I wasn't feeling super awesome this weekend, but
don't worry I'm totally ok now. Just kept counting down the hours to
pday. And I got letters! A whole massive envelope from home!!!
Seriously made my day :)
We took some considerable time out of
our week this week to focus on practice and training. Sister Rodrigues
is progressing quite a bit, but we're totally behind schedule on the 12-week program. She just needs a different pace, and its really hard to
find time for that. Also, she's still struggling with the physical
demands of the work, swollen feet, and all that. Please keep praying for
her!!
This week was pretty sad (and I don't mean pathetic, I
mean like there were a lot of sad, unfortunate things that happened) as
far as our investigators are concerned.
We
had some great visits with Carol and Yasmin this week, and of course we
were thrilled that Rosa and Yasmin came to church, but Carol has gotten
harder and harder to find, and Rosa told us yesterday that she likes a
different church better, and doesn't want to continue being taught. All
we can really do is write awesome things about them in the area book and
hope that some other sisters go looking for them!
This is the
part that needs a warning label: We had a really awesome lesson on Sunday with Ivan and Enilda about
keeping commitments (they didn't go to church, again) and how it will
bless their lives. We didn't get to visit them on Monday, and then on
Tuesday we got there pretty late, and Enilda was already sleeping,
because she hadn't been feeling well, and finally gave up waiting for us
(felt really super awful about that) and went to bed, but we read the Book of Mormon with Ivan, and had a good discussion. Wednesday, we call
Enilda's phone to see if we can visit, only to find out that she was in
the hospital alone, because Ivan was leaving for a doctors appointment Luckily, the hospital is super close (and in our area), and we managed
to get the workers to let us in to sit with her, and make sure she got
everything she needed. It was probably the saddest afternoon of my life,
watching her struggle to stay awake and to communicate, and then to
realize from her mixed up explanation that she was there because she
tried to commit suicide. She already struggles with depression, and
doesn't treat her diabetes well either, and with all the stress of Ivan
going back to drugs, she decided to didn't need to live anymore. I can't
describe to you all the pain we were both feeling that night, the
helplessness. We visited the next day, and she participated in the
lesson for a little while and then fall asleep (oh, but we had an
awesome conversation with Ivan. Her attempted suicide really woke him
up, and helped him on the path to repentance. He really really does want
to change his life!), but then when we got there on Friday, neighbors
were taking her to the hospital, again, because of yet another failed
suicide attempt. We haven't managed to contact either of them since
then, since Enilda is being kept somewhere (I forgot the English word,
sorry), and Ivan doesn't have a phone. We know they both need the gospel
in their lives now, more than ever, so we're not giving up, but please
please please everyone keep praying for them!
Ok, but happy
things! We had 3 people come to church yesterday, and we didn't even
invite them! Our ward is super energetic, but often lacking in followup,
so it was super duper awesome to have them bring friends and family! We
also got a couple of references during ward council last night, so
we're super excited to start working with all of them!
Also,
we continue to eat well, as usual. This week we found yet another
awesome but cheap bakery, and I also made cookies (my companion might
need addiction recovery help) and milk shakes! Oh, plus the
members are awesome and they never forget to feed us. That's super
awesome too ;)
Wish I had happier news, sorry! And lots more time. Love you all! Have a great week!!
And
sorry I didn't have time to write to Jessica! Tell her I'm so proud of
her, and so happy I got to know her, just the little bit that I did!
-Sister Kirkham
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