Zarahemla Week 24

Last visit with Herman Mendoza

Familia,

Mi última semana en Zarahemla! Me voy a una rama en Montréal Est, en francés (y tambien voy a aprender mucho criollo). Estoy muy emocionado! He pasado momentos muy divertidos aqui, y voy a extrañar serviendo en español, ¡pero hay que aprender francés!

Mon nouveau collègue, Elder Amichia, est de France, et nous allons ouvrir une nouvelle zone dans Montréal Nord. J'ai hâte!

{If you don't speak Spanish and/or French, you should go and use Google Translate to translate!}

My French definitely needs some work, but I'm so excited to be able to work on it with Elder Amichia! He's going to help a lot. I'm super excited to open up a new area, and I know I will be pushed a lot! It will be like being trained all over again since I haven't served in French yet! The area is actually within my area in Zarahemla, so I am fairly familiar with it. It'll be so much fun!

Elder Torres (and Elder Landetta in the background eating)

This week has been pretty good, and fairly busy. Last Wednesday I had an exchange with Elder Torres, which was SUPER fun. We studied together a little bit, then went to visit Hermano Sanchez. We felt prompted during the lesson that we should give him a blessing of comfort, and we did. He told us later how it made him feel more peace and calmness than he's ever felt before! He remarked that it was like "being high on the best drug," which I thought was super funny. Blessings really do have an impact when you need them. After, since it was a super nice, balmy 4 degrees C, we decided to walk around the Jean-Talon metro area again to catch the Hispanics to contact outside in the warmth. We found a lot! Then we went to Hermana Cosme's apartment to eat dinner again. We got there and visited while they were finishing up the food, and then Hermana De la Peña and Hermana Cameron (one sister team in our ward) showed up, then a bit later Hermana Hepburn and Hermana Peterson (the other sister team) showed up as well. None of us had any idea the other was coming, but it was a pretty fun and unexpected party! We're not really supposed to do that, but as Hermana De la Peña said, "No hay pecado en la ignorancia." It was really a lot of fun.

Last dinner with Hermana Guerra

On Thursday, we had our last district meeting of the transfer. We had a little "momento de apreciación" where each one of us mentioned a strength, or something they admired about each missionary. It was a little awkward, but super uplifting! We then left and went home, ate, then went to do some contacting and pass by a couple of potentials. Then we headed over to Hermana Guerra's house for dinner, which was amazing as always! Since I knew I was probably leaving, we took some pictures afterwards. She's so cool!

Friday was fairly chill. We left pretty early in the morning to help Hermana Piña move some things into a new apartment. We thought we were going to move a ton, but it only took a few minutes before we were done. So, we went back home, and did our weekly planning. After a while we left to do some more contacting. Lots of snow and ice had melted that day, but at that time at night it got really cold and it all froze again. I slipped pretty badly (I wasn't wearing my boots so it was my own stupidity ha ha) and got a little messed up. But it was really funny, so we just laughed it off. We then headed to visit Nicole, and had a little lesson with her and her mom. She's doing well!

Saturday was pretty busy, although basically everything we had planned didn't actually go through. But we had made a lot of backup plans, so it was all good in the end! We helped finish Hermana Piña move in the morning, which actually didn't take very long (again). Afterwards we passed by the familia Amador, whose father had just been diagnosed with cancer, and checked in to see how they were doing. They were basically the same loud, crazy, happy Dominicans as always! It was so humbling to see how positive they were able to be despite their difficulties. Although he should come out okay despite the long road ahead, their testimony in the Plan of Salvation clearly blesses them and comforts them a lot! We then went to a baptism of an investigator of some of the sisters in our ward, which was a great experience. Then we were able to pass by some people, and taught a couple who were very receptive. Then we went home and ate pizza while receiving our transfer calls! I was nervous since I knew that I was leaving, but I'm so excited!

Elder Landetta wanted to take this picture!

Sunday was my last time in the Zarahemla ward. I was able to bear my testimony and say goodbye to a lot of people, which was awesome. Although I'm sad to be leaving all of them, I'm so excited to start new relationships in my new branch! After taking pictures with a lot of the members, and saying goodbye, we went to go visit Hermano Mendoza for my last time. He was the first person I ever met on my mission! It was sad saying goodbye; he's been such an example to me of faith, strength, and positivity. He's an awesome guy! Afterwards, we felt like we should pass by Edward, an investigator who we hadn't seen in a while, and we were able to teach him on the spot! It was a really good lesson, and we were able to commit him to baptism! He's a super cool guy. We then went to the Familia Bravo, the Mexican family I mentioned last week that we finally were able to see after passing by tons of times. They surprised us and fed us some SUPER good fajita-type things with steak and Chorizo, horchata, and I had Chicharron for the first time! It was SOOOO good. Mexican food is probably one of my favorites! And they are such a special family!

Last visit with Hermano Sanchez

Monday was pretty good as well; we spent most of the afternoon passing by potentials and doing some contacting. After a few hours of that, we went to visit Hermano Sanchez for the last time and eat pizza with him. He talks a lot, so the lesson on top of eating pizza took FOREVER. But it was really fun! He's a really cool guy, and I really like him a lot! We then spent the night as well passing by a couple of people, then we went home and I started the long packing process.

I'm sad to be leaving Zarahemla. I've loved serving in Spanish. The people are so warm, the food is SO good, and Spanish was so much fun to learn. But, I'm really, really excited to get a fresh new start at a new area with a new companion, and I am really excited to finally teach in French! It'll be a very new experience with a different culture (VERY Haitian), which I am super excited for. I'm sure it will be amazing!

I love all of you so much, and I hope you all have a great week!