Wednesday, September 16, 2015
I Love Sundays - Darkness Before Revelation
September 14, 2015
I asked her what she was pointing to...she said it was a really little castle!
The Cliffs of Insanity (from the Princess Bride) in the background.
Sooo.....this week I learned about the Atonement...haha yep. Ok. This is just how the week went, we had our good moments and our low moments, but all in all, I think it's safe to say my heart got broken a few times this week.
Ok sooo "P." (our Cuban friend) dropped us. Well technically he didn't. "V." and "S." (his brother in law and sister) told us that he wouldn't be meeting with us anymore. He's got a testigo (Jehovah Witness) for a wife and she wasn't all that pleased with him meeting with us. We asked them if "V." could invite "P." over and "S." staring at the TV said "he's not doing this anymore" and "V." said "yeah, his wife is too crazy" and that was it. Hna Turina and I kinda just looked at each other in shock and then had to continue on with the lesson.
And then even more heartbreaking of all...Saturday evening in the bus we got a text telling us that due to the school year starting again and with all the work she has to do "M." won't be able to meet with us any more.....Words can't begin to express my heartbreak. Of all the investigators I've had on the mission she was....incredible. She took notes that were basically copying the whole scriptures down! But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, she said she'll continue studying on her own. Ohhh.... Bueno.
Ok. That's the end of that. What hear a story?
On Saturday we presided over a funeral. Yeah. Crazy things you do on the mission right? It was so sad. The death happened right before we were about to start the lesson. Our investigator's daughter "Y." was crying so hard I kept grabbing her and hugging her. I didn't want her to have to look at all the blood. Especially when "R." walked out of the room she had tears falling down her face and didn't want anyone else to see, but I did. We ended up hauling the corpse up the a hill and having a makeshift funeral. RIP Pajarito. Yep. We buried a bird. It was actually pretty gruesome. One of the friends of the investigator had came over with her dog. The dog grabbed the bird and wouldn't unlock it's jaws. When we finally pried the bird out of it's mouth, it was obviously about to die. The friend felt so bad she was trying to staunch the bleeding and give it little compressions, but it was no use. So when "R." walked out of the room we ended up taking care of things in the midst of a bunch a crying teenagers and children. Hey loosing your first pet is traumatic! I remember when Dad had to take one of our first kittens down to the haystack and put it out of it's misery since a brick had fallen on it. He did what it could and buried it to sooth the heart of a little 10 year old girl, so I did what we could do to make those kids feel better.
We also had a magical moment. Walking down a Spanish street and a little boy was blowing bubbles out the window. We got to throw off a few burdens for a few moments and make a child laugh as we popped his bubbles.
I love Sundays. I love going to church. I love the opportunity of translating for people and having to pay even more attention. I love Relief Society and I love Sunday School. Our teacher yesterday was teaching about the Restoration and when he got to the part of the darkness overcoming Joseph Smith he really transmitted the agony that Joseph Smith must have felt to have been bound by some unseen force, but at the end of it he pulled through and what did he see coming out of that darkness? God, the Father and Jesus Christ. Darkness always comes before revelation.
I love this work. I love the opportunity that I have to take my place and to carry a little bit of this gospel to people. I'm so grateful for my Savior and for the chance I have to personally know him. I can only imagine what pain he feels when his children turn away from him. I know I only have felt a fraction of what he felt. I'm so grateful for the words of modern prophets that truly sooth my soul. I love my Heavenly Father and he loves me. I'm so grateful for all your prayers of love and support. I love you all my family, my friends, and my missionaries. You are wonderful!
Love, Hna Finch
Monkey Park:
I asked her what she was pointing to...she said it was a really little castle!
The Cliffs of Insanity (from the Princess Bride) in the background.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Ooooooga, Ooooooga!
September 7, 2015
P.S. This is the email I received from Hna McKenna first - about 4 hours before the above email:
Can you send me a few different mazes? One's that a six year old could do? Just have to google it and send me the pics that come up:) please?
