It was the rainiest week ever. Tuesday we were tracting
and looked up like "Hum, those clouds are moving awfully fast. They're
real gray too. Whoa where'd this wind come from? It's pretty strong.
If it rains it means no tornado right? Or does the tornado come
afterward? So if this rain stops suddenly, we're supposed to jump in
the nearest ditch, correct?"
Good news is, no tornado came and we did
not have to fling ourselves into a ditch. The bad news is, the rain
came down in torrents and we didn't have coats. Just one feeble
umbrella a member had lent us when they dropped us off. Within seconds,
we looked like we'd just jumped into a swimming pool.
But we walked to
the nearest house and a very kind older couple let us come in and sit
on their plastic-covered couch. By the time our ride got there to pick
us up, we'd small talked our way into a friendship with the couple and
they said come back anytime. We went back the next day and taught her
the first lesson. Don't know how much she absorbed, but she loved our
company.
A couple of hilarious old ladies took us to visit a
less active who was in desperate need of fellowship, one of them a sassy
black woman with a French name, and then they took us to a seafood
buffet afterward where I got "full as a tick" on fried catfish, gumbo,
etouffe, stuffed shrimp, hush puppies, FROG LEGS, and banana pudding.
Frog legs. All I could think while eating them was that scene from
Princess and the Frog. Those hunters in the movie, by the way: 100% no
joke completely accurate representation.
Remember my dream to be a waitress? I contemplated
how Californians would take it if I was the kind of waitress that calls
everyone "baby," old and young, male and female. Still have not reached
a decision.
We taught an older woman who'd spent many years
working in a place that made airplanes and was so deaf we had to yell 3
Nephi chapter 11 at her, my voice shot by the end and she told us she
enjoyed it very much. Bless her heart. We taught a second lesson to
one of our ghetto friends, the one that just got out of jail, and then
met his mom, who had a single gold grill on her front tooth with a star
cut out of it. I don't know where I am sometimes. Another of our
ghetto friends, the young one, found us on the street and said "I'm glad
I caught ya'll! I read a page in that pamphlet every night til I
finished it. And I would like a copy of the Book of Mormon." Made our
day.
A recent convert that we've been visiting frequently
since I got here finally gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon. All
it took was regular study and earnest prayer, which he had to choose to
do on his own. He's very in tune, and very humble. Said he was
reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and in his prayer said "Lord, this
sounds just like you!" and the Lord answered, "It IS me." This shook
him a little bit, because of his many years believing the Bible was
complete, infallible, all there was. So he poured out his soul, "I
don't know what's true anymore!" And his answer, "You know who you
sound like? Joseph Smith." And it clicked. We rejoiced so much at
this news.
Bestest news of all: the couple that were set to
get married, TOTALLY GOT MARRIED! Me and Sister C bought matching tops
at walmart, wore them with our matching skirts, picked wildflowers while
tracting Friday afternoon, and were makeshift bridesmaids Friday night
at the church, our new bishop performing his first wedding ever. It was
short, sweet, dignified, and meaningful, just like everything else in
the church. They covenanted to be faithful to each other "until the end
of [their] mortal journeys" and now our money's on a temple sealing in a
year. Or however long it takes. We were soooo happy.
He said after the wedding, driving home, he felt a great weight
lifted and knew he'd been forgiven. He told his new wife, and at that
moment there was a three-second rainfall, which she took to be a sign
that she had too. There is peace in righteous doing.
And he, the less active, figured it all out on his own! After our
countless nights of trying to read scriptures and teach principles and
extend commitments without getting knocked over by the Doberman, they
must have somehow felt the Spirit during our visits and he figured out
that living the gospel was what he had to do, the best thing for himself
and his family, and the only way to be at peace.
15 Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things.
16 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. [D&C 123]
Keep up the small things, friends. The world's in a storm, and very large ships are counting on us. Love you all.
Sincerely,
Sister Valdez
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