Oregon Sweet Oregon

Hola, my far-away amigos.

 

Nothing crazy new this week, but it looks like the rainy weather is going to begin soon. I've been told the sun doesn't come out for 7 months once it begins. So I've been getting my tan on as much as possible, of course. Got a couple of new freckles, Close enough.

 

Hermana Reeder and I, after a couple of cancelled appointments, decided to contact some former invesitgators. We went to this one house to meet a "Federico," but no one answered. Moved on to the next name."Rose." We drove to her house and knocked on the door. It took a while for someone to answer, but someone did. A hispanic woman, in her 30's. "Se llama Rose?" And she shook her head. In Spanish, she explained to us that Rose had lived there for 8 months. We were talking a little bit, and then we asked her if she had heard of our church. She said yes. We asked her what she knows. Nada. We asked her what she thought about church, and God and Jesus Christ, and she told us that she doesn't know if He listens to her. She believes in them, she prays every night to them. She begins to cry. Her kids are older and they don't have jobs, and she's been struggling financially. She mentioned something about her husband, but I couldn't tell what she was saying. She didn't have a wedding ring on. She spoke so quietly and quickly. She just says, "No se', no se', no se' " over and over and over again... We could barely understand her, but we told her that it was no coincidence that we were here. She shook her head yes, and continues to cry. We couldn't come in that day, but we exchanged phone numbers. She hugged us. Tightly.

 

I started to cry as I left her place. The Spirit was so strong in that doorway, I can't even put it into words. I know that Heavenly Father has placed this woman in our path, and I'm excited to share a message with her that will, if she allows it to, change her life. I've been praying for her every night. We are going to visit her later this week...and bring someone who fully understands Spanish.

 

That was the highlight of my week, month, mission so far.

 

Also, I wanted to mention, anti-mormonism literature is absolutely real, and it's out there, EVERYWHERE. I had no idea of its existence really, until you see the number of families that have left the church because of it. I warn you all, be on your guard. People are watching you. And they are either trying to find fault in you, or they are wondering how you can be different. There is no room to slack.

 

Kinda a random email but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

 

I love you all!

Hermana Blanchard

Betsy here, intruding for a moment. Steph's e-mails to me are always hilarious, and for some reason I felt as if I should share the request she sent me in her last e-mail:

Speaking of creepy you should watch the Brave Little Toaster for me and remind me how creepy it is. All I remember is a creepy air conditioner which dies after giving a long rant and then I remember that toaster has a nightmare with a clown-firefighter in the kitchen, and the water coming from the hose comes out as sharp forks or something. It's apparently my companion's favorite movie and I try to tell her how creepy it was and she doesn't remember what I'm talking about lol.