I love you!
Haha! So I sent her some like these! Silly girl! She must have been having fun!
First off, this week we started off with a big bang. But actually more like a long ooooooga. oooooooga. Like the sound a boat makes. Cause like we were on a boat. And we went to Las Palmas. I loved our time there! Seriously! I learned so much! Can I just say how grateful I am! One of the AP's shared this definition with us in zone conference and it really struck home. He invited us to think of which word it would be. (I like the Spanish translation more.) "A change occurring in the heart and the way you think, which signifies to adopt a new attitude about God, yourself, and life in general." Oh it struck me hard. I wanted to say "Oh that's me! That's me! I want a change of heart! I want a better attitude!" It's repentance. It's the atonement of our Savior. We get to change. We get to become better through Him! How grateful I am for the limitless possibilities I have been given by Him!
We also got to do intercambios with the Las Palmas hermanas. Monday night, Hna Griffin, Hna Pack (President´s wife), and I went out for a few appointments they had. They all failed us. Yup. So we went contacting. It was so fun! I loved it. And I loved translating for Hna Pack. There was one man we met who teaches at the university and he was very interested in the message. And interested to see if he could understand Hna Pack's southern drawl. There was a lot of missionaries (like our whole zone) out contacting Monday night and so we actually contacted a man who had already been contacted by some of the elders, but the elders couldn't communicate with him, because guess what? He spoke ITALIAN! Boom! That´s right! So we chatted with him for a bit, until he realized that I really don't "parlo Italiano", but we were able to give him a card and explain where to find the church website in Italian.
The next day I had intercambios with Hna Marsh. (Yay! For reuniting with old compies!) Seriously though, I love that girl. We had so much fun chatting and catching up. You really do make friends for life on the mission. We had a pretty funny experience in one of our lessons. Jehovah's Witnesses walked into the home of someone we were visiting. I don´t want to say were like rivals, but I think they think we are. They've got a great missionary program, so we always salute each other on the streets, but unless you want to bible bash you don't talk to testigos (witnesses). So the testigos came in and we had a bit of awkward conversation with them. But the Mormons stuck it out longer! The testigos left and we were able to share the message of the Restoration.
So that's how Las Palmas is doing...ha! I'm so sorry, but we actually went to Monkey Park today and I don't have much time and I just used all my time writing about the first of my week! The end was great too! We met a lovely German girl coming home from one of our lesson. She is a....free spirit? Seriously, she put on a backpack bought a plane ticket and left Germany. We found her on the guagua asking directions from a Spanish man and not understanding him! I offered to translate (cause I speak German now, guys;) Hahah jk, She was speaking English. We ended up taking her to the church after and gave her a tour. She won't be staying, but she's so special and it was fun to plant that seed in her. I know she's gonna need the missionaries one day.
Also "E."'s wife, "G.", came to church with him on Sunday! And we got to teach her in his lesson on Saturday! They are such a cute couple! I love them!
"M." is still doing great! The ward is so great with her! Really doing a great job at fellow-shipping her. This week we are going to go eat at the bishop´s house with her. Also the Larcher's (my Italian grandparents/ward mission leaders) left for a month long vacation in Italia. :( I'm heart broken. They really are the cutest! Now I don't know who is going to teach me how to be a lady and give me inspiration to learn Italian! Pero bueno.
I love you all soooo much! Have a beautiful week!
P.S. This is the email I received from Hna McKenna first - about 4 hours before the above email:
Can you send me a few different mazes? One's that a six year old could do? Just have to google it and send me the pics that come up:) please?
I love you!
Haha! So I sent her some like these! Silly girl! She must have been having fun!
Monday, August 31, 2015
Off to Gran Canaria!
