Okay don't think that just because that probably made you think
of Nacho Libre this is a joking matter. I seriously hate tomatoes. I
don't think I've ever hated anything MORE! (besides snails in your boots on a
rainy day). Actually, I take that back. I think that the only thing that would
be worse than snails in my boots on a rainy day would be TOMATOES in my boots
on ANY day. And that is because I hate tomatoes. I am serious. I can hardly
think of them without getting an irky stomach. I am writing so much about this
because I just need someone to understand how much I hate tomatoes.
I think this will be the hardest thing I will have to deal with
on my mission. Really.
We have it EVERY
ALMUERZO. On top of all the other food they give us, they give us TOMATOES. And
LOTS OF THEM. They always call it Salad too. WHAT AND HOW IS THAT SALAD?! no.
no. NO. And you’d think they wouldn’t like tomatoes with how much they eat
them, but NO. They eat them STILL. How. How? This is what keeps me up at night.
But I think maybe you just have to be a tomato person to like tomatoes.
Sometimes I think of Dad's story about how they were on a road trip and a huge
truck filled with tomatoes drove past or something like that or maybe they
found some dude on the street or something and just had tons and tons and tons
of tomatoes to eat along the way on their road trips and how ‘it was the best
thing ever.’ Yeah. HOW do you still eat tomatoes and like them Dad?! It nearly
makes me want to cry.
Here's the problem: everyone in Chile is a tomato person. I know
this because they eat them like it's the best thing ever. I feel like they just
wake up every morning and take a nice stretch with a big smile on their face
saying Oh wow! I think I'm going to eat tomatoes today at Almuerzo!' Every.
Day. There is this GIANT bowl of 'salad' or in otherwords TOMATOES. If I'm
lucky some vinegar and oil lettuce thrown in there. And if you dish up a
little, they say, Oh Hna. You can have more than that, don't worry! And they
just stare at you with a big nice smile on their face hasta you dish up another
scoop...and another scoop...and ANOTHER. I am nearly getting to the point where
I can't even fake a smile as I dish up tomatoes anymore.
There was one day this
week that we already started eating and there were NO tomatoes in sight! I was
so happy!!! It surprised me how much it brought my spirits up so much! I was so
so so so so happy! Because really they make really really good food, they just
lack in the knowledge that salad isn't just TOMATOES! ...so I was all ready to
eat the delicious food without seeing my impending pile of doom sitting on my
salad plate. I was so excited. If there was a sensation of heaven, that is what
I would describe it as. So then it had been about 10 minutes and wonderful Hna.
Erodita (a cute little lady that feeds us on Wednesdays) says, Ay! I
forgot the salad! Yeah. I hope all of your stomachs just dropped because mine
did. She brought out tomatoes. Yeah. I just don't even keep my hopes up
anymore. I just am trying to take a big breath and focus on the good
food.
It just bothers me how much I hate tomatoes! I'm trying so hard!
Sometimes I just watch everyone eat theirs so easily and give myself a little
pep talk and put the gross nasty thing in my mouth...and then it's still
bad!
I really don't know
what to do. But this is really hard for me!
Oh yeah. A Volcano blew up this week. That was cool. Nothing
really happened with me. It's not too far from me, but far enough that nothing
happened. I got to see the explosions and stuff on T.V. because ALL of Chile
was watching. I also got to see the lady president. My companion just came from
that area, Villarica.
The volcano’s name is Volcán Villarica. That volcano is so
pretty. I got to see it while I was in the plane. I actually think I sent you
guys a pic of it. My companion was really sad she wasn't there because she said
she would look out the window EVERY morning in hopes that it was going to erupt
while she was there. Haha silly
So last Monday right after Pday festivities, we went over to a
lady in a different sector that we are teaching because she doesn’t want the
elders to teach her. Her name is Maria Cristina and is maybe 55 or so? I hadn’t
met her yet. The walk over to her casa was so pretty. The sky was GORGEOUS! I
didn't get a pic of it because I don´t like taking my camera with me all the
time because I want to take a picture of literally EVERYTHING because Chile is
AWESOME. And so picture worthy.
Well anyway, this sector is called Bosque and it looks exactly
like Newcastle, Washington, just a little more Chilean and smaller houses. Sort
of. Anyway, we showed up and there were two people there which actually
happened to be members! yay! So we talked with them and then started to teach
her about the 10 commandments because she's pretty far in the lessons. We got
to the second commandment and she stopped us and asked us to explain to her
more the Godhead because she doesn't understand the difference between Jesus
and the Father and the Spirit and such. My companion explained the difference,
but she was just not agreeing with that concept or was just confused. Bam. The
spirit told me to share John 3:16 and 17. The one about for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, ...and I don't remember the
rest in English, but I asked her to read it. And when she finished she just
stared at the page for a bit and said, 'Claro.' She started crying. We talked
about the role of the Father and the Son in the aspect of their difference in
beings, but unity in purpose. And their purpose is based on their love. Then we
explained that what she is feeling right now is the spirit. We talked some more
about that and she suddenly just understood! Then the spirit prompted me to
turn to the scriptures about Jesus Christ's baptism because I realized that
that is a time when all the members of the godhead were present and recorded in
the scriptures so clearly. We read that and then focused on how after Jesus was
baptized Heavenly Father said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased. I talked about His example and how perfect he was, but he still was
baptized because it is that important. And then we talked about the love he had
for us for setting that example and how pleased Heavenly Father was. Then she
said she wants Heavenly Father to say he is pleased with her. So I asked her if
she would be baptized. And she said she’s not sure, and then one of the members
that was there said, well you have to say yes or no. And we all laughed and
then she said, I want to be baptized now. I really do.
The spirit was so strong. We set a date for the first Saturday
of April because she is smokes a lot and we still had to teach her the word of
wisdom so we wanted to give her time to give up smoking. We ended the lesson.
Oh the spirit was so strong. She was so happy! She asked us when we would come
back again and sprang up to write it on her calendar really big! She was just
so happy! We also handed her the word of wisdom pamphlet for her to read before
we came to teach her. We were kind of nervous about this part, but then she
just grabbed the pamphlet and with the biggest smile on her face she said, 'OH!
is this what will tell me how to stop smoking?!' hahaha she's awesome. We saw
her again on Friday and we started having a conversation with her and I freaked
out in my mind because I was wondering why she was speaking Spanish! And then I
remembered that she lives in Chile and is Chilean and doesn’t know English!
hahaha I didn't remember that lesson on Monday in Spanish! hahaha That was
really funny and actually really cool because I knew the spirit had worked
through me in that lesson. My companion was freaking out when we got home
because she couldn't believe Maria Cristina said yes to baptism. She said she
was freaking out during the lesson because the lesson was on the commandments
and I was going way off but she decided to just trust me and go along with it.
She said she didn't think Maria Cristina would say yes. They have been teaching
her for 4 months I think and Hna. Oross said she was just depressed and sad and
didn't want to be baptized and Hna Oross said she had never seen her be so
happy and she was so different! Oh it was just great. How great is this
work.
Okay other things... this Thursday we had a family home evening
with a member family and an investigator family. It was AWESOME. awesome
awesome awesome. I won't go into so much detail because of time, but the spirit
was so strong. We taught about repentance and made it interactive and
GREAT.
We collected rocks
that afternoon and went all the way to this nice park that had a little crevice
for the rainwater to drain in and there were some rocks in it. We spent about
half an hour rock hunting for A LOT of good sized rocks. It was pretty fun. And
the walk home was funny because we had nothing to carry them in but our arms
which was difficult. AND THEN on the corner from our house we passed a
construction dump pile of ROCKS. Yeah. We just laughed and laughed because we
put all this effort into finding and carrying these rocks when there was the
easiest way right next to our house! hahaha that was the best blonde moment
ever. It was so funny.
Anyway, we used the rocks for the lesson and put them in a
backpack talking about sin and then had pasos (steps) for the kid to take which
are the pasos of repentance. Everyone was so intently engaged in this lesson.
After the lesson, the dad of the investigator family asked if he could have the
papers that had the differnt names of the pasos. It was great. We also gave
each of them a rock that they can only get rid of once they repent of
something. This lesson sounds so lame, but it was SOOOO good. Oh the spirit was
strong. We also played that game where you pass the penny and the person in the
middle has to figure out who has it. The one Mom plays with us in family night.
It was so funny. Everyone loved it, even the big people. They were laughing a
lot.
Afterward, we had
completos. Yum. Chilean completos are called completos probably because of how COMPLETE
they are. YUM. Yeah, that was good. Guess what my job was in completo
preparation? Cutting the TOMATOES. Yeah. I almost threw up, but they were all
fascinated at how I cut the tomatoes. They had me teach them and everything
hahaha I guess they cut differently?
Hermana Oross and I have now run for 11 days straight. Just 20
days of it officially being a habit. We look forward to it every morning! It´s
so funny and SO COOL!
Oh this week Hermana Oross and I were asked by our district
leader to teach the two zones Calle Calle and Valdivia about contacting. It was
pretty fun. We prepared a skit and told funny stories that happened to us that
week. And then taught stuff about contacting.
Hermana Olson
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