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| Hermanas Behan and Gonzalez with Roger and Patricia at Patricia's baptism. |
¡Hola familia y amigos!
So
I finally figured out what Hna. Lopez reminds me of. You know the pigs
on the game Angry Birds? That's what she looks like, in a more
attractive humanized Tongan-looking womanly sense. Something about her
facial expressions are exactly the same. She isn't Tongan, she's
Guatemalan, but she's got this androgynous Pacific Islander thing going
on which is cool. Really thick, defined eyebrows..super long jet black
curly hair..and she rolls her eyes a lot. Like the pigs! I wish you
could see her so you could congratulate me for how right I am.
I
also may or may not have lied to Ana Rosa (our food cita) and told her
that I have an aversion to gluten (aka rice and tortillas), and it may
or may not have been the smartest thing I've done on my entire mission.
"Thou shalt not lie unto thy fellow men, but unto the woman who makest
thy food, thou mayest change the truth slightly, so that thy waist line
may wax smaller in the land." 1 Caribbeans 12:14
The
result? Less fried things and more salad! We eat a lot of fish caught
straight from the ocean and there are now many more green things on our
plates than brown. Heck. Yes. I've also taken to carrying a plastic bag
in my backpack in the event I've been giving an excessive amount of food
(aka, always) or something that isn't edible (sometimes), and I have to
say, I'm moving up in the world. My crafty bag hiding skills have saved
me from consuming many weird things.
When
you gain weight here, sometimes they tell you, "Se puso hermosa," or,
you got more beautiful. But the actual translation is, "Well.. ya got
fat." I've received several "hermosa" comments lately, so I'm actively
fighting against the man. The man, in this case, being the one who
decided that eating three cups of rice and tortillas every meal of the
day is a good idea.
Even though I
don't trust them because the majority of them lie pretty much always, I
have to say that I love Nicaraguans. There's just something about them
that is so open and endearing. Lately I've taken to just calling them
out on their lies, and they've been responding much more positively than
I thought. "Listen, hermano, you're not making promises with us, you're
making promises with God." Or, "Just be sincere. If you're not going to
go, I would rather know now than be disappointed Sunday morning." They
usually pause for a second, like a three year old does after he's caught
telling a lie to his mom, and then admit, "Yeah . . . you're right. I
can't come this Sunday. Sorry, I'll go next week." And even though that
is also a lie, we're making progress.
They
also have weird ideas about certain things, such as feet washing.
Everyday we come home after walking all day in the sand and dirt, and
our feet are gross. Understandably, I have desires to wash mine. Hna.
Lopez doesn't say anything, but Hna. Gonzales used to get legitimately
mad at me because she says I'm ruining my feet. She told me one time,
"You can wash your feet if you want to die," haha. I think it has to do
with something like our feet are hot and the water is cold, and that
could be potentially problematic? But I just think it's hilarious. Feet
washing feet = death. Well, that escalated quickly.
Phew.
I have everything to tell you and not enough time. First things first,
we had a baptism this week. Super awesome, hilarious woman named Reina
(which means "Queen" in Spanish, which totally matches her personality),
who has been taught by various pairs of missionaries for years. Her son
is actually on a mission in Bolivia right now, and although she
supported him, she wanted nothing to do with the Church. Turns out,
though, that the most recent set of hermanas have never even tried
inviting her to baptized! So my very first lesson with her I did, and
she said yes! It was awesome. She's already started inviting less
actives and her neighbors to church, too, and has been reading from the
Book of Mormon every night since her son left. Super pilas.
What
else? had a family night last Monday playing soccer on the beach, which
was awesome. And oh, yeah, we've now had four more earthquakes. Some
of them have been pretty big, rocking the entire house back and forth,
and there has been some minor house damage in Managua, but.. I'm just
not that worried about it. We're fine and we're being protected. The
only funny/exasperating thing is that the Nicas are all freaking out
that the end of the world has come. But, instead of finding that as a
reason to go to Church and get closer to God, they are apparently "too
anxious" and choose instead to stay in their houses and drink.
I hope the end of the world isn't any time soon, because Corinto isn't anywhere close to being ready.
To
be totally honest on account of Corinto's lack of initiative I think I
hit rock bottom of my mission last week. I felt like I left the city of
Leon to enter into the wilderness, and all of the elements were against
us. There are over 600 members in Corinto, and of those 600, only 50
were in church this past Sunday. Half of the bishopric weren't at Church
because they went fishing, and all five of the families that promised
they would go didn't come. I just felt . . . overwhelmed. I think it
might have been the first time in my mission when I honestly thought
that maybe it would be easier to just go home.
But
then I thought about my family motto (cue the cheesy violin music):
"Behans never quit." I've been sent here to have success, not to fail.
It would be very easy to adopt the attitude of all of the members here,
including that of the Bishop, that there is just so much to be done that
we can't do anything. But I've never been the quitting type, and, as a
Behan, I don't plan to start now. Instead of wallowing in my negativity
and sweat (because it seriously it just so dang hot here), I decided to
get to work. I can easily say I have never worked this hard in my entire
life. Hna. Lopez and I are fighting for Corinto. We don't rest. Every
single day, we leave the house determined to find those who are chosen,
activate those who have fallen away, and animate those who are
depressed, and we come home everyday with an exhaustion I've never
experienced before. I feel like we're just two really frenzied ants
caught in a maze of rocks that don't want to be moved. But we're making
plans, and we're going to do this. We're in the wilderness, but, like
Nephi, we're going to "Go and do."
I
was thinking the other day that if my mission was just sunshine and
daisies and everyone jumping into the baptismal font it would be great,
but what would I be learning, really? Every trying moment in my life has
proved to be for my personal betterment (betterment. Is that a word?),
and I know that this is no exception. I've got a lot to learn here. I
learned this past week that I can't do this alone. Two people can't
fight against 600 and win. But 2 people and God can do anything. Corinto
is not lost.
So, it's miserably
hot, and there are earthquakes, and it's not easy.. but no one ever told
me my mission would be easy, they just told me it would be worth it.
And it will be, and is.
"Even so
will I be your light in the wilderness, and I will prepare the way
before you. . ." I'm learning more to trust in God than ever before, and
I'm going to survive my 6 months in Corinto. In fact, I'm determined to
love it.
Keep me in your prayers. You're all certainly in mine.
Les quiero!
<3 Hna. "Hermosa" Behan
p.s. I am SO tan. It's not real. and the parts of me that aren't tan are SO white. Gah. why.
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