August 31, 2015
My dearest family,
How is everybody this week? I thought I had already talked about Hna Turina, but I guess now? Sooo, Hna Turina is from Tahiti, but not actually Tahiti. Her island is called Moorea and its close to Tahiti, but it's a lot smaller than Tahiti. Her native language is Tahitian and French. She started her mission in Azuqueca my 3rd transfer in Alcalá. (Azuqueca is two or three trains stops above Alcalá, so we saw each other quite a bit.) She's got one older sister who served her mission in Florida and a younger sister. She's also got a half brother. She alwwwaays has a flower in her hair and I've learned a lot about the language of flowers from her. For example, if the flower's on the right ear it means your single, if its on the left, you're taken! She also loves Disney, almost as much as me so we've taken to singing Disney songs In a mix of English and French. She's the sweetest thing ever and a true island princess!
Ok so miracle this week. We've got a couple recent converts here, "D." and "R.", father and daughter, who are just great. "R." joined the church first and afterwords the sisters started teaching "D." and she got baptized too. Fairy tale right? ....yeah, no. Here's the catch Richard's wife hasn't been that happy with us coming over. For her Richard joining the church is something strange and unfamiliar and it's not something they share and she doesn't want to
share it. In my 2 transfers with Hna Sanitago I think we talked to her maybe twice and basically it was a "Hi, oh another rubia (blonde) ...you all look the same!" And this was not exactly said in the nicest way. Anywho, we got over there last week to introduce Hna Turina to them and "D.", the wife, actually stayed for a good little while we
chatted and Hna Turina told about how she lost her father. She left for the lesson, but she invited us to take us home the next time we came and drive us by some beaches. Yay! She's warming up! Honestly it really has been a miracle to see her progress. "R." also got his patriarchal blessing and he's quite sure she'll come around.
"M." is doing incredible. I love her. I love seeing the change the gospel makes in people. With her it's been an actual physical change. The first time she came to church in beach clothes. It looked like she was going to be bouncing right after church. Yesterday (and this has been a gradually change, she is coming in better clothes every time) she came in this beautiful navy and white outfit, her hair was straightened, her makeup was on and she was glowing. Annnnd she even said the prayer in our gospel principles class. Oh! She's so great! She really has climbed over mountains considering she thought praying was meditation. I love her!
In other news, we're on a boat to Gran Canaria for conference again. Wish I could say I was excited. I mean I am, but after the conference we've got intercambios so we won't be getting back to our area until Wednesday and we had to leave our area yesterday. I may have teared up a little when I realized how much time we'd be missing.
but it's good! The Lord is gonna take care of our area! And I've just got to learn how to be less of a control freak since I can't really control things when I'm an island away....Wooo! We can do this! Hahaha
Ps. I had a dream Thursday night that I was looking at my hair and I saw a black dot on one strand. It scared me so badly that it was lice that I woke right up got on my knees and said a prayer! Hahaha
Pps. The joke for this week. Richard comes up to me and says you grew up on a field. You know like chickens and horses and cows, well what's the laziest animal on a farm? The vaca (cow), why? Cause it's always on a "vaca"tion. Hehehe
Ppps. I still can't learn French. But my Italian's coming in handy. When we were waiting for the Guagua last night we started talking with the cutest Italian family who were super interested in what we do as missionaries! Io parlo italiano!
Pppps. We've got a German in our ward now. Ich spreche Deutsch.
Ppppps. We just watched meet the Mormons for part of zone p day and FRANK is in it! Hahah! I saw him and I said! THAT'S FRANK! Hahaha everybody was laughing:) tell Frank I love him when you see him next time!
My dearest family,
How is everybody this week? I thought I had already talked about Hna Turina, but I guess now? Sooo, Hna Turina is from Tahiti, but not actually Tahiti. Her island is called Moorea and its close to Tahiti, but it's a lot smaller than Tahiti. Her native language is Tahitian and French. She started her mission in Azuqueca my 3rd transfer in Alcalá. (Azuqueca is two or three trains stops above Alcalá, so we saw each other quite a bit.) She's got one older sister who served her mission in Florida and a younger sister. She's also got a half brother. She alwwwaays has a flower in her hair and I've learned a lot about the language of flowers from her. For example, if the flower's on the right ear it means your single, if its on the left, you're taken! She also loves Disney, almost as much as me so we've taken to singing Disney songs In a mix of English and French. She's the sweetest thing ever and a true island princess!
