May 26, 2014
Not even sure where to
begin…
Ok well I guess I
could start with divisions. 2 stories
1. We contacted this guy and he is just a
neighborhood watchman and the Hermanas would stop by and teach him. He never
has given them his address where the missionaries could go to his house and
teach him. We went over and started talking to him and he was just talking and
ranting about stuff and it was not productive - so I just blurted out, “Where
do you live_ Do you live here? He told
me he didn’t. We talked a little about
how it would be so much better for him to really find out about what we teach
if he went to church. Randomly still don’t
know how this worked out he had gone to church once - and he then described to
us the church building where I go to church. I was like that’s my sector. What
street do you live on_ Got the address! The random thing is that he lives like
30 minutes from that building and doesn’t live in my sector. It was a neat
experience for me because I saw the hand of the Lord in my life and in this man’s
life. I have no idea what I said that was different but it was what he needed
to give his address and commit to go to church with the Elders the following Sunday.
Miracles happen - sometimes they are small things like the investigator that wouldn’t
give his reference to anyone for over 7 months and then one day give it to us
this week. I think a lot of people don’t believe in miracles because one they aren’t
looking for them and two they aren’t praying for them. I know that if we will
pray for miracles we will see them because they are present.
2. 2nd story. The sister I went on divisions with
just found out the other P day that her cousin is probably going to die and
that he is in the ICU. They are more like brother and sister than cousins and
she is having a hard time. We talked about peace and how we only can find peace
in the Savior and how the world tries to seek peace doesn’t work. We can just go to a spa to have find peace for
maybe an hour, but true inner peace can only come from the Prince of Peace, Our
Savior. We must turn to Him and strive to be like Him and live our lives
according to God’s will and through this we can find peace. I loved this quote from a talk
"Even with the trials of life, because of the Savior´s
Atonement and his grace, righteous living will be rewarded with personal peace.”
We
decided to pray and we each said a prayer. And when she was saying her prayer
to put her cousin’s life in God’s hands. I felt 1) that her cousin was going to
die and 2) I felt an incredible peace. After the prayer she told me she felt
the same thing as I did. We just sat there on the floor and cried. I put myself
in her shoes and cried with her. But at the same time we felt peace. We know that this life was meant to be hard
and that death is a part of this life and it’s ok to cry but we also know
that our Savior has come and He lives and through him we can return to live
with loved ones again. We felt peace
from this. It was a tender moment. I learned how to really empathize with
someone. We need to put ourselves in their shoes and that God loves us a whole
lot because I could feel it.
Ok so Wednesday I
came home from divisions (keep in mind they are all sick over there) so of
course I came back sick. We made it to
lunch and I passed out at the Cabezas house. I don’t know what it was but I was
all weak and achy and was freezing and a little confused. Let’s just say I
remember laying down and waking up in Nicole’s bed…Nicole is the one ya’ll met
on Skype. I was so sick. So Hna Molina came and picked us up and took us home
in her car, she is a saint and saved us the mile walk home!!! So we get home
and went to sleep and the next day I woke up and I felt a little better until
like 10 in the morning and then I felt all weak again. I was tired so I took a nap and couldn’t get
up when my comp woke me up. I then made it to the couch and was wearing all the
layers I could put on with like 5 blankets and I was in my sleeping bag not to
mention Hna Huber and I bought those masks which have eye holes and mouth holes
yes I was that cold! So I was homebound
another day… not cool right so Hermana Huber left with Hermana Portillo and I
was left at home with Hermana Chavez. So after sleeping till 4 I got up and was
feeling better so I was like Hna Chavez let’s go and work for a bit because I
feel better. I put on like 3 pairs of leggings cause I was still cold… and we
left… yep shouldn’t have left!!! It’s
just when you sit at home 1) You feel terrible cause you should be out helping
people and 2) super boring! So off we went. We ended up contacting in the middle of
nowhere right and the weakness hits again and I had to just sit down on the
side of the road and rest. Then the sun starts setting. I am like we’ve got to
go home before I pass out. We got up and start walking to the next bus stop - it’s
an hour walk away and then we would need to wait for the other bus that could
take us home that passes by every hour. So we are walking and Chavez is
supporting me and the sun goes down and down and it’s almost all the way dark.
We are in the middle of nowhere and it was worrying me cause I didn’t feel so
good so we started or attempted to flag down cars to take us home (hitch hiking
is normal out here in the boonies) we didn’t have success and then out of nowhere
we hear growling… yes I look behind me and see about 6 or so dogs… I have lost
all fear of dogs here in Chile cause if they get too close we just scream “fuera”
or get away and they leave. Hna Huber is an ex-softball player and she has great
aim with rocks for the dogs that try anything.
