Haupeii Capeyh--Week 44
September 2, 2023
Hola Todos!
Tip tack toodles, I ate some noodles. Yes it's true. I ate some noodles. Was there anything special about them? No, I just wanted to make a rhyme with the word noodles.
Anyway! This week has been busy. I'm finding there's a lot to do in a day. The AP's claim turns out to be true; we had 3-4 lessons a day this week. How crazy is that? We shared a baptism with the AP's last saturday after Pday ended and we're building a goal to have a baptism every weekend.
So far, on our end, we're setting up to do that with some softball baptisms. Ivan is a 39 year old with down syndrome, he cant speak and was somehow never baptized. But he's been going to church every Sunday for longer than Ive been alive so there aren't any worries there. The second is a small family who lives in the bajo. Lilian is a woman some 40-50 years old and has been going to church the last year and half. She slipped under the radar and was never taught by the missionaries. Yet every Sunday she faithfully walks 30 minutes to chapel with her two kids and best friend.
I did some more first aid stuff this week with Lilians husband. He was jumped while walking home and had been beaten pretty badly. He had some nasty scratches and cuts. When we found him he was pretty drunk and aggressive but asked us to help him with his cuts because the hospital had turned him away. We went back the next day and I cleaned out his cuts and gave him some aquaphor cream.
The cuts were healing perfectly fine on their own. I really didn't need to do anything to help them heal. Yet, the little effort to help our friend feel loved and cared for, made all the difference. We gained A LOT of trust with him. The day before, he had wanted us to leave and was passive aggressive in the conversation. By the time we left the next day, he was asking us when we were coming back.
One thing Ive noticed is that there are three types of people in the bajo.
1. The Survivors
The survivors are the ones who are hardened to life. They're aggressive and generally not open to hearing the gospel. Sometimes they'll attack us verbally or passively aggressively take jabs at us and/or our religion. I haven't met many so far but they exist. A lot of them are really smart but close minded.
2. The Drifters
Ive seen more drifters than anything else. These are the people who are coasting through life, they go to work, go home, sleep, repeat. Oftentimes they'll be addicted to drugs or be living drink to drink. Many drift day to day without purpose. They can be aggressive and/or depressed. It takes effort to gain their trust. As dramatic as it sounds, you can see that someones a drifter by their eyes. Empty y sin luz.
3. The Givers
There are so many giveres in the bajo. People who love life, their families, their way of living. They are happy people who value connection and love giving what they have to anyone who needs it. We know a lot of Givers and they are amazing. They have incredibly big trials but have a spirit to match. We know a lot of Givers.
I'd love to go into more details and explanations about them all but for the sake of length, I'll leave it at that, "subject to interpretation". You can rebake my half baked ideas sin vergüenza!
Una pregunta (a question), who are the survivors, drifters, and givers in your lives? How can we grow with them in their journeys? How can we serve them and bring a little more joy to their lives?
...
That's all I got for today! Have a wonderful day and may the grind never stop! 1 day closer to death and one day closer to rest!
Working to be a giver,
- Elder James Tanner
~2.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment