Week 22

Mis Seres Queridos

The Patinos were baptized yesterdayyyyyyyyyy!!!!! Carlos, Adela and their son Juan Carlos were all baptized and it was one of the happiest days thus far in my mission. i couldn't keep from crying just a little bit as I witnessed their baptisms, I just felt so happy and so proud of the decision they had made. We ate dinner with them before the baptism and they were all just so happy. We are still working with Juan Carlos' daughter and with Adela's brother, who also live in the house, so hopefully we will be baptizing the rest of the family soon :) I love them all so much, Adela started calling us her daughters and they just feel like family to me. I will never ever forget them, and hope that after the mission we will all be best friends forever haha.

On tuesday we were teaching a young guy named Jorge, whose mother recently was baptized. He read from the Book of Mormon but said he still doesn't feel like he has received an answer from God that it is true. Now during basically the whole lesson I didn't have a clue what was going on because Jorge speaks rather quiet and mumbles a lot, so I was clueless. At the end of the lesson I felt like I should talk about my own experience in praying to receive an answer about the Book of Mormon and said that I didn't receive an answer from God for several months because in reality, I didn't want an answer that it was true. I wasn't ready to change my life and was scared of what my family and friends would think, and because of that, God waited to tell me, knowing that I wasn't ready for an answer. But, once I came to that wall of faith, where I just had to know and was completely willing to do whatsoever the Lord required of me, I received an answer, one that I will never be able to deny. After I told this story, Jorge asked me if I was reading his mind. I think deep down he knows what we are teaching him is true, he just is scared, just like I was. I am so grateful for the experiences I have been blessed with that I have been able to use as I teach others.

Funny story. Yesterday we all ate at the Patino's after church and before their baptism; me and my companion, the zone leaders Elders Porter and McGary, and the District leader and his companion Elders Astin and Kerr. They served us all this drink called Tepache, which is made from letting the skin from a pineapple sit in this big jar full of other stuff, I think just water and sugar, and you let it sit like that for a while, and then when it's ready you drink it. Well, after we drank some we all kind of looked at each other...and then I said, "Hermano, is there alcohol in this?" and he said they didn't put any alcohol in it and that it is just pineapple juice. I would trust the Patino's with my life, and I couldn't imagine them serving us alcohol in the first place, but I was still a liiiittle concerned. We were all sitting in the living room while the Patino's prepared the meal and were all talking about how the Tepache tasted a little strange, kind of like..or maybe exactly like a wine cooler haha. We proceeded to drink the Tepache and eat our delicious meal, and I think some of the Elders might have psyched themselves out a bit because they were all being rather silly, but then again they are 19 year old boys. Later that night we talked to bishop and he said that it depends on how long the pineapple is fermented, but that he drinks Tepache all the time so it should be okay. Elder Porter, one of the zone leaders, was not satisfied, so just now he looked it up online and did a little research and learned that you only should let it sit for like 3 days, and the Patino's let it ferment for like...months. So, we may, or may not, have drank alcohol yesterday. Elder Porter said, "If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a duck, and Tepache tastes and smells like alcohol" and then proceeded to ask me if I was hungover, of course I am NOT hungover, I did not feel any different I don't think after drinking it. Anyways....don't drink Tepache, just to be safe :) If you have served a spanish speaking mission and have some legit info on whether or not we are allowed to drink Tepache I would greatly appreciate it.

Well, I am off to spend yet another P-day dominating all of the Elders in Poison. It's a game we all play similar to dodgeball, except a million times more fun. I love you all and ask that you keep me in your prayers, that I may be able to repent of my Tepache drinking :) Haha

Con Amor y Paz,
Hermana Taets