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| Me and Krout |
This week has been wonderful. I am stayed in Juncos and got a new companion, Sister Krout. Sister Krout is awesome. She is from Washington State and attended BYU Idaho before the mission. Sister Krout is incredibly outgoing and personable. Definitely another yellow. One thing that is really neat is that Sister Krout actually started her mission in San Lorenzo and served the first 9 months of her mission in this ward. Needless to say she knows and has a great relationship with all of the members and knows a ton of less actives. Sister Krout is really dynamic and we get along great. I am her first American companion and so we have a great time quoting movies and reminiscing things from home. It is very fun and new for her. Sister Krout will be a great help to me and a great example as I slowly nurse myself back to who I was before all of the horrors of San Lorenzo. I feel very, very low but I think the Lord is ready to start building me up again.
We have a lot of great work to do here and for the first time I feel like I am not alone. We can counsel and work together and I am so excited to get back in the action. I think we are going to focus our efforts for now on less-active members. All the members that Sister Krout baptized have now fallen into difficult opposition and have fallen into inactivity. But they are all power-houses and have amazing testimonies. they just need a little help from the ward to get them back into the chapel. I am so excited to get started in the work!
We had a baptism last week of Richard and Aurea. They are the sweetest little couple. They are very simple and humble people and it has been so interesting to watch them grow and progress in the gospel. Their service was very small and simple, but the spirit was there so strong. It was great because Richard and Aurea invited one of there neighbors, Hugo, to come to the service and he loved it. He was amazed by the peace he felt in church and asked us what the requirements were for him to be baptized. He told us it was his goal to be baptized in our church. We taught him for the first time yesterday and it was a great lesson. It was one of the times that I knew I was a terrible teacher--- I maybe didn't explain things clearly, didn't use the scriptures the best--but the spirit was strong. That is what is important. I know the words I spoke weren't really mine.
I hope that Hugo will be able to take the steps and make the sacrifices necessary for baptism.
I love our house and our neighborhood. We have some of the greatest neighbors. There is one little boy, Angelito, who is always in the streets riding his bike. He has quickly made himself our best friend and anytime we go walking to do contacts he always comes with us on his bike. He has introduced us to some great people, including his family. Angelito asked us if he could come with us to church. Of course! So he rode his bike over to the chapel and he had a great time. After church his mom had made us all dinner. We had so much fun with his family. It is his mom and older sister. We have taught them a little bit, but aren't too into making commitments. But anyway they are great neighbors. We also introduced ourselves to another great family on our block.
Ok this family is unheard of they have so many things that I thought I would NEVER find in Puerto Rico. We actually set up an appointment with them planning on teaching them Lesson 1, but they called us a few minutes before and told us they were catholic and asked us not to share anything with them, but we could still come over and get to know them. We were a little bummed but it turned out great. This family is amazing:
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| Krout and I at Zone Conference |
2. It is their first and only marriage for both of them!?!?!
3. They have 3 well behaved children who listen quietly and participate politely in conversations!!!!!
4. They turned off the TV and Radio when we came!!!!!
5. The whole family stayed in the room the entire time with out bringing in DS, Ipods, or MP3's
6. The house we completely clean
7. That family spends time together, meaning they eat meals together and go on trips together
Both Sister Krout and I walked out of the house completely blown away!!!!! I didn't know families like that even existed anymore! I thought they were just Preach My Gospel fantasies. Wow. Unbelievable. We had a really great time with them. We basically just got to know them and shared a little bit about what our church is. I felt like a member missionary. That is what members are supposed to do, build friendship and get into homes. Anyway, we have great freindship with them now and hope to see more of them. I am still in shock of how perfect that family is.
Other exciting things. I love having an American companion because we can eat vegetables together. Puerto ricans do not believe in vegetables. Just meat, beans, rice, and fruit. We ate salad for lunch today and it was divine.
I ate Bacalao yesterday. It is like a pickled codfish, but is soft instead of crunchy. It was disgusting and I felt pretty sick afterwards.
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| I LOVE JUNCOS!!! |
Sister Krout
The cockroach situation is diminishing. They are eating the poison and dying out. It is not so bad. Sister Krout was horrified to learn of the problem, but really she missed out on all of the fun.
Yes, I have heard of the nylon rumor. That sisters are no longer required to wear nylons. Hallelujah! That was ridiculous anyway. We were supposed to wear nylons on Sundays here. I think I did for the first two months, decided it was just ridiculous and gave up on that.
I am happy, happy, happy, happy and so grateful for the Lord's mercy. Thank you so much for all of the packages, Mom. They have been arriving.
Love,
Hermana Palmer
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