The Missionary Fairy

*Sometimes I see a sky like this. And sometimes, its really awesome.

*just a little peek into what daily life looks like for hermana matesen

This week was kind of REALLY LONG and kind of REALLY HARD.  Being senior companion is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  My comp still doesn't speak or understand much, so sometimes I get feeling like I'm in it alone, but that is NOT TRUE.  

This week was full of UPS and DOWNS. So lets break it down list style, so you can all get a little taste of what went down these looooong last 7 days.

DOWNS:

-Showing up to an appointment where the investigator started in and basically confessed to me every bad, awful, evil, and ugly thing she has ever done in her whole LIFE plus all the bad, awful, evil, and ugly things that anyone has ever done to her.  It was the most exhausting few hours of my life. 

I tried interrupting or trying to tell her we had to go but it didn't work.  So I just listened.  I just let her get it all out.  I nodded, I listened, I bore my testimony.  Because what else could I do?  I asked to go to the bathroom part way through.  I walked behind the pile of dirt where the bathroom was.  I prayed, "Heavenly Father, what on earth am I supposed to do to help this woman?  For crying out loud, I'm just 19 years old, and I still don't speak perfect Spanish!"

 I went back, finished listening and then I just gave her a good, long and comfortably-awkward hug.  Then we left.  I've been praying REAL hard for that woman because heaven knows she sure needs it.

-Going to visit our best investigator who has really been progressing and the only investigator that is actually coming to church and instead running into his wife who invited us in and then continued to chew me out pretty bad.  After being yelled at for about 10 minutes or so, I apologized and we left.

  

The funny thing is the whole time she was yelling at us about what bad people we were and what an awful person her husband is, all I could focus on was the fact that she only had one tooth.  And it was starting to come loose, and it wiggled and waggled all over the place as she chewed us out.  

We left feeling kind of discouraged (thankfully my companion didn't really understand her so she was still in relatively good spirits), and then God sent us one of the best lessons I've had in weeks - with a new investigator that we found last week.  The good stuff always seems to show up right after the bad.

-Literally every reference we try and contact has some sort of evil dog that sits in front of the door and makes it impossible for us to contact them.  I officially state, as of now, that I  Ruby Vera Matesen will never own a dog.  Ever.  You can add that to my statement of never ever will I again eat jello when I get back from the mish.

UPS:

-A family of investigators gave me a pretty sweet sombrero because they saw how sunburnt my nose was getting.  Not gonna lie, I looked pretty fabulous in that sombrero.  And of course it was the one day I didn't bring my camera with me. 

Just try to imagine it for a second.  Me, big sombrero, walking down dusty dirt roads, and preaching about Christ in Spanish.  Are you smiling yet?

-Bonding with all the sisters in the ward who also use essential oils.  It was a great bonding moment.

-A bunch of our appointments fell through so we decided to contact.  We made some great contacts and as we walked away my companion said, "Hermana Matesen, I just dont know how you do it." 

"Do what?" I asked

"Charm the people! Everyone you talk to LOVES YOU.  You are the MISSIONARY FAIRY!  You cast this little magical spell on them, and they can't help but love you!!" 

I was cracking up. Missionary fairy.  It just sounds good doesn't it?

So as you can see this week was rough, but it was also really quite beautiful.  I LOVE my new companion Hermana Crystal.  Me and her are soul sisters.  Sometimes we lay in bed at night and crack each other up for a good 20 minutes or so. 

Two white girls preaching the gospel in the south of Mexico can be pretty hilarious sometimes.  Oh how I wish you could see us.

Love you all SO MUCH.  The church is true.  I just know it.

your favorite missionary fairy,

hermana Matesen

*where I study