"It's a privilege, really"

Hi everyone! 

Transfers were this week but Hermana Perez and I are staying here in North Salem.  However, four of the elders and one other Hermana got moved from the ward so we'll be getting a lot of new people in their place.  We have five sets of missionaries in this brand new little ward...pretty crazy!  This week's email will probably be a little short just so I can attach some pictures.

We had a good week.  One of the highlights was being able to teach Juan's granddaughter, M________, twice. Yesterday we taught her the Plan of Salvation and it was a really great lesson because she just got it; like, it just clicked for her. We talked a lot about our purpose here on this earth and perspective.  It sounds like people at school are not very nice to her at all so it was really nice to be able to talk about the big picture and testify that she has a Father in Heaven who loves her and knows everything she is feeling.

We stopped by the S_______ family's (the family that just came from Mexico) apartment one night this week and came in to find everyone grumpy, upset and angry.  We were sitting there and couldn't really figure out what the problem was, why there was all this tension.  Then the littlest one came running in crying and just said, "I'm so hungry, please I want a hamburger!". The mom told him he couldn't because she didn't have money for a hamburger.  We started asking them some questions and came to find out that they had run out of food the night before and none of them had really eaten.  It was absolutely heartbreaking.  We ended up going and getting them some basic groceries and hamburgers to hold them over for a few days.  I always knew that kind of stuff happened, that there were people who didn't have food, but it was different to be there and see this little teeny six-year old boy crying because he was just hungry.

 

Later that night, we went to visit a member who works crazy night-time hours and then comes home and takes care of her kids and the house during the day.  She basically just doesn't sleep.  We caught her while she was home and helped her fold some laundry she had just finished washing.  It was crazy to, in the space of a couple hours, be with two different mothers who were in an absolute place of desperation.  And it was neat, too, to realize this wasn't something I would've been able to do before I was a missionary.  I couldn't just show up at someone's door and ask to help them with their laundry.  Because we're missionaries, people allow us to help them in a more intimate way than just the average person and it's a privilege, really. 

Okay now for pictures...

 

 

Love, 

Hermana Meise