Tra-tra-tra-Transfer

April 13, 2011

Soo, QUEDAMOS! In Spanish, that means WE ARE STAYING! It is me and Kusilek and Paraná for another 6 weeks baby! I am stoked, because 1. we are finding more awesome people everyday and I was going to be really sad to leave and 2. I´m going to kill Kusilek! In mission terms, that means that this is her last transfer and she goes home after this. Her mom is going to pick her up and I get to meet her mom! I am WAY excited. She is really fun and we get along really well and even though it is just us two living in a pench by ourselves with a whole city to baptize, we haven´t killed each other yet :-) haha no we get along really, really well. We have tons of fun and I just feel this area getting better and better. I have a feeling after she leaves I will be here another transfer though with a new person, so that´s my first 6 months in Paraná (potentially, not sure yet).
This last week we had a really fun district meeting. I am also stoked because our zone last transfer was super fun, and pretty much everyone is staying in this zone for this transfer again. We all play basketball every p-day and that is super fun. Anyways, about the zone meeting. The zone leaders were supposed to "drop cane" on us because the elders haven't been doing so good on contacts and we are the only ones in our zone with baptisms. But Instead, our zone leaders wrote up on the chalk board "what kind of player do you want to be?" for each person, they would say a really bad player in the NBA, or someone who had a lot of potential but didn't perform well (i didn't know any) and then say "or do you wanna be a ___" then name a really good player. For one elder, Elder Ray, they said "Elder Ray, do you wanna be an Allen Ray (then they would name all of his sats) or do you wanna be RAY ALLEN???" haha for me, they knew I was a blazer fan so they said "Now Hermana Collins, you can either be a Dennis (something, i really don't remember. a bad player for the blazers) or do you wanna be BRANDON ROY???" Haha it was a hilarious meeting. I have never met 2 guys who knew so much about sports. I would say they could challenge Tommy Walter on his sports knowledge. We have a pretty cool zone.
This week we ate milenasas...with liver in them. It was repulsive. when they weren't looking i threw it into my bag and threw it away after. The lady thought i ate it super fast and wanted to give me more and i said "no no no no no estoy llena" it was the grossest thing thus far. people here like nasty food.
We have met a lot of awesome people this week but also some crazy people. Yesterday was terrible, we were teaching this lady who was just a TAAALLLKKKEEERRR. Like she had no idea how to not stop talking. I understand pretty much everything, but when they talk, they just go on and on and on and on. I would ask "you know what a prophet is right?" and next thing you know she is talking about her job, how she fell and got hurt, how her mom never comes home anymore, how she is tired of being single, how she thinks oceans are so beautiful, how she wants to travel the world someday, how she wishes she could be a famous singer, to this funny show that she saw last week, again to how she wishes she had a boyfriend, and then on to prophets where we finally have to find some break in her breath to cut in and finish a principle. we barely got half a lesson and we invited her to be baptized. she once again went off about how she felt so good about this church, to how she loved stars, to how she wished she had more friends, to how her nieces and nephews are so funny and all the funny things they do, to how one time she got really sick with a cold and slept for a really long time, to how her brother is her best friend, to how she doesn't like her mom, to pretty much every childhood story she has had, to finally saying "but ya i would loved to be baptized". During the lesson, one of the times she was rambling, I was just thinking about how funny it was that she was rambling so stinking much. Just thinking about it made me want to laugh. Then i realized I was about to bust up laughing in the middle of her talking. I had to bite my lip soooo hard to keep from laughing. I thought about that youtube video where the talk show host just busts up laughing right in the middle of the show when the guy is talking. Kus could see that I was about to die, but we didn't know what to do because she would just go on! After we left, I laid on the street and just laughed SOO hard. So we are wondering how we are going to teach her more and not have it take so stinkin long...and then later that night we taught another talker. Argentines are just talkers. They just love to blab blab blab. I love them to death, but its funny. You will see it when you meet one.
Remember last week when i said we had a man to teach but he was very sick? well we were planning on seeing him in church, only to find out he died. I cried during sacrament meeting, it was a little embarrassing but that's pretty sad. On that sad note, I would just like to end with this happy story. The elders who share the church building with us have been struggling for a long time. They have had no investigators come to church for 8 weeks. One elder would just seem so depressed every time i talked to him. Kus and I would try to cheer him up, but he said that they would just contact all day long and literally have no investigators. This last Sunday was the last day in the mission for one of the elders, and miraculously, 2 people got baptized. It was such a wonderful thing to see. I helped at the baptism by playing the piano (i play allllllll the time) but it was so spiritual and amazing. It was a family but only 2 of the kids got baptized, and they rest will definitely get baptized soon after. It just was a real testimony builder to me that you may have times where it really seems like the work will never pick up, where no one will listen, but if you keep your faith up, you will find the people waiting. The people he baptized were definitely waiting for them. I feel so honored to have seen that miracle.
I love you all so much! I love the letters from you all and the support and the prayers. The Lord is really so mindful of me here and though I feel so far from home sometimes, I know I'm supposed to be here. And I would never be here for any other reason other than I know this is so true.
Que Dios que bendigas
Hermana Collins
PS I got beso´ed by another old lady this week, it was on the cheek like its supposed to be, but her dentures stuck to me...I have never received so many nasty kisses in my LIFE!