We are so excited about the work that we are doing here in New Orleans. We have had some great moments this week, as well as some very interesting ones.
We went with Elder Beltran and Elder Brown to pick up an older couple named the Delgados. We were supposed to bring them to our house for a lesson. Unfortunately, when we got there they couldn't leave since they were baby-sitting and the baby had just gone to sleep. So we stayed at their house and the lesson was great. Brother Delgado is in his sixties and has been sick and Elder Lake suggested that the missionaries give him a blessing. It was the first time that Elder Brown (he's been here 2 weeks) had given a blessing in Spanish and he did a great job. (OK, what little I could understand, he did a good job.) Afterwards the missionaries asked Mrs. Delgado, (she's not a member of the Church) if she would get baptized and she said YES. It was a great lesson and we were glad to be a part of it.
The next day we went with the English speaking missionaries, Elder White and Elder Gordon, to pick up and investigator and then take him to the Church for a lesson. We picked up the missionaries at the place they are staying and went off to pick up Myron. We learned a lot about Myron that day, he is 57 and a Vet on disability. He lives in a shed behind his father's house and has been in the hospital 9 times in the past month. We got them to the Church and then took them to lunch. We found out that Myron likes to talk, he talked constantly the whole time we were with him. He told us how he rode out Katrina under the porch. I guess he rode out the floods on the roof, but he didn't say. After lunch Myron told us that he was moving that afternoon. He was supposed to get baptized on Saturday, Unfortunately, Myron didn't make it back to this side of town for his baptism. He now lives in a different missionary zone and he'll get passed over to the missionaries in that area.
Last Sunday, at Church we sat next to Lesli Velasaquez. She is 9 months pregnant and was baptized last night. Elder Knight and Elder Petersen have been working with her. Today she came to Church with a friend and was confirmed a member of the Church. She is going to have a little girl this week and we gave her one of the baby blankets that we got from Don's Aunt Doreen while we were in Utah at the Missionary Training Center. She was thrilled!
We met Rocio the second night we were in town, we happened to be meeting with the Mission President at the same restaurant that Rocio works at. She introduced herself and we've been trying to let her know that she is loved and that we want her to be happy. She has been thru a lot and just needs to know that she is OK and loved. She came to Church today! It was great to see her and I was especially grateful for her help in the kitchen.
So today was our New Member/Investigator Lunch. Last week when we left, Elder Lake told me that it was great and I seemed to not have any anxiety feeding 100 people every week. Well, this week was a lot different. We had plenty of food, which is always a good thing. But one of the roaster ovens didn't heat up enough to cook the rice, so I turned it up while we went in to partake of the Sacrament. And guess what? You got it, the rice was cooked and even got a little burned on the edge. Fortunately, Rocio came today. She scooped it all out in to a bowl and saved the day. But that wasn't all, the taquitos didn't heat up fast enough, instead of taking 8 minutes, they took 30 minutes. Other than that, the food went well.
OK, so you get the idea. We also had a crowd today which included some children. "Street Kids" as Elder Brown and Payne call them, children without parents, and with missionaries as their sole supervision. They started playing basketball at the other end of the cultural hall while we were having the lesson. It was a first! We couldn't keep them in their seats and the missionaries were at a loss of what to do with six kids. Evidently when their investigator wasn't home, they saw the kids playing in the neighborhood. The kid's babysitter (17 year old) told them they could take them to Church. The member that came to pick up the investigator give them all a ride and left the kids there with the missionaries. I keep thinking about what we could have done to make it easier for the kids, but they were there for the meal not the lesson. They were hungry. Don gave them a ride home with one of the missionaries and we gave them some oranges. They were so excited just to get an orange! It was a big deal to them. We came up with a bunch of different ideas and ways we can help the missionaries in these difficult situations.
It just makes us more grateful for all that we have. We are so grateful for the gospel and for the opportunity to be here and to serve these people. We hope that you will find it in your heart share with someone in need.
Thanks to all those who sent ideas on how to show love to others and for the 12 days of Christmas ideas. We gave our missionaries a huge list of ideas and we can see that they are already following through. We saw a cake mix box in the trash at Elder Andrade and Elder Jensen's apartment, then we saw them out making a delivery down the street.
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