Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Being "grounded" by the snow

Hey everyone!

Friday we got snowed in, well not snowed in but "grounded" because of
the snow. We hung out with Sisters Udy and Barlow in our apartment. It
was actually really bittersweet. We were supposed to take our car in
that morning at 9, but because we were grounded we had to make a new
appointment which wouldn't be till Monday at 9. Lame! We will be
carless for the whole weekend! We played Life with the sisters and
ordered pizza! It was fun to chill and get to know them better. Around
5 we were ungrounded. We had an appointment with the Molina's and
didn't end up getting there till around 6 because the elders came to
jump our car to make sure it still worked and it ended up being crazy!
We went to the Molina's and had dinner and shared a message. They are
the sweetest family! I love visiting them! Their mom is so caring and
loving. She always makes sure we feel at home. After, we went to McDonalds
because the elders had a lesson in Stamford. So we online proselyted
for a little then walked home. Burrrrr. It is cold here!

Saturday we had an APF! We went to the sisters side of Stamford and
looked up less actives. Luckily there were a lot grouped together,
because we are still carless. So they dropped us off and we went to
work. We ended up finding a member who no one had visited in a while
and a cute older couple who were in need of a blessing. It was cool to
be kind of like an answer to their prayers. We called up the elders
and scheduled an appointment for the next day. Then we headed off for
the next look up. My feet were frozen! My boots are definitely more
for looks than warmth. And the coat I have is pretty much the same. I
didn't think I would be spending so much time outside! But I will
survive until February. After the look ups we went to Chipotle for
dinner with Sister Parkin and Sister Hansen. It was so good! It was my
first time ever eating there! It is funny how, even though we get fed
Spanish food everyday, we still all wanted Chipotle. I don't know what
is going to happen when I go home and don't have arroz y pollo todos
los días! Hahaha! After they dropped us off at a member's house whom
we have been trying to reactivate. She doesn't have a ride for church
and is going through a lot of problems with her son. She could really
use your prayers! Her name is Gladys. After we went to Best Buy to use
the internet. We were thinking about walking home but, it was freezing
and we live a mile or so away. So we called the elders who happened
to be in Norwalk! They gave us a ride home and all was well.

Sunday we went to church with the Molina family and Gladys! It was a
miracle! We only had one awkward comment from her in Gospel
Principles. For some reason she felt the need to ask the teacher why
she was having "demonic visions." (Ohhhh dear!) The joys of missionary
work! Then we had fast and testimony meeting. Just like in the
Bronx, after the priests are excused to sit with their families the
people walk up and sit on the stand. It was really good though! After
they wanted to talk to me about playing a special song for the next
week. Then the next thing we know, all the other missionaries are gone
and the members and we are like, "Oh no!! How are we going to get home?!"
Luckily the bishop's wife was sitting there, but she said that they were
staying at the church. So we called up Elder Gleason and Elder
Longmore to see if they would give us a ride home. They were just
about to go to a visit with the Balatzar family so they came and got
us too. It was so slippery to get to their house! We had to cling to
the elders to help us! Then when we got inside, lo and behold, all the
other missionaries were there. We were like, "Oh thanks for the invite?"
It's been really stressful without a car. We ate some yummy Peruvian
food for lunch and then headed to the house of the look up we did the
day before, to give him a blessing with the elders. They are the
cutest old peruvian couple! He has arthritis really badly in his hands
and has not been doing well in the cold. When the elders gave him a
blessing, he wept! It was such a spiritual moment! The faith of those
people is so strong! After, we went to the farewell shin-dig for Elder
Arenas! He goes into the MTC today! It was really sweet, everyone went
around and shared experiences about him and then shared their
testimony with them. It was awesome! I was like, oh man, my family
didn't do this with me! Maybe for the next missionary in the family.

Monday was pretty crazy. We went down to jump our car with the
sister's around 8 am to make sure it wouldn't die, and it was pouring
rain. We said a prayer of safety and went out there. We jumped it easy
and then headed off, only, we didn't go three feet before we realized
something was wrong. The tire was flat! Ohhh man. We pulled it into
the covered garage and tried to get the spare out. Sister Udy is a
champ and lived in Idaho and worked on farm and really knew what she
was doing. We got everything pretty much ready then tried to start
taking the lug nuts off. It was hard! We stripped the wrench they gave
us and then called the elders who also have a Chevy. They drove here
from Stamford and assessed the damage. We got out their wrench and
tried to remove the lug nuts, still nothing. Sister Barlow and Sister
Udy called a member to ask if we could use some of their tools. They
came by and we finally could remove the tire and get the spare on. By
this time it was noon. We drove ever so slowly down the road to get to
the dealer and they took it I and said they would call us soon. We
went to the library and did some planning and online pros. We sat and
chilled for a while, then around 4 we were pretty hungry. We stopped
by Panera bread and ate some yummy soup and sandwich dinner then tried
to get ahold of someone to come pick us up. Unfortunately no one was
close so we had to wait another hour for the zone leaders to come pick
us up. Our lives have been kind of at the mercy of others. Elder
Rutland was on a split with elder Aagard and they came and took us
home.

Tuesday, we had an appointment with one of our investigators,
Christina. Luckily Sister's Udy and Barlow helped us out and we got
there just fine. We had a refresher of the Restoration. She has been
taught all the lessons but it has been a while. She is really awesome
and you can just tell that she is searching for more. We talked a lot
about praying to know the truth and then also about priesthood power.
We had to cut our lesson short because her son had to be picked up
from daycare, but we had a way awesome talk and we could just be
friends! Sharing the gospel naturally! The zone leaders were supposed
to pick us up but they weren't to Norwalk yet. So we started walking
down the street, kind of praying really hard because it was supposed
to be the coldest day ever! We were thinking about how we were gunna
play things out when Christina pulls over and is like, "get in, I can't
have you walking around in this weather." I was so amazingly thankful!!
Really though. The members and missionaries have been super awesome to
us! We decided that we could for sure count on the Molina's to be home
and, they were! We talked a lot about life and how life as a
missionary is different than a normal person. We had yummy arroz con
pollo. Ecuadorean style! It was really yummy! Then luckily the
sister's Barlow and Udy could come pick us up. We came home and
planned and tried to figure out what we were going to do for p-day.

We were hoping to go down to the city this week but we didn't have a
set plan and everything was kind of crazy. So we ended up going to the
mall with hermana's Barlow and Udy. It is a great mall! It has so much
stuff! J. Crew! Pottery barn! Zara, forever 21, H&M, I didn't even
know what to do with myself! I love shopping way too much. It was
definitely a chill day, which isn't bad and is actually pretty good.
The next few weeks will be like, going by so fast! It is crazy!

Remember to read your scriptures and pray everyday personally, and as
a family!! Read your patriarchal blessing and see what blessings are
awaiting you! I love you all so so much!


Love, Hermana Lancaster

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