Ok so miracle this week. We've got a couple recent converts here, "D." and "R.", father and daughter, who are just great. "R." joined the church first and afterwords the sisters started teaching "D." and she got baptized too. Fairy tale right? ....yeah, no. Here's the catch Richard's wife hasn't been that happy with us coming over. For her Richard joining the church is something strange and unfamiliar and it's not something they share and she doesn't want to
share it. In my 2 transfers with Hna Sanitago I think we talked to her maybe twice and basically it was a "Hi, oh another rubia (blonde) ...you all look the same!" And this was not exactly said in the nicest way. Anywho, we got over there last week to introduce Hna Turina to them and "D.", the wife, actually stayed for a good little while we
chatted and Hna Turina told about how she lost her father. She left for the lesson, but she invited us to take us home the next time we came and drive us by some beaches. Yay! She's warming up! Honestly it really has been a miracle to see her progress. "R." also got his patriarchal blessing and he's quite sure she'll come around.
"M." is doing incredible. I love her. I love seeing the change the gospel makes in people. With her it's been an actual physical change. The first time she came to church in beach clothes. It looked like she was going to be bouncing right after church. Yesterday (and this has been a gradually change, she is coming in better clothes every time) she came in this beautiful navy and white outfit, her hair was straightened, her makeup was on and she was glowing. Annnnd she even said the prayer in our gospel principles class. Oh! She's so great! She really has climbed over mountains considering she thought praying was meditation. I love her!
In other news, we're on a boat to Gran Canaria for conference again. Wish I could say I was excited. I mean I am, but after the conference we've got intercambios so we won't be getting back to our area until Wednesday and we had to leave our area yesterday. I may have teared up a little when I realized how much time we'd be missing.
Ps. I had a dream Thursday night that I was looking at my hair and I saw a black dot on one strand. It scared me so badly that it was lice that I woke right up got on my knees and said a prayer! Hahaha
Pps. The joke for this week. Richard comes up to me and says you grew up on a field. You know like chickens and horses and cows, well what's the laziest animal on a farm? The vaca (cow), why? Cause it's always on a "vaca"tion. Hehehe
Ppps. I still can't learn French. But my Italian's coming in handy. When we were waiting for the Guagua last night we started talking with the cutest Italian family who were super interested in what we do as missionaries! Io parlo italiano!
Pppps. We've got a German in our ward now. Ich spreche Deutsch.
Ppppps. We just watched meet the Mormons for part of zone p day and FRANK is in it! Hahah! I saw him and I said! THAT'S FRANK! Hahaha everybody was laughing:) tell Frank I love him when you see him next time!
Monday, August 24, 2015
"Chaste" isement
August 24, 2015
Mi familia!
I hope you all have a fantastic week! Island life is beautiful and I'm so glad I have the chance to share it with a real islander too! This week I started to learn French for my compie. It. Is. Hard. Ugh. Ha, we've been reading the Book of Mormon on the Guagua (bus) when there's nobody to talk to and I feel like who ever made up the spelling in French was completely whacked out. My companion taught me "Just don't pronounce half the word." I started doing that. It actually worked! Boy you really know mission calls are inspired when you learn Spanish instead of French!
The other day my comp was explaining some boats they have on her island and I was like "Oo! Oo! Are they like the kind of boats on Johnny Lingo?!" She was confused so I started explaining Johnny Lingo to her and she's like " Ohhhh! Kolipoki!" Bahahahahaha!!! Yep Kolipoki :) You know you're an from the Pacific Islands when....
