Tiempo: time (also, weather. Spanish is weird), as in "everything gets better with" and "flies"
The life of a missionary REVOLVES around time. We have a strict schedule of when to wake up, study, proselyte, etc. Time is crucial. Sometimes you wander the streets contacting and it just crawls by. Sometimes you're running to get from point A to point B without stopping and you realize that you slept with your watch on... again... for the fourth night in a row. (And then there's that week that the battery cuts out and you feel like you've lost three hands or something.)
We've had a good week. (Thought I'd get that out of the way for those of you who were worried about my well-being and that of my companion from my last letter) Although neither of us can pin-point exactly what we did differently this week from the last, it felt so much... better.
Hermana Een is now an official Spanish citizen!!!! (For a year) All it took was 20 minutes in a police station that was oddly similar to the Las Vegas DMV... that, and two 3 hour train rides. The ride there was almost first-class (!) so we slept/watched the sunrise over the ocean. The ride back was longer and less comfortable but I spent the majority of it geeking out with Hermana O´Neill (from my CCM group). I still know a LOT about Doctor Who, as I am going to prove shortly.
We met with Margarita in a Valencian pueblo (a little town on the outskirts, connected by metro). We'd contacted her a couple weeks ago and got her number and then Elders from ANOTHER pueblo contacted her this week and gave us the reference (Apparently God really wanted her to meet with the missionaries). A few minutes into the visit we found out that she was actually a MEMEBER. She was baptized in Chile over 20 years ago after being touched by the service missionaries performed for a town torn down by an earthquake, but hasn't been to church since. We shared a message of hope and invited her to return.
And she did.
We also met with Julie. She had a fight with her roommates, packed a carry-on to blow off steam in Madrid and was just feeling lost, angry, and upset ... and we contacted her as she was walking down the street to the station. We had a lesson later and she said that although she hadn't thought much of it at the time, at the very moment she needed comfort... two Mormon missionaries gave her a message of hope.
People think that time is a direct progression from one point to the next when really, from a non-linear point of view, it´s more a ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. Blessings come in the Lord's time. And it's SO much better that way. We're on this earth to be tested, so there are hard times. But He also knows us perfectly, and knows what we need in a MOMENT.
And somehow our lives collide so that you get what you need when you need it, and are able to give to someone else.
And it's only possible when we are willing to serve, too.
Alma 34:32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
Luke 12:6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Summary: Everything gets better with time. The Lord knows His children and how to give them what they need. We had a good week and we're going to have another one.
Bonus: "con tiempo" is also how you say "eventually" in Spanish.
That's sort-of deep.
LOTS OF LOVE! (And a Happy Belated Valentines Day!)
-Hermana Een.
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| Hermanas Manotas and Een on Valentines Day "We ate cake with Pamela." |
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| She said "Happy Valentine's Day!" and then stabbed it. (Hanging out with single women on Valentine's Day is always a treat) |
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