A FUNNY
"You're eyes look kinda glazed... have you been eating donuts?"
Hermana Brown said this last night and I almost rolled out of my chair I laughed so hard. I love dumb jokes. Also, I almost ran into a giant yellow cement barrier in a parking garage. Almost! So no harm no foul, right? A little kid jumped back and grabbed his dad's hand when we drove by yesterday. They were 20 feet from the street still and I was barely moving. Now my companions tell me that I scare children. I don't. But they think it's funny! We met 4 Brazilian guys on their patio the other day. They are super cool and we had a really good talk with them. We don't speak Portuguese, so that was pretty funny. And they don't speak English, so that was even funnier! But somehow we stayed there for an hour and a half having a good long conversation. 7 of them live in this house but we only met 4. Their personalities were drastically different but they all work together and make for a really awesome group of people! We walked away and Hermana Tantillo said, "Is anyone else thinking 7 dwarfs right now?" Haha, we can't wait to go back. We have an actual appointment on Saturday with them. Oh! On Halloween we made caramel apples but they were so disgusting that we pealed off all the caramel and ate apples on a stick.
A GOOD STORY
The other night we got a call from a sister who wanted help translating at a big training conference. We always tell people that whatever they ask us to do, we'll do it! I've even told a girl that if she ever feels like beating someone up to call us and she can go ape-crazy on my face. And if she ever calls, I will be there in 5 minutes with my face high and my hands behind my back, ready for her to fire away. Well, when this sister asked for translators I didn't know what else to say except for yes, so I said, "OF COURSE!"
Why? Why would I say that? I don't speak Spanish. And she needed 4 of us to do it. We called the sister missionaries one town over and asked if they could come with us. Last night we packed in the car and headed down to Cambridge. All day we prayed relentlessly for the gift of tongues. I'm thinking over and over again how bad it'd be to ruin someone's training by whispering accidental nonsense into their ear. We get there and meet everyone. I am assigned to one of the sisters from our ward here in Revere! Most of the other sisters understand English and only needed help when wanting to ask questions so at first all 4 of us just sat there doing nothing. They began the meeting and made announcements and I sat there feeling guilty. When the first speaker stood up I finally looked back at the sister on the end of another row and motioned for her to come sit behind me. She sat down and then I moved a chair next to her. The speaker had already begun talking and I hadn't been listening so I quickly pressed my brain trying to remember what she had said. A few seconds passed that seemed like an eternity. Super nervous, super timid, I began translating. Immediately when words started coming out of my mouth the sister next to me leaned closer and pressed her ear close to me. I realized how much she was relying on me. She really had no idea what was being said... I have felt like this before. Even if you've studied the language and you know that you SHOULD know what they're saying, when someone stands in front of you and starts spitting out words lightening fast you just completely lose it. She needed me to relay the words to her in a way that she could understand them. The first speaker finished and I backed into my seat with a silent sigh of relief and a roll of my eyes. I had no idea what had just come out of my mouth. The sister next to me looked up at me and said, "thank you! Gracias!" The next speaker got up, and then the next, and soon the first part of the training was over. After every talk the sister again looked up and said, "Thank you! Thankyou, gracias."
I stayed with her for the rest of the training. They broke off into different classes and as I listened more closely to what was being said I took a genuine interest in it. When she had questions, I asked them as if they were mine, and as I learned and understood things, I relayed them to the sister next to me with the same tone of teaching and understanding that came from the trainer. I was the listener and the speaker all at once. The Spanish sister and I had so much fun together and she knew what was happening the whole time.
I don't know how it was possible. My Spanish is sub-par at best. But I had the best night ever! Even though it's challenging I want to keep finding opportunities to translate. I loved it... I helped someone learn something that without me, they wouldn't have understood. It had nothing to do with me... I was just an instrument. I was there and I was willing and sure, my own disabilities kept me from performing with excellent fluency, but as soon as I began speaking the sentences formed and the message came across. And it was fun!
A LESSON LEARNED
This is not any different from what I do every day. Only with the gospel. It's not a new lesson learned rather than a reminder of how dedicated we have to be in order for God to use us to accomplish great things! If I had let my fear stand in the way, I would have never been there. I'm humbled knowing that even with my faults and shortcomings I can still say what needs to be said in order to help people. And at the heart of everything we do as missionaries... as mankind... is a desire to help others. If we realize that they are just like us then we will want to help them because it's exactly what we'd want if we were them. It's the GOLDEN RULE. It's not new.... just a good reminder. Why do we so often forget this universal rule? It's like when someone gives you a thumbs up and you just know that they're encouraging you. If someone needs something, we should just know that it's our responsibility to help. If we are there, if we are willing, and if we just begin to act then we really can help them! It's not because of us but through us that God works great miracles.
GOALS
follow up
1) Uh, yeah, I totally drive like a Bostonian. It's completely unavoidable.
2) My hija is learning Spanish!!! It's great! She's teaching and talking to people more and it's not even as painful as I thought it would be to see her trip a little. One time she prayed and afterwards someone said, "Do you speak Portuguese?" Hahaha she was pretty bummed about that one. But she's doing really great!
3) I gave up on making rice. I bought some Kimchee this morning so now all I have to make is good ol' white rice!
4) lamest Halloween ever turned into the best Halloween! We did weekly planning all day and ran errands. We put a sad little note on our door that said, "No candy, sorry." So maybe it was lame. But that means I achieved my goal! CHECK!
5) Best October 31, check! Even better November 1st!
this week:
1) Find boots. It's getting cold, but I'm really bad at shopping. I've gotta get some boots.
2) Learn 7 new funny spanish sayings, and 7 new helpful sayings
3) Convince Hermana Brown to let us decorate the house for Christmas
4) Decorate the house for Christmas anyway, because she's gonna say no
5) Teach 20 lessons
have a great week everyone! love you all
hermana hileman
hermana hileman
No comments:
Post a Comment