Quedaremos

September 27, 2011
Oh we are so happy, i was worried sick this week that i would have to be training because supposedly 4 hermanas were going to come, and everyone else was already training, but hna kastigar and i get along SOOO well and we recently just got bikes and i just wanted to stay with the same comp for another transfer rather than change again, BUT we found out that only 2 hermanas came, and that we are going to stay here! i feel so blessed. the work has really been picking up since i got here, we finally have had a ton of menos activos and investigators in the church for the past 3 weeks, which this ward is not used to. When we told our ward mission leader that we are staying, he said "i knew you would. i called the stake president and told him the work you two have done here, and he sent an email to your mission president saying how you two needed to stay here for one more transfer" we were so happy to hear that, and know that our work is being appreciated. So i get "the punisher" for another transfer!!! YES!!!
Lets see, highlights this week. One is Miguel. He is AMAZING!!! The best investigator ever. Get this. Last Sunday he came to church and someone gave a talk on fasting. We decided to have our next lesson on that to explain it better. When we did, we read a scripture from Alma 5 saying how Alma received his testimony by praying and fasting a lot. That following Sunday, he came to church again and at the end we were leaving and i said jokingly "ahh I'm hungry i need to go home and eat" and he said " me too, but i gotta wait a little longer because my fast ends at 2" i was confused, but he told me he really wants to get a sure answer so he decided to start his fast last night and fast all during church. THEN, he came up to the bishop and asked him how he could pay fast offerings and his tithing. OH MY GOODNESS we were dying. It was so awesome. and he has been going to activities with the members without us having to say anything. He is fantastic. Everyone, keep Miguel in your prayers.
Oh guess where i was on Saturday night? If you were going to say nice and safe in the pench, you are wrong! We had special permission to go to the stake center and watch the relief society conference, and it was WONDERFUL. The cooler part is, we got to watch it live. So as it starts at 6 for you guys, it starts for us at 9 pm (normally when we have to be home). the stake center here is in Rosario, so we were in Rosario watching it. It got over at 11pm, and we had to wait for a bus to take us home. Here we are, 2 American missionaries, standing on a street corner in the middle of a foreign city on a Saturday night, i was thinking "ahh i never thought in my life id be doing something like this!" but we weren't scared. Luckily before midnight, some members who had been driving by to see if a bus had come yet finally gave us a ride, it was extremely nice of them, but the broadcast was beautiful. totally worth being out extremely late.
Right now we have another girl staying in our pench for a few days. Our area is like hermana hotel. Her name is hermana huamaccto (cant say her name for the life of me) and she is from Peru. She is cute. We all played tennis today and that was way fun, and then i tried to teach her how to ride a bike because she never has. That was funny, she never got it, but its ok. maybe later in life?...haha or maybe that ship has sailed. It was really hard to try to teach her though (mind you, we are also trying to explain to her in Spanish as well).
Bike story for the week. I thought we would have dog problems on the bikes, but we seem to have been perfectly fine. Well, except one time we were biking in a poor neighborhood, and out of no where 8 dogs came sprinting at us, barking and growling, i was so scared out of my skirt, i pedaled as fast as i could to get away. Hna kastigar wasn't as quick to her reflexes and the dogs began nipping at her legs and wheels, she was screaming because she was so scared (obviously) and then she ran over one!!! ew it was so gross. It didn't die or anything, but it was nasty to watch them all be dumb and chase us for no reason. It was pretty nerve racking. Dogs are still my enemy. Worse now than before.
That is my week, i realized that last week i didn't write that much, and i felt bad. i love my life here. i loved the letters from karissa and marlee in the MTC! ahh hearing about their experiences just brought back so many mtc memories.
ok i love you all!!! take care, pray for miguel. please. and NOS VEMOS A LA CONFERENCIA GENERAL!!!
hermana collins