Guess what guys. I am now officially a missionary. I have endured sunburn, blisters, rejection - there was only one thing left to complete my initiation. I got bit by a dog.
Don't worry, I'm fine. It happened last week, right after I finished writing my family. It was a big black dog, and I'm pretty sure it was part bear. But it was also a very clean dog. It had all of its shots - I know, because I asked the owners. And it was a very clean bite. My companion took me home and got me all bandaged up, and I went proselyting the next day. Don't worry, Mom. I'm doing great! The wound is almost completely healed.
I was reading an article in the Liahona about the Mormon pioneers. Whenever I read stories about the pioneers, I am blown away by the things they did because of their faith in Jesus Christ. They sacrificed so much. I read about a woman who single-handedly kept her wagon from sliding down a very steep hill while her young children sat and watched, and I thought, what could she have been thinking?! I tried to put myself in the woman's shoes, and the thought that came to me was, of course she would do that. It was what needed to be done.
That's how we need to be. We need to cultivate faith so strong that when we are called upon to sacrifice or to do hard things for the Lord, our thoughts are, Of course I will do that. It is what needs to be done. Of course I will travel 6000 miles from my family. Of course I will walk for hours each day in the hot sun. Of course I will endure blisters, sun burn, and dog bites. Of course I will talk to complete strangers about the most precious and sacred thoughts of my heart. Of course I will, because my Savior has asked me to do so. Because I love Him and trust Him.
May we all strive to cultivate such faith as the pioneers had.
¡Les quiero mucho!
Hermana Watts
Q and A for the week:
1. Can you tell us your schedule for a typical day?
6:30 wake up, 8:00 personal study, 9:00 leave the pension, 12:00-12:30ish lunch, 1:30 companionship study, 2:30 new missionary training (which I do for the first 12 weeks), 3:30 language study, 4:30 leave the pension, 9:00 return home and plan, 10:30 lights out
2. How do you do your laundry?
It depends. Sometimes the members wash our laundry, sometimes we wash it (by hand), today we took it to a lavanderia near our pension.
3. When you have interviews with President LaPierre, does his wife come, too?
Yep! She's great.
4. Have you seen a monkey in the wild yet?
Nope. I haven't seen much of anything in the wild, Encarnación is a pretty big city.
5. What kinds of fruits and veggies do you eat?
Bananas, nectarines, peaches, mangoes, pears, grapes, guayaba (which grows everywhere, but you have to be careful - there are usually worms), tomatoes, etc....A very big food staple here is mandioca, which I'm pretty sure is the same as yucca.
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| Hermana Sorenson and Hermana Watts |
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| With President and Sister LaPierre |
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