Monday, January 14, 2013

How are you all doing? I hope life is treating you wonderfully well! 
A few more Spanish jokes (like before with the answers at the bottom): 
1) Que tiene cuando hay un terremoto en la Vaticana? (the Vatican) 
2) Que hace una pez? 
Anyway, what a crazy and great week! Some of the most exciting things were that Antonio (a different investigator than the one that just got baptized) came to church finally for the first time this Sunday!! It was so great. He's also so committed to quitting smoking and he was able to receive a priesthood blessing after church to help him. We've been working with him for quite a while and he came even though his wife who actually is a member didn't come. We are so excited for him! 
We actually have been able to find 6 new investigators this week and it is crazy. Some days, especially on Saturday, we could see the hand of the Lord in absolutely everything that happened. Everything was so miraculous. As one example, the way we found a new investigator, Claudia, was so phenomenal. Every single lesson that day that we had planned, one by one got cancelled for various causes (one person had to go pick his mom up at the airport, another had an uncle and a friend die within 2 days--we brought her ice cream--, another was in Santa Clarita with his family, etc). So we had some time to find before it got dark. We decided that we were going to visit a less active member. But we decided that on the way we would stop by one of the old investigators who we had records for (we had picked out several randomly a week or so ago). The one we happened to pick of our whole stack was just because the people lived closest to the less active member. So we stopped by and on the way I remember Hermana Mulliner making sure that her name badge was showing and was not being covered up by her hair or backpack or jacket (that isn't that normal of a thing to make a huge point out of checking before walking in). But we knocked on their door. They don't normally answer the door for anyone because they're paranoid that people with pistols will just walk in. But he just felt like he should answer the door and he peeked out and saw Hermana Mulliner's namebadge and opened the door and let us in. We found out he was actually baptized when he was a kid but he doesn't remember that much and his wife was very interested in learning more. I don't know if I'm describing it adequately, but every single step led us directly to them and eventually to their door. The Lord didn’t tell us to go directly there, but he directed us there by having us think of Hermana Guerrero, then picking an old investigator paper and everything that happened earlier in the day made us arrive at just the right time on a day when they were both home and then Hermana Mulliner checking her badge to make sure it was showing got us in. We could definitely see the Lord's hand in all of it. He is so mindful of us and sometimes he has to direct us by guiding us through a series of things to get us to where he actually wants us. But they came to church yesterday for sacrament meeting and loved it! 
A random thing that might make you laugh. The last week or two my companion and I have been trying something really random. We have started blending our salads to make vegetable smoothies for lunch. Like we just have gone to the store and looked at different veggies and been like, "well, I think that one is supposed to be healthy for you, so let's buy some of that." We have lots of different things like carrots, spinach, broccoli, celery, peppers, tomatoes, et cetera. What smoothie we make for the day is simply by what combination of veggies we happen to randomly want to try that day. The recipe is really simple. We put whatever veggies we want in the blender and also ice and a liquid like a juice or milk and then blend it. Then we taste it and it is always gross at that point. Then we add something sweet. For instance, we can add a banana, a yogurt cup, a can of fruit (like peaches or apricots), or whatever other fruit we want or happen to have. we add one of them and then blend and taste it. If it still needs more sweet we add something else. We continue to do that until it becomes palatable. The color is always really gross. Some days the taste hasn't been that great either. For instance, just to save us a little bit of potential grief we don't use raw asparagus. It doesn't ever really taste good. We've been trying this for most lunches at home for the past week or so and sometimes the smoothies are really starting to come along and actually become good. But it is funny because every day we laugh about how weird we are. But every day we are like craving it again haha (maybe because Hispanic food that we get all the time isn't that healthy for the most part)! We're always excited to see what it will taste like. We're also always so surprised that you can become full on fruits and veggies. I've also got a really good breakfast recipe that I've recently come up with that actually is a winner every time (I don't know if you'll trust me after the story I just told you about our veggie ones, but this one actually is pretty delicious). You mix the following in a blender: a banana, a cup of yogurt, a bit of milk, some ice cubes, and a handful of oatmeal oat stuff (like the dry stuff you use when you make oatmeal cookies). It is super good and is another way to get some fiber from the oats and fruits. It is all healthy too. I guess we're just having a lot of fun with our blender lately. We've also made peanut butter, chocolate, and banana smoothies too. those are good and just a little bit less healthy :) 
Anyway, that is probably most of what's been going on here. We are always learning and growing. We're really finding out that there are such great and fun ways to do finding activities. Like we've been planning and doing some fun family home evening things, we're working on planning some activities with the YSA branch, we're working on starting an English class, et cetera. I guess there is definitely a difference between working smart and working hard. Sure it is hard work to knock on doors all day long, but it is harder work (and definitely smarter work) to spend the time to work through members and plan activities where they can bring their friends, look for service opportunities, et cetera. 
Also, it's funny how much Hispanic people want to feed you here! Like there was a streak of 4 or so days this week where we didn't eat a single lunch or dinner at home because so many people just kept wanting to feed us. They take offense if you try to say no also. Like their food is their way of offering you a part of their heart, so you have to take it or you're rejecting them. 
But yeah, have a great week. Isn't it crazy how fast time flies? 
~Hermana Whetten Answers: 1) puree de papa 2) nada!