"Popo and The Great Hiccup"

 

May 13, 2013

I spelled out my name in the ash, but it's kinda hard to see

So this is the car the morning
after the ash fell

These are my clothes hanging out to dry the night the
ash fell  -__-

Soo big news this week is gonna be that Popo (The Volcanoe) is freeking outtt haha. Apparently it errupted pretty big 2x this week and we got showered with ash on Tuesday night. So that was fun until the next day we had to go out and walk in it and it was getting in our eyes and nose and throats and ears and errywhere. Like seriously, it was ridiculous. But then it kinda died down and then today it rained which will hopefully help keep all the ash on the ground and not inside of my body via various passages and canals. But yah it was pretty cool. I got a few pictures but not a ton fell sooooo

So this week was a bit...slow but there were a couple cool things that happened! On Wednesday we were talking with an invstigator person we had contacted in his store and he gave us these things called Niche. They call it "La prima de la uva" or the cousin of the grape because it is kinda like a grape. It comes in a little spikey ball and you peel off the outside of it and inside is a slimey little ball of deliciousness haha its literally like a peeled grape and it tastes awesome. It also has a MASSIVE seed in the middle of it that i am going to plant and grow these little pieces of heaven haha. We also got to have "Chilaquiles con pollo" this week which is otherwise known as "Tortilla Soup".  Its actually really good! haha  It has a spicy red sauce, tortillas and chicken...kinda exactly what the name says but for those of you not spanish speakers thats whats in it.

Other than that, its just been a pretty normal week...I got to teach a lesson in English though! We are teaching a recent convert and he knows a ton of English but he wanted more practice! So we taught him in English and he spoke back to us in Spanish. It was super awesome and i felt like i really was able to connect with him! Elder P on the other hand, struggled a bit (haha) not really but he kept slipping into Spanish.  He said its cause he has NEVER taught a lesson in English before -haha - but it just means he is a good Elder!

This is the entrance to the cistern,
 yes it was hard to fit! haha

This is me climbing into our cistern
where we usually have water.  We
were having issues, but the water
came later and it was cool to climb inside!

The rest of the week was pretty normal besides Sunday when I got to talk with the family via skype!!  That was really fun, and it was good to see all of them even if it was only for a little while. Made them seem just a little less far away. Me and Elder P would also like to mention that we are in favor of the Proposition #104 which says "The Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints should be able to talk to their families on Fathers day in addition to Mothers day and Christmas". So if they come around handing out pamphlets, grab a couple for me.

Finally, the moment we have all been waiting for...or at least that's what we are gonna say if Elder Hamm asks...THE SPIRITUAL THOUGHTTT!!! *Clap* *clap* *cheer* Sooo the spiritual thought this week comes from 1Nephi because i have started the Book of Mormon over again. I was reading in 1Nephi 7 and Nephi is talking to his brothers because they are murmering again and it was right after they had just gotten Ishmael and his daughters, and his brothers dont like that, surprise surprise, and so his brothers are mad at him (What else is new??). So they bind him up and they are going to leave him in the wilderness to get eaten by wildbeasts. But Nephi prays that he will have the "strength that [he] may burst these bands." So im only in chapter 7 at this point in 1Nephi....and i have already heard Nephi say 3x that he is large in stature(Kinda like sharing a room with Jake) ;) and on top of that i have seen the paintings of Nephi...so im like this dude is about to go innnn and just shred these bands with his hugee arms...but then the scriptures teach us a very subtle lesson. At this point Nephi is thinking he is going to bust these bands, maybe hoping to intimidate his brothers...but the next scripture says: "...when i had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet..." Sooo the bands instead of being burst were simply loosed and he was able to stand again. Now I'm sure this may seem like a stretch to a lot of you...but to me, this really hit home that God is always listening to us, he always wants to help us, depending on our faith he will help us, BUT not always in the way we are expecting! Sometimes we think that just because God isn't helping us EXACTLY as we asked, he isn't helping us at all, but that isn't true. I believe that a lot of the time, we overlook, underappreciate, or take for granted, the little ways that the Lord is helping us in our lives. When we pray we need to ask for the Lord to help us and then diligently seek to recognize that help in our lives. I can promise you that if we look for the hand of God in our lives, we will be able to recognize just how much God is helping us in our lives. So next time you get down on your knees to pray for help...pray also that you will recognize that help as it flows abundantly into your life.