Me and all my companions
(except Hna. Streuling, who has gone home)
Monday:
P-day was actually
super relaxing and chill, which NEVER happens here in The Dalles. So it was
very refreshing. I got the chance to practice piano for about 3 hours, which
was so fun. I finally learned Clair De Lune.
Tuesday:
So we were at Emma's
house (yes, the same investigator as last week when we ended up having to spend
the night with the Hovinghoffs!). We sat down on the couch and started having
the pre-lesson chit chat, like "how have you been? What was you're week
like? Where are you in the book of Mormon reading?" etc. Then her dog, Sis
started acting really weird... she was over by the corner of the room next to
the couch where I was sitting and concerned about something. She'd get curious
and slowly get closer, then back up really quick, after about the third time,
it was getting really distracting. Emma was like "Oh, she's kind of a
wimpy dog, it's probably just a cobweb or something." Then we got back to
our conversation for like a minute before Sis growled and I heard a hiss. Then
Emma jumped up out of her chair, screamed a swear word, and said EVERYBODY GET
OUT OF THE HOUSE! IT'S A RATTLER!!
We started heading
towards the front door. Emma says "Go next door! Get the Hollands!! Get
Jerry Holland!" (her landlord) So we ran over there, and of course he wasn’t
home. So we thought, "Okay, we'll just call a member who lives here in
town," but then we realized our phone was still in our car, the car was
locked, and the keys were still inside sitting on the couch in the room where
the rattle snake was! OF COURSE that would happen! So then, Emma said
"FORGET IT, I'M GETTING THE MEXICANS!!" So she ran to her other
next-door neighbor’s house, while Hna M and I just sit down on the driveway and
hold on to the dog.
Holding Sis so she won't go in and get bit
I took a couple of
pictures, and pretty soon, this Mexican guy named Jose came out of the house
with a big Machete! "Don't worry guys, I've dealt with rattle snakes
before!" I was just cracking up so hard. This is too perfect, of course he
has a machete. So pretty soon, Jim, Emma's adult son, came over, and said
"what is going on?" At this point there was like ten people
there--Emma, us, the Holland family (minus Jerry, of course) the Holland’s mother
in law, Jose's wife, and now Jim! I just looked at him and said, "Oh,
there's just a rattle snake in the house, no biggie." So then he ran in to
help Jose. Pretty soon Jim came out holding a dead headless snake body dripping
with blood, and then Jose came out, balancing the head on the machete. Then he
dug a hole and buried it, because apparently it can still bite even with its
head cut off.
SO that was fun! We
ended up having a really good lesson about how Heavenly Father protects us in
time of need, and how Sis pointing out the Rattle snake to us, was a way that
He was looking out for us. Then we gave Sis some pizza and a belly rub. Dogs
rule!
Wednesday:
Pretty good day! We
met a really cool girl named Idela. She is from Guadalajara. It turns out that she
was being taught by the missionaries before, when she lived in Mexico, but then
she moved to Arizona and lost contact with them. Then she moved here to White
Salmon just a few weeks ago. She was so excited to see us! And we were even
more excited to have found her. Mini miracle!
Then, we had a lesson
with our investigator, Tyler. It was SO good. He is doing so much better this
week. His mom was there too, and so we finally got to find out why his parents
are dragging their feet. They don't want to sign the papers for him to get
baptized. they want him to wait till his 18th birthday, because that way, if
down the road he decides he doesn't want to do this Mormon thing anymore, he won’t'
be able to blame it on them... it was interesting but made sense. We were glad
to have finally reached a source of the problems.
Tyler's graduation party!
Hna. M eating his head!
Thursday:
Travel time! SO this
week we had a General Authority from the Church, Elder Daniel Johnson of the
First Quorum of the Seventy, come to do a mission tour! So we woke up at 5
am and got ready, then we drove 15 minutes to Hood River and picked up
Hna. Clark and Hna. Andrews. From there, the four of us went another hour or so
to The Dalles. There, we met up with Elders Mercado, Woodward, and Gaeta. Then
the 7 of us drove together in the Zone Leaders’ minivan for 2.5 hours to Yakima.
It was so weird being there again! There, we met up with all of the Spanish
missionaries from the southern half of the mission. I got to see Elder
Buchanan, Hna. Aldrich, and Elder Harman! And I got to see Hna. Luevano!!!!!!!
Also Elder Najarian and Gaburel, and at least 30 others that I was so excited
about!
