Oh my goodness this week has been FANTASTICO! HAHAHA A lot of learning, growing, working and serving. But I love it and wouldn't want anything different:) Last Monday after we emailed and ate lunch, we were on our way to the store and someones car had broke down in the middle of an intersection. Cars were just going by and nobody was helping them at all. So we pulled over into a parking lot and ran into the middle of the street to help them push their car out. They were VERY thankful for the help that we offered and would not stop saying "thank you" and they were nice people:) But when we started pushing their car, a Fire truck happened to be nearby and they saw us so they drove over and put on their lights so nobody would go through and hit us. and they followed us until we were safe from the dangerous roads. HAHA but we looked back to thank them and they all had their phones out filming the four guys in white shirts and ties pushing this car. So we got a good laugh out of that:) And that set a really good tone for the rest of the day:) which leads into what my topic for the week is:) SERVICE!!! Serving people around you is one of the BEST missionary opportunities. And not just for missionaries but for all.
We had some amazing service opportunities this week. For one, i taught another Family history class and they people were very interested. I found out that i am a terrible teacher, but that doesn't matter cause they were all very new to the site anyway, so just showing them a family tree was interesting! Although something cool happened when we logged into one ladies account to help her out and she literally had NOTHING. Just her name... So we did some digging and Elder Duncan (English Elder) Searched for her father and mother and BAM! She had like 7 generations that just appeared. And the look on her face was priceless! Those moments are some of the best ones I've had:) is when you get to see people so happy:0
The other service opportunity that we had was to help this guy build a shed. and before i get started, its key to know that Hispanics most of the time don't follow directions... And this shed needed some serious help with the directions. we were out walking in a trailer park cause we had extra time, so we found this guy working on this shed with his wife. It looked like they were struggling with it so we put our bags down and jumped right in. At first they seemed a bit hesitant that a bunch of white kids dressed all fancy were helping people they didn't even know, but as time went on they seemed to trust us a little more. They had a couple pieces wrong and so we helped them and just kept helping them. Well over the period of four hours, we had finished the base and the walls. And the smiles on their face were nice as they had seen that shed go up so fast! I guess he had been working on it for like 5 days or something. So we told him we would come back the next day. Which we did. And spent another 3-4 hours putting the roof on. And It was one of the best service opportunities in the world. We did one of those days on Fast Sunday and the mix between being on a spiritual high from fasting and serving made our day perfect! If you ever want to feel happy just go out and serve someone! truly one of the best ways:)
So Tuesday came along and I had the opportunity to go on a trade off with our district leader, (Elder Olson). I learned a lot more patience and charity during that 24 hour period. I don't know why, but when you are with other missionaries it is just different and they all do things in their unique way and I learned a lot. I came back to Foley after that trade off and started to apply some of the things that i thought would be good to try out. And my patience and Love for those around me has increased tremendously. So throughout my mission, Christlike attributes will be one of my main focuses:)
OK so now on to the fun stuff:) well not all fun stuff, cause i had the worst experience of my life. (not really... ) We ate at a members house and he apparently makes the same thing every time the missionaries come over. Which is Fish, (some other type of fish i cant pronounce/spell) mac and cheese and pudding. And I am not too big a fan of fish for those who know me... And I was stressing out the whole day that i had to eat fish and be happy about it... HAHA so we got there and he had left it on the table, so it was already cold, and I was staring at my plate thinking... "How am i going to eat this..." And when it was time to eat i shoved all the fish into my mouth to get it all done and over with. And it was terrible!!! I kept a really good poker face though and said that it was really good ;) but my tummy was wanting to reject what i ate... HAHA My strategy with eating the fish first though was so that i could override the taste with the mac and cheese and the pudding. Which worked pretty well:) and that dinner appointment was interesting.
Although i was rewarded later due to a double dinner appointment by mistake. Our ward mission leader took us out to a Mexican restaurant right after where i got some REAL food. HAHA now the mexi style is where its all at:)
And we have found a new P-day activity! The member we went out with a few weeks ago has started playing with us too. We bought nerf bullets and made PVC guns. well more like those Indian poison dart guns. And we play zombies and some other fun games in our apartment. Those have been amazing! and they are a good way to get all the stress out from the week:) We continue to find more and more fun stuff to do:) OH! and our Family from Hondurez, Ramon and Lucia said that our Honduran shirts are on the way. HAHA so soon we will be Honduran people:)
Speaking of Lucia and Ramon, They are doing awesome! They continue to impress us in their interest and willingness to change their life. Lucia is having a hard time getting to church because of work issues, but we are trying to hit her up with a job with some of the "hermanas" in the church:) we told her that they know people who can get her a job that wouldn't schedule her for Sunday. And that is what our next big step with her has been. But they are super nice people and we can not wait to see the gospel enter their lives even more as they continue to make these big commitments.
Pictures should be coming! There is quite a bit this week too i think. HAHA I love you all so much! And hope that everyone continues to do what they should to be a better person. The lord loves you all! And there is a lot of love in Foley Alabama! Until next week!
Elder Stonely
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