2-6-12

So there we were... walking down the street, SUPER excited for the next appointment with Tamara, an investigator who has a baptismal date for this Sunday, repassing the plans that we had for her, when a cute little dog started freaking out on us, barking at our heels... another, slightly bigger dog comes up and I had a very clear feeling that I was about to be bit by a dog, but that it would all be okay... EEEP! escaped my lips as his little pointy teeth sunk into my left leg. Hermana Gonzalez kicked him away and we tried to assess the damage... hard to tell with 3 pairs of tights on (which by the way, totally saved me), so we made it limping to the end of the street where the Orellana Family lives. Hermana Orellana carefully cleaned up my little tiny bite and we called our zone leaders. I was SOOO embarrassed to have Hermana Orellana see my leg... you know, when you wear tights every day, you just don´t take care of your legs the way you should... greatest lesson learned from the experience: ALWAYS shave!!! Even if no one ever sees... you may just be bit by a dog and have to take your tights off... We talked to our mission doctor who said that we had to go back right away to make sure that the dog has all his shots. So by this time, I was pretty much done hurting and just feeling silly... So we headed out and talked with some kid who was just a big pain, thinking it was SO funny that his little dog had bitten a poor little missionary... but whatever. the dog has all his shots, so we are good to go! haha. I have to take 600mg ibuprofen for the swelling and clean it 3 times a day with iodine and a cream thing... then the mission nurse called me and told me that we have to go back to the people´s house on the 10th. If the dog is okay, there´s no problem... if he´s sick or dead, I have to go get a rabbi´s shot. hahahahahahahaha. I think that´s so funny. Obviously, it is no big deal, or I probably wouldn´t share all those sweet details. haha. good times. I feel like it´s a CLASSIC mission story... especially since last week we were totally protected from the dogs... I guess we only get one strike with dog protection. I really just feel kinda lame because it was such a pip squeak dog. I just felt bad that we were wasting time. I had to go back to the house because I had doctor´s orders to ice it for 15 minutes, wait 5 and ice it another 15... I know that it´s totally fine now because we did that, but I felt that we were wasting so much great time. haha. It´s cool though, because now it´s healing really well... that all happened on Friday, and today I feel super good. The most painful part was that I had to walk around without tights for 2 days on the 2 COLDEST days ever... NO WORRIES!


So this week was great, but super WEIRD!!! haha. Here´s a snippet.....

Tuesday: we walked around in hail and snow all day... summer is officially GONE before it even started!
Wednesday: Pretty normal
Thursday: Locked in a building for an HOUR! (more details later)
Friday: Bit by a dog
Saturday: super funny lunch (also, more later)
Sunday: FREEZING!!!! We woke up to a whole heap of snow this morning! CRAZY!!! We were going to go see the glacier today, but with the freezingness, the snow, my leg, and Hermana Gonzalez´s cold, we decided it would have to wait. Bummer.

So... it was a crazy crazy week! But we worked really hard and kept the faith! haha. I feel much better this week and know that the Lord really helped me through some hard stuff. Still no baptisms, but they will come!

So... about the building.
We went to meet up with a new investigator. We went into the building with a worker and started looking for Cinthia... she was running out when we met her and so she didn´t tell us which apartment number. So we started knocking doors, looking... and there was NO ONE in the whole building... only 1 of the 12 or so appartments had people in it and we didn´t even see her... she only listened to us for about 2 seconds through the door... So after searching for awhile and finding NO ONE home, we headed for the door... when we realized that it´s one of those buildings that also needs the key to get OUT. Oh man... the worker had definitely left. So we head back up to the only apartment where someone was home... the lady had zero sympathy, saying that she was about to bathe a baby and to just wait for someone to come in. Oh man... so we head back down, praying that SOMEONE will come home... after a FULL HOUR, the man who owns the store next door came to open it after the siesta and he also had a key to the apartment building! haha. So funny! Right after, we ran into a man who contacted US, so we figure maybe that´s the reason... ya...

About the funny lunch:
We ate with our mission leader and his family and he was sitting telling us all about his mission. Then, the little 8 year old has this conversation with his mom:
-"Mom, did you serve a mission?"
-"No... I got married right away"
- (TOTALLY serious...) "Woah! What a blessing!!"

hahahahahaha. We laughed SOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh man... okay... it sounds like we didn´t even work this week! We really did and it was great! We are working out little bodies into the ground!

Our investigators are doing super great!

Franco is a 13 year old boy who is the neighbor of an old investigator. One day, the old investigator wasn´t home, so we knocked next door. It was great! We found Franco and he came to church yesterday and loved it all, especially the young mens! So great! He is really progressing well and we will do everything possible to see his baptism the 19th. He also has a HUGE family and they accepted a lesson with us tomorrow! We want to baptize the whole family for sure!

Valeria is another miracle. We went to visit a less active family who also ended up not being home, so we started knocking doors. We have learned that there is ALWAYS a reason that we are in every place, so we never just leave if someone is not home. When she answered, she practically squealed! She had been meeting with missionaries 10 years ago, but then her son got really sick and she had to stop meeting with them to go to the hospital in Buenos Aires or somewhere and the missionaries never came back! She had a friend in town from Antarctica (ya, I know... I TOTALLY live at the end of the earth!) and so she couldn´t come to church this week. But we have a return appointment tomorrow and we are hoping she will accept a baptismal date for this Sunday.

Walter told us that he is feeling really pressured and needs some time. Bummer. I have learned that people feel pressured when they don´t want to do certain things to be able to be baptized. I hope that he will keep praying and gain a testimony of tithing.

Daniel has pretty much disappeared... we will keep trying this week to see what happens.

Tamara works a TON, so we are just trying, trying, trying, to get a lesson with her. Pray for her.

Life as a missionary chugs along and we are loving every moment of it. I love the work, I love my Savior, I love life! Thank you all for your support and prayers. And seriously, the dog bite is NO BIG DEAL!!! So don´t even worry for a second!

I am so glad to hear all about your studies in the scriptures! Keep up the great work! I love the scriptures and everything that I learn from them each and every day. I love studying for the investigators. President always tells us that this is not the time to be the one who knows the most in Sunday School... we study for our investigators by going between Preach my Gospel, the Book of Mormon, and then back to Preach my Gospel and back to the Book of Mormon. I love being able to receive revelation every morning for the lessons that we will be teaching and feeling what the investigators need to know. It is a really special thing to be a missionary. The other day, one of our members told us after lunch that she always feels that her house is different when the missionaries come and that when we leave, we leave the Spirit behind. I LOVE that. I love that people really do feel the spirit when we are there... that´s why it is SO important that we can always have the Spirit... if not, we are just any old visitor. We have a duty to make sure that we are representatives of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We have to do what He would do, say what He would say, and love how He would love. That makes all the difference. 


Thank you all for your love and support!

All my Love,
Hermana Shelley


Pictures: THE DOG BITE!