Monday, February 9, 2015

Storms, Floods and Fires!



I am convinced that this week was the craziest week of my life.  It started out with a huge rainstorm last Monday.  It was pouring rain so Elder Clements, Elder Adams, Hermana Perez, and I decided to take a bus out to Godoy to help the people there.  When we got there the streets were filled with water and we ended up having to walk in knee high water to get to the member´s houses.  Water had entered in most of the houses but it was hardest for the families that had dirt floor in their homes because they were basically walking in mud to get around.  We went to the house of a member named Leslie who is 17 years old and lives with just her mom and sister.  When we showed up to their house they all just started bawling.  Everything they owned was ruined because of all the rain.  They live close to a canal so they were in the worst area for floods!  We entered into the house and inside there was water up to my knees.  It was freezing cold and there was hardly any light because the power was out all through the city.  I don´t think I have ever seen something so sad in my entire life.  All of their clothes were wet so they didn´t have warm clothing, their beds were soaked, all 70 of their chickens died (they lived off the money from their chickens), and they had not a clue what to do.  As I stood there in the freezing cole water, I realized that more than anything Leslie and her family needed some peace and comfort so I asked everyone to stop what they were doing to say a prayer.  After, we helped them for a bit but there wasn´t much we could do with water everywhere so we helped out a couple more families and then headed back to our pensions at about 9pm.  When we got back, the power was out and there was water seeping through the walls and covering our floor!  People have told us that it hasn´t rained this hard in 20 years but it was definitely a day I will never forget! 
The next day there was a huge storm as well but on top of that, there was a giant fire in the middle of the road about 100 yards away from our pension, it was crazy!  
Our investigators are doing alright! We are losing lots of our investigators but are trying not to get discouraged.  We had an appointment on Friday with Cristina, Melisa, and Mariana Pozas (the girls who had a baptismal date for the 21 of February) and when we showed up at their house, the mom told us that she doesn´t want us coming back anymore.  She said that the girls were to young to make a decision like that and we shouldn´t come back.  Melisa and Cristina were 100% on track to be baptized.  Reading, praying, going to church, everything.  They were so excited to be baptized!  But it sounds like we aren´t going to be passing by anytime soon.  All in all it was a tough week.  We had no electricity for 3 nights straight, no water for two days (no showering, the toilet didn´t work, etc.), we have lost the majority of our investigators, and things aren´t gettin any easier! But I am happy, smiling, trying to stay positive, and I am looking forward to this new week! :) On the brighter side of things, Mom I made your sugar cookies this morning and gave them to my zone today!  Heart sugar cookies with blue and yellow frosting for the colors of Argentina :) My zone loved the cookies and said how they wish I would have made more hahaha. Best cookies ever!
Whelp, I hope you are all happy and I hope the snow gets better for skiing!  I love you all and can´t wait to share more experiences next week! The mission is tough sometimes but I am learning and growing every single day.  And I am still so very very happy!  

xoxo
Hermana Van Boerum

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