home. The three of them barely fit in it. Of course they wanted us to come in and as we entered everyone looked at us like movie stars. They all asked us if we were Americans and they told us a million times that our skin was beautiful. We sat on the bed with ten other family members and then there were another 15 people sitting around the bed on chairs and on the floor. The Dad of the family we teach got up and grabbed the BOM and was like teach us something...um okay. I opened up 3 Nephi 11. They all took turns reading and translating to the mom who doesnt speak spanish. Anyways it was a pretty cool experience. I felt like I was giving the spiritual thought at a family reunion or something. I dont know how much they understood because after I finished teaching one of the men was like I have a question out of all the churchs that there are which one do you think is the best. I love the random questions we get as missionaries.
I gave a talk on Sunday about how I prepared myself for the mission and how I feel now as a missionary. I felt really prompted in what to say. It was weird to think back to my first talk in the mission and how now I just got up there and spoke in Spanish. My first talk I read word for word and sat down. After explaining three ways to prepare I told the youth that the times I have felt the best on my mission would be sharing the first vision. Then I asked them all to listen really closely and pay attention to how they felt. I said the first vision over the pulpit and I cant explain to you how much the room changed. I watched everyone and everything stop moving, even the children. It was amazing to watch. The last speaker got up and talked about the Spirit in missionary work. He also explained to the people the change he saw in the room. There is SO much power behind those words because it truly happened. I thought I had a testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith before the mission but now I cant explain how much my testimony has been strengthened. There is NO doubt in my mind that he did indeed see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. The prophet Joseph Smith restored the church of Christ again on the earth.
I love you all sooooo much. Im thankful for your prayers and your letters.
Love,
The Sister