I saw all 6 of the dogs and was like no big deal and kept walking - the
next thing I know I look down at my knee and this dog has got my leg in his
mouth. It’s like everything froze and I was like, “What in the world is this
really happening?” yep…Welcome to Pirque. I started screaming and fighting this dog, I
kicked if off of my leg and started kicking at it while I’m screaming at it. Meanwhile Hna Chavez got bit too and she was
fighting off 2 other dogs and the other dogs were just barking like crazy. Hna Chavez goes “Hulk” on the two dogs and realizes
I’m screaming and comes to kick the dog trying to get me and instead. I don’t know if she kicked me or tripped me
but the next thing I know I am flying through the air and I land on the
pavement. A couple things run through my
head first…I’m like fetal position and then I think, “Wait I’m in the middle of
the road and I’m at the level of the dogs where I could get attacked by even
more dogs or I could get hit by a car.” Neither was a good idea so I just
got up and started running and Chavez was right by my side. We made it out and
stopped to assess the damage when we made it to “safeish” ground. I just started laughing because the turn of
events was so random I just had to laugh at what just happened it had been such
a random day.
When life throws you a bunch of lemons just
laugh your way through it right haha well by that time it’s dark like
really dark and we couldn’t see if our bites were bad or not but it really didn’t
hurt and there is no bus in sight so we start trying to flag down cars and
someone finally stops after like 15 minutes of this. This person took us and takes us to the
closest bus stop and we took the bus home. When we got home had to take off all
my layers. I was still on an adrenaline rush and I saw my bite isn’t that bad because
of my 3 layers of tights saved me… but my leg was still bleeding… and Hna Chavez´s
was worse and she was bleeding more. We
cleaned them up they really weren’t bad at all but I’m thinking. Ya they weren’t that bad but it broke the skin
and bled… so that means we had to get rabies shots… cause I have no idea why
they bit us. We were just walking along
normally and they came up from behind and bit us. Not normal right? There is no way we can find those dogs again
to see if they actually have rabies. So the next day we woke up with lovely
bruises and head over to interviews with President. There Hermana Wright told
us that we have to go get rabies shots. I’m kind of freaking out cause I’ve
always heard that rabies vaccines hurt so bad and you have to get them in your
belly button so I was not looking forward to that. So they sent us to a clinic
in the ghetto… not sure why we went to that one but there was a member there
and he let us stay together the whole time so that was great. So Hna Chavez and
I hop on a bus and head out to the sketchiest sector in our mission for our
first check up and the rest we could do at a clinic in Pirque. We got there and
I’m not going to lie the ghetto was freakin me out! This nice lady walked us to the clinic from
the bus. She was like are you scared to be here? I said no we will be alright. (thinking to
myself - you bet I am hahah) it reminded
me a lot of the sketchy parts of down town Atlanta haha. We went inside and got our shots and left. (They
gave us the shots in our arms and we have to go back weekly for the next month
to get more!) It was an adventure this week that’s for sure. Never thought I
would be getting vaccinated for rabies in my life haha, but it’s all good cause this whole thing was
all free even got the flu shot for free whoo hoo.
Sunday was so
neat because bro Coburn came to church. It was fun to see a familiar face and
it was so funny one of our investigators called him the Arnold Schwarzenegger - the terminator= so funny. Our
branch has come such a long way I feel like we are all family now and that we
are more united. I’ve seen miracles here in Pirque. Thanks for all the stuff!
Everyone loved their stuff. Hermana Portillo almost cried she was so happy. She
says lots of hugs and thanks so much for the ring mom. She loves you mom she
tells me that she just feels your love and how neat you are just from the
photos of you and all that you send. I thought that was cute, mom - people love
you and they have only seen your photo. Well I sure love you bunches too. This
Sunday Andres and P aola came to church! And they blessed their baby Jaime.
It was so neat cause they aren’t members yet but they wanted to bless their
baby. It was so cute cause Brother Coburn sat next to them in church and
with us! This week was an adventure that’s for sure I’m ready for a normal week
next week, but I think that’s what I said last week! hehe asi es la vida and that’s just life! Well
love ya’ll and know that I know that this work is so important and that Christ
is our Savior and we can do all things through Him!
Love ya’ll
Hermana Jennings
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