Onto spiritual matters: I can't remember if I've talked about this before, but I have gained such a testimony of visiting teaching on my mission and on Tuesday I had the opportunity to see visiting teaching done right. We were invited to the birthday party of one of our less actives and her nonmember mother. Annnd the visiting teachers we there. Not only were they there to share a message with this family for her birthday, but the love they held for this dear sister was palatable. This sister knew that her visiting teachers loved her and they loved and cared for her nonmember mother as well. What a great example those two woman are for me!
We ate lunch with "M." (our wonderful investigator), "C." (a recent convert), and "M." (a member) at the house of Hno "C." yesterday and later we visited "M." in her home and we asked her "M.", do you want to be baptized?" I was generally wondering. We've been teaching her forever now and she's one of those people who just looove learning and I just wanted to know how she was feeling about it, heaven know we talk about it often enough, and she's shot us down often enough, and with the lunch yesterday a lot of the conversation had been focused on earnest seekers of truth. And she shot back "Well, I'm the process of that aren't I?" Haha! I love Spaniards! Then she asked us "When do you have those baptismal services anyways?" "Well actually we're having one on the 12th....;)" "Oh! that's way too early! I've only been learning with you guys 7 weeks!" Ha. I love her. She is so meticulous about her life and she truly wants to know exactly what she's getting into. I wish she would see what we see. She is honestly the most prepared person I have ever met. She is striving constantly to better her life. When we walked into her house last night. She had a huge book case filled with self improvement and learning books. She is so earnest and I love her for that. She'll be baptized I know she will, even if she's too meticulous to set a date right now.
Our other wonderful friend, "E.", accepted a date to be baptized this week! I'm so excited for him. He is the epitome of childlike faith. He has pure good desires to follow Christ and when we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ this week he responded without hesitation to our invitation to be baptized. "Lo haré." (I will do it!) Ah! Chills!
We also had a pretty powerful lesson with "P.", our Cuban friend. Law of Chastity time. :) You see "P." learned his English from songs. And they weren't church hymns either. It's actually kinda frustrating to hear the things he says sometimes. So when teaching we put a pretty powerful emphasis on keeping our words chaste. And he tried to make a joke out of it. It. wasn't. funny. In fact the lyrics he responded with to a statement we had him read in the pamphlet may have been the most disgusting things I've heard my whole mission. Maybe it's cause they were in English so I actually understood. But he looked at me with a kind of ¨Ooo what's the teacher gonna do now look´ that you would see of the face of 13 year old pubescent boy instead of a 65-ish year old man. I was.....righteously indignant? The room was silent as I proceeded to chastise/testify. "P.". You are a son of God. We are here to teach you that. It doesn't matter that you are just repeating songs. They are vulgar and you know it. So it's time for you to act like the person your Heavenly Father knows you are." I can testify that we truly are set apart to call people to repentance. If those had been any other circumstances and I had not been saying the things I said with the Spirit it could have been some very hard things to hear. But something in that (the Spirit) touched "P.". It was after that that he apologized and committed to live the Law of Chastity, all the Law of Chastity, thoughts, words, and actions.
Whew! Ok! If you made through all of that congrats! Haha! I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week and go about doing much good! Remember who you are and live up to your divine destiny!
Besitos, Hna Finch
Ps. Be like Luis a drunk guy we met on the street this week! While trying to hit on us we asked "Are you a person of belief?" No answer, just coming dangerously close to our faces. "Soooo...are you?" Luis: "Siempre siento Dios en mi corazón." "I always feel God in my heart." Ha! Loves!
I don´t think I mentioned it, but president changed our schedule, now it looks like this.
7:30 arise, exercise
8:00 get ready
8:30 breakfast
9:00 personal study
10:00 study language 30 min
10:30, proselytize
2:00 lunch
2:30 study language 30 min
3:00 companion study
4:00 proselyte
10-10:30 return home, 30 planning session and prepare for next day
11:30 sleep
My comp's flower skills. Yellow with yellow.
Couscous with Fatima and her daughter! So cute and so yummy!
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