Week 32: Trujillo Temple/Bearded Big Chungus
¡Hola! This was a good week and I'm hoping these next few weeks can continue going up!
On Thursday I got to go to the Trujillo temple for the first time. It's such a beautiful building with incredible significance for us, and especially the people of this city. We went with all of zona Esperanza and zona Central, so it was nice seeing some of them again. In the distribution center I bought my own Spanish hymn book so I can have my own brand new one instead of using the old one I stole from the stake center in California. The temple is amazing and it's the first time I've seen carpet in a while. One of my favorito parts about going to the temple is admiring the artwork. The paintings of Jesus, but also the paintings of landscapes that remind me of everything God has created and also gives me an inkling of what the world might have looked like during the creation before man was put on the earth. It's such a refreshing and spriritual experience and I hope and encourage you to attend the temple often.
We're still looking for a new apartment so we can move out of robber alley and closer to the chapel, but the only things we can find are over-expensive rooms. We were offered one that was actually an apartment that had a nice view of the mountain, but it was tiny and there would've been no place to exercise. So we'll probably have to stick with our graveyard apartment for now.
We're also teaching a man named Lleiner. He's a young father but he's the only one of his family who we're teaching right now. We're trying with him and hopefully we'll be able to talk to his family sometime too. We had a noche de hogar with the 1st counselor in the bishopric and I love getting to know them. They fed us pollo a la brasa afterwards. But we shared with them a message about the sacrament that I had the idea to share after watching a video Elder Bednar made about about it. He focused on the word "willing" that is found in the sacrament prayers. We can partake of the sacrament every week, but if we aren't willing to take upon us the name of Christ and aren't always trying to serve Him and live like Him throughout the week, we are missing out on the opportunity to grow our relationship with Him and the sacrament won't actually hold much significance. We must be willing to give significance to the sacrament every week and use it not only to remember our baptismal covenants, but to increase and grow what we only started at baptism and come to know what it actually means to take upon us the name of Christ.
Saturday was Elder Cabrera's birthday, so you know the ward members cooked it up for us! For lunch we went to Hugo's house where his sister in law, hermana Veronica, made us and our district some pork with rice and a potato salad. She also made us tres leches which I may have had one too many slices of, causing me to make a commitment to eat less and healthier. But fortune was not looking favorably on me that day because for dinner our pensionista made us sooo much fried chicken and french fries with even more soda. I felt horrible, but it was delicious. What am I supposed to do? I don't have many options. It's either eat it or don't and starve and offend our chef. I guess in some areas I'll be hungry a lot of the time and lose weight and in other areas I'll be fed a lot and gain weight. Our pensionista's food is really good and I especially like the oatmeal or chocolate drinking she makes us for breakfast and dinner. But do I need half a bottle of Inca Kola every day for lunch? No. Then we had a ward activity of games where the ward gave us a loaf cake to eat later. They even told us to play some of the games. I sorta cheated in one of them because I wrote down english words. During another one I got to be the executioner for a bit where someome sat in a chair and had to answer a question while I blew up a balloon filled with flour. If they didn't answer fast enough... BOOOOM! Flour all over them! (And me too). But If this is what ward members do for missionary's birthdays down here, I need to buckle up for the end of november!
On Sunday we got to go to the building are ward is supposed to go to, but church starts at 8 which is the earliest I've ever had church. We had a meeting with a family who lives up in the area that's all dirt and no road. We had some great conversations and I felt pretty good about my Spanish. They had a bunch of rabbits and they told me to pick one to eat next time we visit them! I've always wanted to try rabbit. I couldn't bring myself to choose one so they did for me and I got some photos with him. He's the biggest and fattest of the bunch and has a beard. Just to let you know, I didn't feel any regret when I stared into his eyes knowing that the next time I saw him he might be on the plate in front of me. It was nice to pet them though.
Sometime I like to stand back and admire the poverty. After the rabbits we went across the street with hermana Elva who introduced us to her sister, who's actually an old investigators. They were building houses on that street and I got to see the process of how they make bricks down here and wonder why they do it in flip flops. But it makes me appreciate everything that Heavenly Father has given me, especially this opportunity I have to serve these people who don't have as much as me.
That's all for this week! Expect miracles in your life and have a great week!
Elder Jensen
1. Lunch for Elder Cabrera's birthday
2. Zona Esperanza at the temple
3. Staring into the eyes of death
4. Companionship
5. Bearded big chungus
6. (Read in the voice of Jim Gaffigan) I didn't know he was gonna be so pale
7. Outside the temple
8. "I'm going to be healthier!" And this is what I get for dinner.
9. L to R Max, Ruby, Bearded Big Chungus, Bunnicula. Bunnicula actually has red eyes. (These are my own names for them minus Ruby)
Comments
Post a Comment