Monday, October 29, 2012

Parasites (not mine thankfully!) and Frozen Ants

Hey Howdy Hey!!! 
   Well how is everyone doing?  Mom and dad I hope you two are enjoying Ireland... I sure am jealous... But one day I will visit and eat oysters there too!  Haha I hope you all have a good week, I had a great week and the time here is flying by!  I am almost at my nine month mark and I honestly can`t believe that I am almost half way done with my mission!!!  Some days are really slow but for the most part we just keep moving and before we know it is Monday again!!

    This week ended with the baptism of the Macias family!  We have been teaching this family for about a month and a half now and they finally got baptized this Saturday.  It was a pretty special day for them and most of the ward came out to the chapel to show their support for this new family! The ward was actually pretty excited about having a new family in the ward and were really impressed that the whole family was getting baptized. 

    At first we thought that just Jessica (the mom) and her two kids Leonardo and Kevin were just going to get baptized because Eduardo (the dad) was still pretty skeptical about everything.  Well Eduardo started reading the Book of Mormon everyday and he quit drinking coffee and when we he had another baptismal interview he had decided that he wanted to get baptized with his whole family.  We were overjoyed and so were they.  When we went to their house to plan the baptismal agenda (who would speak and say the prayers and what hymns) they showed us that they went to the Temple and bought hymn books, three bibles and four Books of Mormon with the Doctrine and Covenants and everything included.  It was pretty touching to see all those books on the table with their names in all of them.  

   They even bought a couple of white ties to get baptized in, it was pretty cute to see them practicing how to tie the ties.  They found a video on YouTube that teaches you how.  As we were discussing the arrangements for their baptism it came up that their family was actually really surprised that they were getting baptized.  It turns out that Eduardo's family was really against their decision to get baptized.  It was sad to see but as I was watching Eduardo`s expressions he didn`t even seem to let it bother him.  When he finished telling us what his sister had said, he laughed it off and then he mentioned "it doesn`t matter.  I believe that these things are true."  It was cool to see that their remarks didn`t really effect him at all.  But it was touching to see that he has a testimony.  

   Their baptismal program included a special musical number, which is unusual,  and some of their family are members so their brother-in-law baptized them all.... And guess what!  THE WHOLE FAMILY ONLY HAD TO GET BAPTIZED ONCE!!!! haha It was a breath of fresh air.  Sometimes our baptisms are a little nerve racking because sometimes the actual dunking part of the ordinance looks something more like a voluntary drowning!  Especially when our investigators come up coughing and spluttering like they had been held under for five minutes. So it was a nice change!  Haha and the closing hymn was "Families Can Be Together Forever" I was directing the hymns and I almost lost it bawling and blubbering in front of everyone but luckily I held it together.  (And even if I had cried, no one would have noticed because no one looks when you direct hymns anyway)

    This week my companion and I have also been taking the bus to the doctor almost every other day.  She has been having some weird pains in her stomach and she finally asked permission from the President to go and see the doctor.  I don`t mind seeing the doctor.  But if you are expecting good customer service... you are not going to find it in South America.  The front desk lady was so rude to us and when we finally got to the doctor`s office the doctor was so arrogant that I almost walked out. It was really interesting because it didn`t even phase my companion that these people were being complete JERKS!  She just signed up for a check up, not emotional abuse! When I mentioned my feelings on the bad customer service thing Hermana Paasaca didn`t even know what I was talking about.  

    As we were walking to the main road to get on the bus again I told her that if I would have been treated like that in the United States I would have complained to the boss or someone!  She then said, oh... we don`t have that here.  (I can tell)  But it was interesting.  I guess I was the only one who was shocked because I have experienced good service before and I have worked with rotten insurance companies and patients that EXPECT good service. But if you don`t know what you are missing why bother right;) WRONG!  haha 

   Well we finally got the results from her exams earlier today and it turns out that she has anemia, gastritis, and parasites!!!! How's that for stomach pain!?!  I hope that I don`t get that sick but I take pretty good care of myself.... With all things considered. I think that I have a stomach made of iron, because I usually am just fine! 

   I don`t know if you all remember about my battle with the ants and the spiders these past weeks... But I had another war this last Friday!  In the kitchen we have a mirror hanging on the wall.  I use this mirror to do my hair every morning. (It is also the only mirror that we have in our house) So underneath the counter top I have my box of hair things.  Well for the past couple of weeks I have noticed that the ants have been attracted to this box.  So I threw away the box and put my hair things in a grocery bag and put my perfume in the fridge thinking that would solve the problem.  On Friday I was running a little late and I had to blow dry my hair.  (I never blow dry my hair down here because it is so stinking HOT!!!)  

   I dried my hair and set my blow dryer on the floor and I threw my hair up in a messy bun which took me about ten minutes. I sprayed everything down with hair spray and then when I went to put my hair things back in the grocery bag I reached down to grab my blow dryer and there were THOUSANDS OF ANTS CRAWLING OUT OF MY BLOW DRYER!!!!!! 

    First I freaked out and then came to my senses and started wiping up all of the ants with a wet paper towel, thinking the whole time, WHY ARE THERE ANTS IN MY BLOW DRYER!!!!  And a few other thoughts creeped into my mind like... I hate this country and I hate all the ants in the whole world and WHY ARE THERE ANTS IN MY BLOW DRYER!!!! I then started thinking how am I going to get all of them out of my blow dryer because they just kept coming out!  I then turned on my blow dryer again and left it on for a minute on the highest and hottest it could blow hoping to chase all the ants out.  

   I then turned off the blow dryer hoping that all the ants would come out but they just kept coming.  I then thought that I should spray some bug spray into the back of the blow dryer while it was blowing killing every bug inside and blowing it out the other end.  Then I thought, no... my bug spray is 98.8 percent deet.... This stuff dissolves plastic... It will not only ruin my blow dryer but I will probably be electrocuted at the same time. So I consulted my companion and she wasn`t any help either..... Then I thought maybe if I put my blow dryer in the freezer that will kill them.  

   So I put my blow dryer in a bag and sealed it up then I put it in the freezer.  Five minutes later I took it out of the freezer and the bag and shook it over the bag and hundreds of frozen ants fell out of the front into the grocery bag on the counter.  I kept shaking and they kept on falling and falling and falling.  I keep shaking and the ants that were falling in the bag started waking up from their frozen slumber and started crawling around.  So I put everything back in the freezer again and five minutes later repeated the process. Can I just say that in South America CRAZY STUFF HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!!!!!!! (Well it is crazy to me... When I told my companion what happened she just laughed but didn`t seem too surprised about it)

   Well that is about all that I have to say about that... I am out of time!! I know that this church is true, and I am so happy to be a part of it.  I know that Joseph Smith restored the gospel and it will never be taken again from the earth!!! These are the latter days and we have got to be ready for whatever comes!!! The gospel will help us with whatever trial we face in this life and we will be blessed if we are faithful and endure to the end!  

Love you all more than I miss you!  xoxox
Love, Hermana Welch #1 (Jess) 

No comments:

Post a Comment