Vegans And Pagans And Double Homicide- Brought To You By WhatsApp!
Nobody panic.
No actual murder, but we did get the transfer table and Elder Quintana and I are staying here. This will be his last transfer, so if you've been doing your missionary slang homework, you'll know that means that I'm "killing" him. So after this I'll have "killed" two comps.
Events
Been a busy week. We started in Lanzarote and had some cool lessons on Tuesday, checking up on Efigenia's friend Margarita and a guy on date for baptism named José. On Wednesday we took the boat again to go back to Fuerteventura.
Later in the week we had two back-to-back exchanges in our area, which was cool.
The Vecindario missionaries, Elders Filbrandt and Monteiro, showed up first, and we did some good work. Fuerteventura was really slow and the only teaching appointment we were able to set canceled on us. Elder Filbrandt and I managed to get a videocall lesson set up with someone in their area but he turned out to be a Bible-basher who answers Facebook ads so he can argue with missionaries. We even saw reflected in his glasses that he was looking at a spreadsheet of scripture references every time we said something. Wasn't fun but hey, that happens on a mission.
That evening as we were prepping to go street contacting the zone leaders, Elders Ploeger and Blackburn, called Elder Quintana and told them they'd arrived for their exchange. We weren't expecting them until the next morning, but that night we had every Elder in the district in our apartment. It was a good time, and we were basically out of food so we all went to go get pizza. We even joined zone testimony meeting all together and had a great night.
Saturday morning we said goodbye to Vecindario, then worked with the ZLs until 2, when they had to leave. Elder Ploeger's a beast, and we talked a lot about organization and finding. Tough that we didn't get a full exchange, but it was while they were here that we got transfer news and learned we were all staying put. We'll have more exchanges.
People
Elder Quintana and Elder Blackburn taught our friend Isa in Lanzarote over video call out of nowhere because Efigenia (our favorite member missionary) was visiting her house and decided it would be a good time to call us and ask us to teach a lesson. Luckily, they were in a good position to drop what they were doing, teach the Plan of Salvation, and put Isa on date for baptism. We need an Efigenia in every ward.
Alejandro is a new guy who texted us out of nowhere, told us he got our number from his mom, and asked when and where he could go to church. That was last week, but this week we set up a time to show him around the church. Turns out his mom met with missionaries once but didn't join the church, but gave him our info when he told her he wanted to go to a church. He was busy Sunday morning but came to our branch activity.
Zenón, a really great member who invites us over for lunch every Sunday, asked us to teach and prepare five of his grandkids for baptism. It'll be busy but the kids want to do it and together we chose January 11th. Wish us luck!
Now for the vegans and pagans. When we check up on old contacts and text them on WhatsApp, some are pretty interesting. One guy told me he wasn't interested in what we had to say if we weren't vegans fighting for animal liberation. Another told me that he believes in both the Christian God and the ones from the Slavic pantheon. Meeting all kinds of interesting people out here.
Fun
It's the World Cup, and even though Spain got beat by Morocco, people are honking car horns and wearing flags as capes in support of Argentina, of all places. I haven't even met any Argentinians here yet so not sure what's up with that, but it's pretty fun.
Christmas is coming (thanks for the package Mom!) and there was a lot of pressure while we settled our island schedule. In the end we're going to Lanzarote's ward Christmas party but spending the 25th in Fuerteventura. As a consequence of that, we'll spend New Year's in Lanzarote, and Dia de Reyes* in Fuerteventura.
*Dia de Reyes, Three Kings' Day, is January 6th and celebrates the wise men bringing gifts to the Christ child. It's HUGE here, basically as important as the 25th, which the Spaniards regard as the start of the party. And since, as Fuerteventura's branch president explained, Papa Noel (Santa) is one person and the wise men are three, kids get one gift on the 25th and three on the 6th. It's nuts. I'm pumped to be honest.
I'm starting to notice that I'm one of those missionaries who writes really long emails. Sorry to those of you who don't want that, you're welcome if that's your thing.
Spiritual Thought
Everything we teach about can and should be tied back to Jesus Christ, so we've started so many lessons by asking the kids in the room why we celebrate Christmas. The smart ones tell us we're celebrating the birth of Jesus. If we ask why that's so important, it takes a little longer to get a response. As epic as the Christmas story in Luke 2 is, this season is also a time to celebrate the teachings, accomplishments, and purpose of the adult Christ. He taught the world that the way back to our Father in Heaven is through faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He paid the price for our sins to make that path possible. And He rose from the dead to give us the opportunity to have eternal life.
Feliz Navidad!
Elder Curtis
Pictures:
O Christmas Tree...
Cardboard scripture case upgrade. Does anything look cooler than black duct tape?
Paella at branch president Flores' house. They told us they liquefied the vegetables and cooked them into the rice so their kids would eat it.
Balanced diet
Left to Right: ZLs, DL, and your favorite District Monkey
There's more where these came from!
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