Today we went to Pachuca and ate pizza! Real American pizza 😄 There is pizza here in Actopan too, but it's a little... different. By the way it's true, everyone puts ketchup on their pizza. Yum.
This week was exhausting, but good. We are worn out in the work!
Below is part of my letter to President this week.
This week I was reminded of how fantastic the Gospel really is. I had been kind of out of it for a day or two and was just going through the motions of missionary work. I just wasn't feeling it (which is bad because I should be serving with all my corazón, alma, mente y fuerza). Then one night we met with one of our investigators that we hadn't see for a while. He was SO excited to learn and kept telling us that the felt something special. He asked all sorts of questions and was amazed at the answers. He even wanted to accompany us and listen in at our next lesson. When we returned, not only had he done the reading, but he had highlighted and underlined and had all sorts of questions. Teaching him the Gospel was an absolute joy because I was reminded of how much I love the Gospel and how amazing it really is. Everytime we meet with him we get such a spiritual recharge, and I know he feels it too.
Ok. Missionary work really is all about the people. I could tell you my schedule and everything but you wouldn't really be able to understand what I do here and what it means to be a missionary without knowing about the people. So I've decided to pick one person we teach and give you reports on his or her progress every week. It was hard to decide who, because I needed someone relatively new, but with potential to progress. Yesterday, however, I knew I had to tell you about Eli. He's the one I wrote about above.
Background: 29 years old, single, math teacher at a middle school, musician
Finding:
We didn't find him, he found us. We were standing outside the house where we were going to eat getting a reference from a member when I look over and see a young man walking purposefully across the street towards us. He asked us to teach him and we were falling over ourselves trying to set up an appointment. He had talked with the missionaries in Monterrey, but had never had time to listen to a lesson. He said he always felt good when they talked.
First lesson:
Was well over a month ago. He was very interested and asked many intelligent questions. Our lesson was constantly inturrupted though by friends calling and coming over to try to get him to go play music somewhere. We tried to set up an appointment to return but he is always busy and said he would let us know (never a good sign...).
Refinding:
Went to look for him but only his Father, Ben, was home. We taught Ben, who like Eli has a very inquistive mind, but was very closed-minded and tried to teach us for most of the lesson. I felt very strongly that we needed to go back so one day while we were doing divisions I went by the house again. Eli was sick with the flu and Ben was busy fixing a car so we set up an appointment for a few days later and left.
More to come...
Life is good. I've never been the kind of person who LOVES to meet people. But I do like to make friends, and the Gospel does bring people together. The church is true. God loves you.
Love,
Hna DeFranco
About the title, a duda is a doubt, concern, or question. In our 3rd lesson with Eli everyone in the house was there at one point or another and every single one said at one point or another, "Tengo una duda..." and asked a question.
Side note. A lot of people wear clothes with English on them. One day I saw a middle-aged man wearing a "Miami Grandma" sweatshirt. Made my day.