YOU ARE HIS CHEESEBURGER

Okay this week was quite LOCO so essentially this email is gonna be a lil weird. Ill have my regular sections of things that made me laugh and also miracles, but on Tuesday, we had a day filled to the BRIM with both of those things, so I'm just gonna have a whole Tuesday section also. Bear with me. 

TUESDAY:

Okay we all woke up at 6:30 like lil obedient missionaries. As we do every morning. Nothing too wild. Then Hermana Cabrera (my comp) and Hermana Burton (not my comp) were very very sick when they woke up. So me and Hermana Gentry texted our mission president to ask if we could go on exchanges of sorts, and he said yes. So me and Hermana Gentry popped off with probably the funnest day of my mission so far. We focused on members since we share a ward so we just did member work, so we headed to look for houses that we knew members lived in at one point, but hadn't been contacted in literal years. And on our way to one, this guy was walking towards us and his eyes were like bugging out of his head and he goes "do you believe in God" and I was all preparing for a "wow how did you know that I was looking for God all my life and now here you are" and we go "yeah of course" and he goes "I have more faith than you" and we said "oh really now? How interesting!" And he goes "have you seen God?" And we go "no, not physically" and he goes "I'VE SEEN GOD" and we said "okay buddy". And he said "he's big." And we said "wow okay!! That's cool!" And then we left. So in case anyone is wondering, I've met someone who's seen God. And who was on drugs at the same time. Wild stuff. THEN we knock a bunch of doors that are supposedly members and no one answers until this lady who's like so so tiny and so so old and we're having a nice conversation and she can't go to church cause she has a ton of medical problems and she told us how sad she was that missionaries stopped visiting her years ago but she still reads her scriptures every day and she was SO excited to see us. So that was a literal miracle. Also she told me "I can't understand you when you speak english" after I had most definitely spoken a sentence in Spanish. I'm working on it ahaha. Then we went knocking a ton of more doors of members, and no one answered until this one guy and we told him we were looking for this member and he's like yeah he died. So that was sad. But then this man WOULD NOT stop talking to us. There are people here (quite a few) who really don't know how to stop talking but he was the worst I've ever seen. And he seemed to think it was about spiritual stuff and it definitely wasn't and it was about coca cola and their big secret (still no idea what the secret is) and atomic bombs and wars and how 5 people every day get murdered in Uruguay and also about how the Bible prophesies about all the things that are happening today and we were like uh huh uh huh uh huh but he was slurring all his words and so we could barely understand him at all and so he would just get frustrated and say it again but not slower or more clear or he would just move on to the next topic. We said we had to go honestly like 30 times and we were backing away and he started coming out his door after us so eventually we just dipped and left him mid sentence after he threw a cigarette at Hermana Gentry. He told us he wasnt a happy person but then he didn't let us talk for more than two words to explain how he can fix that. I hope he figures it out someday. Then we went to the church to call a bunch of people and no one answered until this guy named Marcelo answered and he told us all about how he was almost baptized a bunch of times but he never wanted to, so we set up a lesson with him on Thursday, but asked if we could share a spiritual thought with him in the meantime, and he was like "are you at the church? I live four blocks away from the church I'll come right now. I live four blocks away. I'll come. Right now. Cause I live four blocks away" and we were like uhhh okay. So then he walked his four blocks and I genuinely couldn't tell if he hated the church or loved it. He was like this gospel is so amazing its so amazing, but then he asked me what faith is and was like yeah no. Faith isn't real. You can't just hope for something and then it comes true. And we were like sir that's the whole point. And then we went and knocked some more doors and nothing too exciting happened until we bought ice cream for our sickly comps. Anyway so Hermana Gentry wins this week cause I've never had so many mini miracles and so many crazy experiences, let alone in one day. Honestly there was a lot more that went down but this email would get FOREVER long so we'll just stop there. 

THINGS THAT MADE ME LAUGH:

• Okay so here in Uruguay they do that cheek kiss thing that you always see in the movies cause they do it in Europe or something idk. And I have actually no idea how many teeth the average person has, but I realized the cheek to teeth ratio that I should have kissed, whatever it is, the teeth number is WAY lower than it should be. 

• Found out one thing me and Hermana Gentry have in common is we can sing exactly every word of Cheeseburger by VeggieTales and also I Love My Lips. All the words. Catch us at your next zone conference performing. 

• My comp doesn't like small circular things. Hates them in fact. Fruit loops? Garbanzo beans? Small circular beads? Cheerios? Nope. Do I know where this fear came from? Also no. 

MILAGRITOS:

• A girl in our ward is headed out on a mission in a week and she's my favorite person in the ward I'm actually so sad she's leaving. But the whole ward threw her a surprise goodbye party for her mission and it was a whole milagro to be a part of that for her. Except I was expecting an actual party and it was practically a sacrament meeting with prayers and hymns and testimonies so that was a bit of a let down if I'm being honest. (It's a joke it's a joke it was way sweet and it meant a ton to her) 

• We were able to teach a guy named Darío who's so amazing and he believes firmly in Jesus Christ but he's never been to church and actually doesn't really know why but he says he just feels like it's right and we're teaching him about the restauration and he just loves it. And Hermana Cabrera is absolutely the bomb dot com at teaching, she's so amazing and I'm very grateful for her. 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

I have been reminded over and over and over this week to focus on Christ. There's a scripture that has come up in my week like 27 different times that is 2 Nephi 25:26 "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (It's better in Spanish tho lowkey) but woah. Is that the legacy we're leaving? Could someone say about each and every one of us that what we did is talk of Christ and rejoice in Christ and preach and prophesy of Christ? If not, let's change something. Because what a privilege it is to serve the Lord. Behind all the funny things that happen on the mission that make these emails exciting and not all boring, there's Christ in it all. In the joy, in the disappointments, in the absolutely mundane (and there's a whole lot of that). Christ is there in it all. Do you know how I know that Christ lives? Because we have sunsets, and flowers, and rainy days, and pretty rocks, and mountains, and oceans, and all the things that are really not necessary for us to live. But when the earth was created, He was thinking of us, and all the things that would just make us happy. And that is proof enough to me that we have a Creator that loves us, and a God who loves us as well. And we are pretty dang lucky to have all that. How could we not love Him our whole lives? 

Anyway, go show Christ and God that you love Them!! Love you all!!!

- Hermana Allen