So last night was interesting. Brother Johnson, an
orthopedic surgeon, invited us over for a delicious dinner. His wife made
enchiladas and they were fantastic. To amuse us while the final preparations of
dinner were taking place he showed us pictures from operations that he had
performed in the trauma 1 center. Let me tell you, I have never seen such
graphic images of bodies completely obliterated and torn up by cars and lawn
mowers and such. Without hesitation he showed the same pictures to his 4 year-old
daughter who said nothing more than, "That's an owie." Yup, they were
pretty nasty owies. It was intriguing but I think I'll pass on being a surgeon.
I'm not uneasy about the blood and carnage so much as I wouldn't want the
liability and stress of a lifetime's debt of schooling. But the mission has
allowed me to talk to people of many different professions and for this I am
grateful. I still don't give much thought to it, but I do think the medical
field is always interesting. So even though I don't want to be a surgeon I
imagine I would like something in that ballpark. So biomedical engineer still
might not be a bad way to go... I would get to converse with doctors and design
robotic arms and artificial hearts and stuff...
It's good to have a nearly native companion. He's teaching me
how to properly kick a soccer ball and President is letting me get on ESPN for
a few minutes each week (the Latin version) so I can follow the world cup. So
yeah, I’m pretty excited. This will really help me connect to the Spanish
people that much more. I asked one of our investigators for a good salsa
recipe. That's something I really need to do more often so that when I come
home I can have a fantastic compilation of the greatest Hispanic dishes. Where
else am I going to get this opportunity?! Once you've had the authentic food
there is no going back. I remember when we had our last supper at Cafe Rio. We
might need to find a taco stand when I get back haha.
So the weekend was awesome. But before I tell you about the
weekend I've got to tell you this: on Memorial Day our mission had the goal to
set a new record of finding 100 new people to teach in a single day. We found
234! How awesome is that?! Yeah, we're pretty awesome. I feel like we are the
2000 stripling warriors and President Porter is captain Helaman and you are the
covenant families back home and Antipus is our Bishop and the Army of Antipus
is the Norwood Ward. And when we work together we "administer death to all
those that oppose us." Hahahaha. Read Alma 56 and 57, they are awesome
chapters. But back to the weekend...
Saturday we gave a chapel tour to a family that we've been
helping with English and homework for their kids. At that same time a member
family (the Z…'s) were hosting a party for their two year old daughter in the
church gym. And when I say party, I mean the whole bit: music, food like you
wouldn't believe, decorations, games, people from all over, and a piñata.
Hispanics make any English organization look as boring as watching grass grow.
(And that is true doctrine that became a topic of discussion in ward council
the following day haha). But it was perfect because after the chapel tour,
brother Z… invited the family to come in and participate. They were a little
timid but they liked it and they got to meet some of the members. They couldn't
go to church yesterday but they are planning on coming to church next week!
Sunday we brought an investigator to church! It was the first
time in months that a Spanish investigator had been to church so the members
were getting pretty excited and missionary work became the theme of testimonies
during fast and testimony meeting. His name is C… and he's 17. We've become
good friends with him. It's honestly just a blast to talk to him and get
updates about the sports world. That's something that President and the Spanish
zone has really been working on. People don't care how much you know until they
know how much you care. People have to trust us and genuinely know that we are
their friends before they will realize how important the gospel can be for
them. So C… has been coming to soccer nights and we finally invited him to
church. He lives really close to us so Sunday we walked with him to church and
he really liked it. He could only stay for sacrament meeting but he wants to
come back next week! It was such a powerful testimony meeting. Some soon-to-be
recent converts stood up and gave some very sincere testimonies about how
welcomed and loved they feel in this church. That is our work: we are to love
people into it. That is really something I'm learning. But Elder Garcia came
out to the foyer and translated for a little bit so that I had a chance to
share my testimony to. It was a really neat meeting. After church we had another
great lesson with J… and V…. We shared with them the importance of baptism and
the sacrament. By the end of this month J… should be done with his hospital
visits (at least temporarily) so they will be able to start coming. We are
super excited for what's going on! Thank you for all your prayers. I love being
a missionary and I'm so grateful for my family! CONGRATS TO ERIN! Tell Krysta I
expect a report on her cruise and tell Camille and Rachel to stop growing.
Amen.
Hasta la proxima semana!!!
Elder Graf
