THE GREAT DATE TEST

Blog  5/25/24

Sorry that we have not added to our blog for some time.   Our president has given us this difficult assignment that we have mentioned before: to get the mission applications completed four young people from poor families that live in isolated areas.   We have managed to get the applications all completed but the dentist.  And the cost of the dentist is a big problem and we are now ready to  visit our third dentist to see if we can get a better cost.  Then, Kathy fell down while we were walking.  We were blest that we were holding on to each other.  She caught herself with one hand and Gary held onto the other.  She was not hurt badly but it scarred us a bit since any serious damage here and we are probably on our way home.   With trust in The Lord, we are lost in the work and generally having a wonderful time.

When we spend more than a few minutes with the missionaries we ask them what their plans are when they get home. (Many of the missionaries in our area have only a few months left.)  and, are conversation usually come around to getting married.  We ask them what do they want in a spouse.  Almost every missionary has some sort of test to give to potential spouses.  One elder, a great missionary and we love him, has a seven hour test laid out for his unsuspecting date.  He takes them for dinner or entertainment that takes them for a long trip.   During the trip he fakes a car breakdown.  And he understands how well she handles emergencies during the stressful Time of a breakdown.  Kathy told him that if her date faked a car breakdown, she would never see him again.  Several elders want their date to let them open their car door for them.   And several sisters will wait in the car until their date opens the door.  However, many of the sisters are looking for looks and a man that can make a good living.

Anyway, these conversations are very entertaining.

In the last two days we have been to a marriage and 5 baptisms.  And, Gary had to give a presentation in three of them.  It was a wonderful experience.

We arrived in this little town for the marriage at the time it was supposed to start, 10a.  It didn't start until noon.  Which sets a new record for lateness!  We have a young girl that is almost a lawyer and she can marry.  We got the marriage finally done and then the baptism of the bride.  (The groom was inactive because he was living with the girl, but now she is a member and they are both active ).  Generally speaking the people we deal with have nothing to do with getting into water, like to swim for example.  So, the elder and the lady get in the font, the lady is heavier then him, he baptizes her ok but while bringing her out of the water he loses his grip and she goes back down and about drowns!  She comes coughing and crying, but, she got through it.

Today, a young teenage girl got baptized and all went well.   She bore her testimony and it was very touching a knowledgeable.   Later, we met her to congratulate her.  We both said at different times.  "You will be a great member"  but, with our "not perfect yet" Spanish, we actually said that she would be a huge or big member!  She pointed out our error and we said it correctly.

Here is a picture of the almost lawyer

Here is a picture of the married couple

And other baptisms 

Proverbs 28:25

Well, we were studying Preach My Gospel, and, we ran into a scripture that pretty much describes our mission, 

He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.

We have really had to put our trust in The Lord , and, yes we are fat.

We are almost constantly sick with stomach pains and other related issues.   We blamed it on parasites.   But, we have concluded our problem is not parasites.   We are just suffering from food poisoning!   We decided that we will probably have food poisoning two or three times a week and we just need to endure it.   We think the culprit is mayonnaise.   Here, mayo is not refrigerated.  Big vats of it are on shelves in every eating place.  If you order French fries, they will come smothered with ketchup and mayo, and with a toothpick to pick up the fries.  We now just order our fries with ketchup and a side of salmonella.

We found a jar of pickles in another town at a walmart.   Now, the nortes ( North American missionaries) really miss pickles because generally they are not to be found anywheres (by the way there was only one bottle at the store).  We keep this bottle in reserve because we can barter it for almost anything including indentured servitude!

We drove to another town to attend a meeting hosted by the area 70, president Morales.  All of the stake presidencies were invited and us, the mission presidency.  It was a priesthood meeting so Kathy had to wait in another room of the Church.  (We obey the missionary manual all except for emailing once a week.  We have to communicate with our kids more that once a week because of all the normal issues of a family, but we are almost always are in site of each other and we do almost everything together.  So, we went to this meeting together.)  the area 70 "blasted" the stake president about lost sheep.  For example, one stake has 1200 names of people baptized but have no idea where they are.  With all of that, the spirit the area 70 brought was wonderful.  He is a leader close to a God.  In one minute he is reproving the Stake presidents and the next minute he is reading a scripture and crying.  It was a great experince.  We had a break and gary asked him if we could leave early because we do not drive great in the dark.  It is a three hour very hard drive home.  He said no problem and gave gary a Big hug.  Thanking him for his Service.   It is nice to be appreciated.

We asked our president if we could leave for home About 3 weeks early.  We want to be home for our 51st anniversary since we were here in Guatemala for our supposedly very important 50th anniversary. Then, we got to feeling guilty.  Maybe we were pushing our will and not the Lords will.  So, Kathy said, get word to the president that going home early was just our request,  but, we want to do the lords will even if it ment extending,   This happened in the morning.   In the afternoon Gary noticed that Kathy was really disturbed.  He finally got her to tell him her feelings.   She was un-repenting from our repentance earlier in the day.   She was fighting the conflict between doing the lords will and wanting to go home, and never to extend our mission.  We decided that we would trust in The Lord that he would realize all the hard work we have done and send us home for a reward.