OUR FRIENDS

We had our day all planned out.  We finally had a little time to catch up on a few things.   We planned on visiting a missionary house and give them a little message and some goodies and check on their needs.  (We visit missionary house two or three time a week.)   Then, we planned on using the extra time to walk around taking to people and do a little shopping.  Fat chance.   We made these plans the night before, we went to bed looking forward to an easier day.   So, we were awakened by a call. It was two elders with a bed bug problem.  They asked if tomorrow we could wash their sheets and bring them some bug spray.  We finished this call and got another.  It was sister missionaries.  They had seen the same man several times today, he was old  had grey hair and long side burns.  They were scared he was following them.   Well, we drive around every day and we see the same people every day.  It's a small town.  But, never second guess a sister, so we said we would take them to their first appointment and we would search around for the guy.  Now we were awake, and the thought came to mind that we received four new missionaries and they were probably freezing, so, tomorrow we would buy some blankets for them.  That was the end of our plans for a "free" day.  This kind of thing is typical every day, but, we love it.

One day a few days ago, we started our day and every thing was going bad:  we heard water running and when we came out into the main room, the other bathroom was flooded and the water was running through the house like a river.   We shut water off to the toilet and cleaned up.  Kathy got into the shower and the power went out in part of the house including the little heater at the end off the shower head.   Freezing cold water came out and that was the end of Kathy's shower.   Also, we were both still sick.  We pulled ourselves together and went to a zone meeting.  A few days before we attended a zone meeting and understood the Spanish quite well.  Not this day, we could not understand a thing.  We were severely depressed.  Kathy wanted to catch a plane home.  Gary said that we should not get on a plan today the way things were going.  Well, we had made friends with a lady and her three children.  We would talk to here several times a week.  We would bring her lunch now and then.  (she is poor).  One time she was not in her little shop and was not there for many days.  We were worried.   The lady in the shop next to hers said that her daughter was ill.   So, this "hard" day, we were walking along in town and Kathy got a tap on the shoulder. We turned around, and there was our friend.  She broke into tears.  Her six year old daughter had died.  Kathy and her hugged and cried for along time.  Kathy was whispering to her and told her we were sent here to share with her the message of eternal life. She said this in good Spanish. We said we would meet her tomorrow and bring the missionaries ( yes we are missionaries, but, we needed missionaries that can speak good Spanish).  We did meet with her and found out where her area is.  And, today, we got a call from a pair of excellent elders.  This lady lives in their area.  So, things are moving along for missionary lessons for our friend.   We don't know if she will get baptized, but, we know that The Lord wanted us to get the missionaries for her,  and, someone else was really trying hard to keep us from doing this.

Here is a picture of a friend of ours.  He is placed by his mom around town to get donations and has a little bag around his neck for the money.  He is severely CP.  He cannot hold the bag or talk or walk, but he has a great spirit and he feels ours.   When we approach him he gets a gigantic grin.   He starts grinning when we are some distance away.  He feels our spirit and we feel his.  We have a special place in our heart for people with CP.