Herro! :D
Yaaaaaaay!!! Got accepted!! :D I figured I probably would, but I was still getting kinda nervous about it.
This has been kind of an interesting week. The Borinaga family is still doing pretty well. There was one lesson last week where we were teaching about faith and repentance, and Cynthia, who's a bit of a basket case, randomly started chewing on her son, John Claine, about certain things he needed to stop doing. John Claine's really not a bad kid. His main problem is he's getting caught up in the wrong crowd and making some mistakes. Elder Ranoco and I thought it was completely unneccesary to sit there and chew on him like that. :/ On Sunday, we almost thought they weren't going to make it to church, and that we wouldn't have any investigators at church. But then it turned out that a member brought a few friends from school, and then Cynthia and John Claine showed up in the middle of Gospel Essentials class. It was like, "Yay, you're here!" :D It was great, because the lesson in Gospel Essentials was perfect for that family. The other day, we brought a few of the young men to their house, and they made pretty good friends with John Claine. John Claine had a bit of a relapse with alcohol the previous night, because he was invited to a party by friends, and Justin and Ian, who we brought with us, were able to relate really well and give him some advice. It was a good experience for them.
On a bit of a sadder note, one of our other investigators, Sister Jay Ann, pretty well turned us down yesterday. She and her hopefully soon-to-be husband (another live-in case), Jestoni, had been making really good progress. Jay Ann had received a pretty firm answer to her prayers, and had developed a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. On Sunday, we discussed baptism with them, and they understood the importance of it really well, as well as the importance of having proper authority to baptize. Bro. Jestoni was all for being baptized, but Jay Ann, though she seemed she wanted to, said she wanted to think about it, saying her dad might not be happy about it. So we gave her a bit of time to think, and came back yesterday. When we showed up yesterday, I could tell something was wrong. She didn't smile when she greeted us. She seemed tired. Her countenance had changed entirely. Then, when we asked her if she'd given it some thought, she said, "No. I don't want to. It's never entered my mind to convert to another religion. I was born a Catholic, and I'll die a Catholic. My whole family's Catholic, and that's just the way I'll stay." I was shocked. We asked her again if she believed if Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and if this is the true Church of Jesus Christ, and she said, "Yeah, I believe in everything you're saying. But I don't want to change religions." The baby then started crying in the other room, so she went to go take care of her, and disappeared. She didn't come back out to face us again. We were shattered. Jestoni was just as surprised as we were. She hadn't said anything like that to him before. The rejection was sudden and unexpected. We invited Jestoni to come to church on Sunday, and he said he would. He also said he'd talk to Jay Ann. I think someone talked to her between Sunday's visit and yesterday's, possibly someone from her family or whatnot, and convinced her not to get baptized, possibly even threatened her. Based on her reaction, based on her sudden change of attitude, it really seems like she didn't want to say what she said to us. I'm not ready to give up yet. We'll keep trying to encourage her to rethink her decision.
Just goes to show that even now, in the last few months of the mission, there's still challenges that await me. I'm hoping we can overcome this one, because I really like that family, and I don't want to drop them.
I won't be travelling home alone. Actually, most of my batch is going home on the same day. Most of them are going for the same reason, college, but some of them are just going home so they can be home for Christmas. :P I don't imagine that they'll all have the 8-hour layover at Taipei, though, and I'll be the only one going to SeaTac airport. For travel purposes, being alone is probably pretty unavoidable, and it should be fine.
Transfer announcements were kinda amusing on Monday. No one transferred, except two of the sisters.
I find it hard to understand why wanting to be on the same track as a sibling to save on travel costs and reduce fuel emissions by carpooling isn't an acceptable reason to request a certain track. :P But I suppose that's not my call. Hopefully we'll be on the same track anyway.
Question: Mom, Richelle, and Darcy, what are your ring sizes? I need to know by next Monday for confidential reasons. Special mission prerogative. Or something. ;P
I do too remember what snow and ice are! It's that stuff you have to scoop out of the freezer every once in a while so your hot dogs don't get lost forever and die of freezer burn. :P
Anyway, it's getting pretty close. This is my last full transfer, then just half a transfer left, and then I'll be heading home. I'M LEAAAAVIN! ON A JET PLANE! DON'T KNOW WHEN I'LL BE BACK AGAIN... ;P
...Ahem, until next week, then...
Ingatz! :D
Love,
Elder David Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment