Hola everyone,
It was a good week. I felt better than last week, so that was a tender mercy. Again, thank you for all of your prayers because I know they help me every single day :)
I know this is where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing right now. I've been learning so much on my mission. I'm learning about people- how to get along with them, how the experiences of people shape who they are and how they think. I've been learning to better follow the promptings of the Spirit and how I personally feel the Spirit. I've been learning about myself and it's been so cool and enlightening to view my patriarchal blessing with a mission perspective. I've learned to be kinder and more patient with myself.
The most important thing I've been learning is how blessed I am to have knowledge of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. That used to just be a phrase for me but now it has so much meaning. My mission experience is allowing me to be more grateful for how blessed I am.
So, I just got back from a little drive in the beautiful Shenandoah national park! A really nice member in one of the wards we cover offered to take us because it was free admission today. It was so cool! I know I've said it before, but you'll probably keep hearing it every week- Virginia is SO beautiful! It's just pure paradise- straight off a postcard. The countryside, the trees, the farms, wild
flowers, little picturesque houses and churches everywhere with the blue ridge mountains in the background... everyday I am still amazed at how lucky I am to be here. It is just so amazingly gorgeous and perfect.
The people we work with are so amazing too. I am so blessed to be working with the people here. Hispanics are so loving and trusting. We're just these two gringas that come in and try to speak their language and they hardly even know us, but they open up to us about everything and they're so kind to us. And they are so hospitable too! You know they like you when they offer you at least a water bottle at the end of talking to them. But sometimes we get juice too! Haha
This week we got one of our less actives to mutual! Small victories! We also met this really cool lady from Puerto Rico. She's really nice but she talked so, so fast. I was having a hard time keeping up. We're meeting with her tonight so hopefully that goes well.
Speaking of Spanish, I'm getting better. Sometimes I step back and I'm like, "Woah, wait I just understood someone speaking Spanish over the phone and I spoke back to them without help from my companion?!" Haha. Understanding people in Spanish over the phone is so hard. But I'm getting better! I used to have no idea what they were saying.
We had a lesson with Jacky and Leonardo this week, and we watched the Restoration with them and I was stressed out the whole time because the video was super bad quality and stopping and pausing and I was thinking, "Ahhh I really hope they are understanding this!!" Afterwards, we talked to them more about the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty long lesson, and between that and the video, and my disjointed teaching in Spanish, and the baby crying and making a fuss, I wasn't sure if we had made any impact. But they seemed fine and Leonardo asked us if we were allowed to go to restaurants and we said yes, and he asked if we wanted to go to Chick-fil-a with them, and they would pay for us. We had an appointment after so we couldn't go, and we felt bad because it was so sweet of them to offer that! I was so touched. Again, these two random gringas that they hardly know, trying to teach them and they offer to pay for our dinner! These people.
flowers, little picturesque houses and churches everywhere with the blue ridge mountains in the background... everyday I am still amazed at how lucky I am to be here. It is just so amazingly gorgeous and perfect.
The people we work with are so amazing too. I am so blessed to be working with the people here. Hispanics are so loving and trusting. We're just these two gringas that come in and try to speak their language and they hardly even know us, but they open up to us about everything and they're so kind to us. And they are so hospitable too! You know they like you when they offer you at least a water bottle at the end of talking to them. But sometimes we get juice too! Haha
This week we got one of our less actives to mutual! Small victories! We also met this really cool lady from Puerto Rico. She's really nice but she talked so, so fast. I was having a hard time keeping up. We're meeting with her tonight so hopefully that goes well.
Speaking of Spanish, I'm getting better. Sometimes I step back and I'm like, "Woah, wait I just understood someone speaking Spanish over the phone and I spoke back to them without help from my companion?!" Haha. Understanding people in Spanish over the phone is so hard. But I'm getting better! I used to have no idea what they were saying.
We had a lesson with Jacky and Leonardo this week, and we watched the Restoration with them and I was stressed out the whole time because the video was super bad quality and stopping and pausing and I was thinking, "Ahhh I really hope they are understanding this!!" Afterwards, we talked to them more about the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty long lesson, and between that and the video, and my disjointed teaching in Spanish, and the baby crying and making a fuss, I wasn't sure if we had made any impact. But they seemed fine and Leonardo asked us if we were allowed to go to restaurants and we said yes, and he asked if we wanted to go to Chick-fil-a with them, and they would pay for us. We had an appointment after so we couldn't go, and we felt bad because it was so sweet of them to offer that! I was so touched. Again, these two random gringas that they hardly know, trying to teach them and they offer to pay for our dinner! These people.
We didn't have anyone come to church this week again :( It's seriously so hard to get people to church. But it's ok, this week! One of the Spanish Elders' investigators is getting baptized this week so that's really exciting!
Well, so much more happened, but that's all I got time for. Thank you so, so much for all of your prayers and love, and letters, and packages. I can't remember if I mentioned this last week, but thank you to everyone who sent me birthday cards!!! :)
Have a great week!
Hermana Eddington
Have a great week!
Hermana Eddington
Hi Dad! I love you so much! I'm sorry I haven't gotten you the statistical and logistical info you've wanted. I don't have much time but I'll try to answer them quick!
1. Yes, President allows tracting. But we don't do it a lot because we are busy with people we're teaching, visiting recent converts, less actives, and the driving time.
2. We're teaching about three non-members solidly. But we teach more that we don't see as often, and we have less active members that we teach.
3. Yeah, most of the Hispanics we teach speak little to no English.
The only non-Hispanics we teach are less actives that we've been asked to see from the ward.
It's getting green here and yes I am in a constant state of bliss!
I love you so!!!
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| This is Jacky from Honduras and her son Dominique. He's one of the cutest babies ever and she is so sweet! We love her, and she and her esposo are kind of fascinated with us. |
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| We went exploring in downtown Culpepper last Monday... there are just too many cute churches everywhere! |
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| The Pacheco girls- they are some less actives we are working with and they are SO cute. They are like my sisters. Their parents are from Guatemala but the kids speak English. I love them so much. |
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