This week was full of ups and downs, as always. On Monday my companion and I traveled to Guayaquil to attend a training for new missionaries and their trainers. The bus ride is about 4 hours long, so we got to Guayaquil at about 6pm. The temple here has a hotel thing where people can stay when they travel long distances to attend, so we stayed there with a bunch of other missionaries who were there for the training as well. It was way fun to see lots of my friends from other sectors who came in for the training.
That night we had a family home evening with all of the missionaries there. I was super stoked because I generally associate family home evenings with an enjoyable and uplifting experience...but this was the boringest fhe of all time. All we did was go around the room and read verse by verse a chapter in the Book of Mormon. No game, no interesting lesson, nothing. And the refreshments were gross. Lame. I vowed to never have lame fhe activities when I grow up.
Tuesday morning we got to do a session in the temple! The first few times I went to the temple I didn`t really understand what was going on and I never made it through an entire session without falling asleep. But this week was different. I think because I now understand the plan of salvation a lot better I was able to learn a lot more and enjoy the temple without being totally confused. Plus I didn`t even fall asleep!
I sat in the celestial room at the end of the session and I looked around at a bunch of people - strangers and friends - and thought about how perfectly beautiful life was at that very moment. It was like everything made sense in my life and I realized why I am here and what I am working towards. I felt this indescribable peace that made my stomach fill with butterflies - the excited kind, not the nervous kind. I wanted to tell every single person on this planet how beautiful God`s plan is for us. I want to make everyone understand how incredible it will be to return to His presence and look around and see friends and strangers and especially family all there enjoying this amazing tranquility. I want everyone to be able to have that. Everyone. And I especially can`t wait to sit there with my entire family and know that every effort of obedience and faith in this life was worth it, that everything we worked for is paid off when we enter in the kingdom of God together forever, never again to worry about trials and illnesses and frustrations of life. In the temple we can enjoy this tranquility for a moment, but after a while we have to go back into the real world again. The thought of feeling like that forever is overwhelming.
I also learned a lot this week about the importance of remembering. I think I was cursed with the memory of a fish. I thought a lot this week about how much I love the gospel and how simple the steps to return to God are. Have faith. Repent. Get baptized. Receive the Holy Ghost. Endure to the end and remain worthy of the Holy Ghost`s constant companionship. Simple, right? When we follow these steps we have moments in life where we realize how badly we want and need God`s blessings, and especially how badly we want to return to His presence. But in the rush of daily life and everything else that gets in the way we forget where we`re going and why. Or maybe it`s just me. I forget what the point of this life is and I forget how I want to live.
So God gave us things to help us remember. The temple. I can`t wait to not be a missionary so I can go to the temple whenever I want. The scriptures. Every day I become more and more obsessed with the Book of Mormon. Prayer. Words of living prophets (aka the Ensign). Weekly church attendance. God gives us so many tools to help us remember where we`re headed and how to get there. It`s simple. We just make it complicated.
Am I even making any sense in what I am saying? Word vomit.
In other news...this week we were teaching familia Roblero. We were watching a movie called On the Way Home. (Maybe I am obsessed with this movie. I think I have seen it 100 times here in the mission and I still love it.) Anyway, this family is adorable. The little girls wait for us in the doorway and literally run down the street to greet us with the hugest hugs in the world. I adore them. So we were sitting there watching this way spiritual movie and suddenly this dog barges through the door chasing this little tiny mouse. After a short pursuit the dog caught the mouse and proceeded to chow down on it right in front of us! I almost barfed. Also I died of laughter and wondered if this was real life. So many strange things happen on a daily basis it is hard to believe I`m not in some alternate reality or something.
The miracle of this week was that on Saturday we were supposed to eat lunch with the bishop`s family. They live really far away from our house, so we made the long journey towards their house. When we arrived the 18 year old son came out and just stood there and looked at us like we were aliens or something. After standing there in really awkward silence waiting to be invited in he asked us what we wanted. How are you supposed to tactfully ask for food? I finally spit out something like "umm...I think we were supposed to come here to eat lunch today or something...?" He cut me off and told me that his parents had gone to Guayaquil and they didn`t have any food. Welp. That`s awkward. We left quickly, wondering what we were going to eat because we were far from the house and from any sort of restaurant.
By some miracle we ran into another member of our ward. He asked where we were going and we explained the awkward situation we had just encountered. Without even thinking twice he told us to go to his house and tell his wife what happened and she would give us food. So we did. And she fed us. And she let me help her cook. We ate this fried fish...eyeballs and little fish teeth and all. It kinda creeped me out, but I was so impressed by their generosity and willingness to give so freely even though they live very humbly and don`t have a lot of food to go around.
And of course the highlight of the week was talking to my family yesterday! It was so good to hear their voices and to laugh. Mostly that was my favorite part. Laughing with them. I miss that. Bah. I love them. I can`t believe I only have 1 phone call left and then I will be home again. So weird. Some days I am stoked about going home, but other days I think about having to deal with real life things again and I am already really nervous about it. Great. Ha. So I will enjoy every moment here in the mission and when the time comes to go home I will love that too.
Hope you all have the best week of your lives. Be good and eat lots of leafy greens. I miss that. And listen to the Avett Brothers and Ingrid Michaelson. And Regina Spektor. But most importantly read your scriptures. Yes, all of those are commands. None of them are optional.
Love you all more than a fat missionary loves rice.
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| 12 missionaries crammed in a tiny bus-taxi. Plus lots of luggage. Plus crazy driving. It was an adventure to say the least. |
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| Happy Mother`s day, mumzie!! |
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