We had a few setbacks but also a few successes. and we have definitely seen the hand of the lord in his work. first of the setbacks. F. C., the guy that was going to get baptized on the 23rd isn´t going to be able to. He works at the Gatorade factory for all of central America and they decided to lay off half of the workers and work the other half twice as hard. He was lucky enough to keep his job, but he finally got his work schedule, and aside from working ridiculous hours, he has to work on Sunday and won´t be able to go to church until February. So that's a no go. We had two people in church though yesterday so that was exciting. It was Hna. M. and her son B., and these two adorable little twins who are two, so they don´t count as investigators yet. They are little devils but they are just so cute no one cares. They go around shouting swear words and it makes the mom really embarrassed, it really just makes me laugh, which is probably not the best response.
Now onto the really cool part. We had been getting a little skunked on day, by which I mean that all of the appointments had been falling and I was starting to get a little frustrated. We had just stopped at F.´s house but he was off working, as we were wondering what to do and walking back after less than half a block I felt like I should go and talk to this guy and dog on the street. His dog was running around like crazy and came up and barked a bunch at us. I started talking to him, and after a few minutes realized that he knew more about the church than your average person on the street. It turns out he served a mission in Guatemala, over twenty years ago, and had been active in the church for a long time. But about 15 years ago left and erased his name. But he wanted to start reading the book of Mormon again and we told him when we go to the temple this week we will pick him up some scriptures and a Liahona. A few days later we brought Hermano V. to come visit him, Hermano T. (the guy) said that he had seen him walking around with the missionaries and that he looked familiar. It was perfect, they had been in the same ward a few decades ago over in Santa Tecla and had both gone inactive, almost two years ago Hermano V. came back and challenged Hermano T. to do the same. He told us that he would start coming to Elder´s quorum activities and maybe in a little bit sacrament meeting. We are going to keep working with him. He said that he had seen may pairs of missionaries go by but had never talked to them, and they never talked to him. But because of some difficult personal situations I think that the lord has prepared him to come back to the gospel. It was an awesome experience and shows me that the lord never forgets about his children.
We left with some of the ward members yesterday to go visit some people that live out in the jungle. When I asked them who was the missionary that baptised them it was my old Zone leader who is about to go home, Elder G. I asked him to write a letter to each of them and encourage the to get back to church again. They live about 8km away from the chapel though, it was quite the hike to get out there. But if they are willing to come back they will be so blessed
So this week we discovered this torta place that sells these tortas for 2.50 that are the size of a plate. Needless to say it will become a popular spot. Unfortunately it wreaks havoc on my stomach but I guess that's part of the sacrifice ;) i wanted to teach you guys some El Salvadorean slang that I have been learning. Every time I go over to our Cocinera I ask them about slang here are a few highlights-
Cholero- mule (sort of like a worker/slave) the husband of our cocinera always says to his son. Vos sós mi cholero( you are my slave), and it drives him crazy, super funny
Champimpiado- adjective to describe someone with a bad haircut.
cholco- adjective for a person without teeth
Chachalaka- really talkative and annoying woman
Well that's all the slang for now I'll try and learn some more good ones next week. Have a great week and enjoy the cool November weather! Love you all and can´t wait to hear from you.
Elder Schriever
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| coolest old man ever, just didn't know where the camera was |