Then we split into
three groups and got in these big vans to go another two hours or so up to
Wenatchee. It was a lot of driving but so much fun, because Hna. Aldrich, and
Elder Najarian were in our van so we got to catch up with them a little! It was
pretty exciting. The best thing was that we got to have a special conference on
Thursday afternoon up in Wenatchee for all the Spanish missionaries in the
whole mission. That NEVER happens! It was SO exciting to be in a room with all
the other Spanish missionaries in the whole mission! I got to see so many
people! SO many friends that I have missed!
We had some great instruction from Elder Johnson, too. He was very boldly
talking to us about how to teach people in the Hispanic culture, and some of
the differences. He is actually from Mexico. He is white but has lived there
most of his life. It was very enlightening for a lot of missionaries, especially
ones who have never had a native companion. Something else that was cool was that
Presidente Moreno from the Englewood branch where I served in Yakima was there!
It was so good to see him! Elder Johnson did some role plays with Presidente
Moreno, Elder Johnson (the missionary) and Elder Gaburel. We focused a lot on
this analogy of tomatoes. The people we are teaching are like tomatoes. They
grow green first, and then eventually ripen, and when they are red that's how
you know they are ready. He said a lot of missionaries waste so much time
yelling at green tomatoes to ripen, they ignore all the other tomatoes that are
super big and red and waiting to be found! He said if we have investigators
that we have been teaching for more than six months, we need to leave them
alone for now, put them in the area book, and let them ripen for a while.
Heavenly father will make sure their missionaries find them when the time
comes.
There was a sister who
stood up and said that she understands and appreciates what he was saying, but
that if her missionaries had done that, she wouldn’t be standing there as a
missionary today, because it took her missionaries eight years of teaching her
before she got baptized. He said the missionaries would have re-found her eight
years later, and she would have still gotten baptized, but the difference is
that a lot more people would have gotten baptized too, because the missionaries
wouldn't have been wasting all this time with her. It was really bold, but
powerful and SO true! Then we all started to realize names of people we have to
drop…for now.
After the Spanish
conference was over, we got back in the huge vans and headed back to Yakima.
There, I got to go on a mini exchange with Hna. Levano!!! It was SO FUN. It was
kind of weird though, because I was with my first companion, in my second area.
So it was like realities colliding! First we went to the Soto’s house for
dinner. It was so fun to see them again. Then we had a couple of lessons. It was
fun teaching together again and meeting some of the new investigators from my
old area. Then I met back up with Hna. Marble (she had gone out with Hna. Dee)
and we went to the English STLs’ house to spend the night. I slept on like the
most comfortable couch ever!
Friday:
We had the regular
zone conference with all the missionaries, English and Spanish, from the
southern half of the mission. That was really fun and inspiring, too. I even
got to bear my testimony about a subject I have been studying about a lot
lately. We had so much inspiration and revelation about our areas! after it was
over we all went around and took pictures together with old friends. Then we
got in one of the huge vans with Elders Allen, Bee, Flamm, Ence and the Hood River
Hermanas and headed back for The Dalles. On the way we stopped at Miners, the
famous hamburger place in Yakima that has burgers the size of your face! It was
good, but expensive! While there I got to see a member from ROYAL! It was so
exciting! I still miss that place every day. That was my little miracle from
Heavenly Father.
As soon as we got home
that evening, we gutted our area book. We started to go through every single
person we have been working with and reevaluate. So pretty much we are starting
from scratch now, but we feel very refreshed and good about it!
Riding in the van
At the conference
Me and Hna. Luevano! I have missed her SO much!
More friends!
Three "Generations" ha ha
Elder Shugart
With Elder Johnson (the missionary)
With Elder Najarian
With Sister Hirsche!
Saturday:
Our first full day
back, it felt like we were gone for a long time! first thing in the morning we
had a service project with Cynthia, our former investigator. We got to see some
baby mice! I actually wasn't freaked out by them, which was good. (Our house in
Texas got infested once, and ever since then I've had a hard time with mice.) Hna.
M and I got to help make Mexican hamburgers! They were so good.
Sunday:
Good day but I woke up
with a SUPER sore throat! I took some cold medicine, and am feeling a little
better now, but still not amazing. Hopefully that will go away soon!
Well, that's it for this
week! 
Elder Ence and Hna M
I got a copy of Ana's baptism program!
Cute yard decorations at the Goodrich's house
We went to the hospital to visit a less-active member
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