So the news here is pretty distorted. A couple kids were
laughing and told us that we wouldn´t have a country anymore because North
Korea was going to blow us up. What exactly is going on? Also someone
said that there was an act of terrorism against the U.S. in the Boston marathon,
but only 3 people died? I know techinicaly no one wants missionaries to
worry about what is going on at home, but in this case I feel like it would
ease my mind to know what´s up.
Just so everyone is aware, yes anyone can write me now on my
email. =) Handwritten letters will take at least a month to reach me, and that
is if they even arrive. I´d love to hear from you via email! =) But
of course both ways of sending letters are great!
As far as Spanish goes, I can understand about 95% of what my
companion says, 35% of what our investigators say, and still absolutely nothing
of what the natives say.. hmm.. maybe 10% of what they say. lol. You get
accustomed to the way a certain person speaks and then you still can´t
understand anyone else. The other funny thing is the new way I imagine
stories in the scriptures. When you learn a language, you acquire
different pictures with the new words. So, for example when I read about
the field in Lehi´s dream, instead of the field I used to imagine, basically a wheat
field, I imagined the chacra where we went to work last week.
As far as the work is going... It´s going. The hardest
part is knowing who to teach. I have literally only had two doors closed
on me with people saying that did not want to set up an appointment.
Everyone here is so willing to listen that it´s difficult knowing who
will actually be there when you show up at the door, who is just being nice,
who really wants to change, and who just wants to see to gringas try to speak
spanish. I know at least my Spanish definitely gives them something
to laugh about. The other hard part is how I keep thinking of how I could
be doing so much more in the time we are given. Everything here.. and I
mean.. everything... is 40 minutes late. When we set up any kind of
meeting, no one arrives on time. It´s not horrible, it´s just apart of
the culture. We went to a ward member´s house for lunch, which by the way
was delicious, but we sat for 40 minutes waiting, and I kept thinking about how
we could be contacting people during that time. I don´t even have a watch
yet because my companion says I will just get more stressed out. lol. I
honestly don´t mind things starting late.. I just keep thinking of what else I
could be doing. If I weren´t on a mission I wouldn´t care one bit.
God really does show you miracles amidst everything. One
day I started praying that people would come up to us who really wanted to know
truth because I felt like we were missing so many people. That day 3
different people just came up to us and started talking to us as we were walking
to another appointment. That never happens.
Another miracle recently was with an Elder. He was really
sick and we were on a bus on the way home. We had been gone all day and
he just kept getting worse. On the bus we were all dying from heat but he
had us shut the window because he was cold. Then he had to borrow a
jacket from an elder. Eventually he said he couldn´t feel his hands.
The other Elders on the bus switched places with us and gave him a
blessing. I felt so bad for him. But I was so touched by the fact
that they could do that in the middle of a noisy road. Recently my
sister, Nani, sent a general conference talk that talked about how faith and
repentance or works, resulted in miracles. I felt like I was seeing that
happen. Right after the blessing, the Elders carried the other Elder off
the bus. I gave him some water, and they rushed off to the hospital in a
taxi. He was fine in the morning. =)
Yesterday was pretty interesting.. We weren´t allowed to
proselyte because there was a soccer game in Chancay. Everyone kept
telling us to go inside or go back home. Finally we listened. It´s
a good thing we did because 20 minutes later where we had been, there was a
shooting. Two other Elders in Chancay saw it all, but no one got hurt.
I have so many stories I hope this isn´t boring anyone to death.
We went to visit a member who was recently baptized named Javier.
We asked him about the construction that was going on around his house.
Apparently a gang had come and told everyone on that lot that they had
the rights to that property. No one left, and the next day the gang
members came with a wrecking ball. They demolished all the houses, but
his was spared.. Somehow. I like to think that God was watching over him.
He went to court which is dangerous because he could face the
repurcussions (sorry I can´t spell anymore) from the gang, but he won in
court, and so hopefully everything is going to be okay.
One of my favorite songs to listen to that my companion has is
´Man in the Mirror.¨ Whenever I get discourage I remember that the first
person I have to change is myself. ¨If you want to make the world a
better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change.¨ Yes, it´s
not exactly church music, but it might as well be.
My time is up.
There is so much I want to tell you about but I´ll save it for
next week.
Love Always,
Hermana Julia Bendixen
