Morir Soñando - Die Dreaming

^^^ Context is coming, don't worry


Weekly Highlights:


Graciela got baptized! She's an old woman whose son Saul is a member but hasn't been to church in a while. He reached out to us at the beginning of this transfer and told us that his mom wanted to talk to us and get baptized. She can't really move around much, which made setting appointments easy but the baptism hard. We spent a lot of time this week coordinating everything, (nearly had to do it at the beach) but after a million phone calls and a lot of prayers we got it done. In the end a few guys got together and just lifted her into the font. Really couldn't have done it without Saul, who knows his mom and her limitations better than anyone. We're really happy for her.


Isa was going to get baptized the same day but got really sick out of nowhere. We did visit her and give her a blessing, and we've been talking about the importance of the scriptures. She loves learning with us and it committed to getting baptized as soon as possible. 


That makes it really tough that this was our last week in Lanzarote for a while. Island hopping brings all sorts of complications, and we won't have time to go to Lanzarote for the rest of the transfer. Elder Quintana goes home in two weeks so he said a lot of goodbyes when we left there yesterday. I'll be back with a new companion, since there's no way they'd whitewash two whole islands.


Slice of Life


Had both of our exchanges with the zone leaders in Las Palmas this week. On Tuesday we were in their area and Friday they came to us. Always cool to work with them, and Las Palmas is an interesting place. We knocked doors in a neighborhood on a hill with super narrow pathways, and 2 out of every 3 houses was abandoned. Hard to explain and way to sketchy to take photos.
Exchanges also meant we ate like kings. In Las Palmas we made pupusas, which I've talked about before, and morir soñando, which is a creamy orange drink from the Dominican Republic. Not sure why the name is so morbid, but it's tasty.


"We've had one, yes- but what about *second* Christmas?"
-Some Spaniard hundreds of years ago after reading Matthew 2


Three Kings Day happened but didn't really affect us, since it's basically like second Christmas but much more family focused and home-centered. And the whole day we were on an exchange with the ZLs. Cool idea though. 


We're riding camels today for P-day. See photos, plus the Google link


Heard from many people this week that they have felt God's hand guiding them and helping them keep going. We saw that as we were preparing Graciela's baptism and praying for solutions. Something we shared with a few people is 1 Nephi 1:20:


"...But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."


Those who aren't afraid to take God's side will be strengthened by His powers according to their faith in Him.


The holidays are finally over here, but the work keeps going. Have a great week!


Elder Curtis 


Pics
Gran Canaria merch
Graciela with us
Graciela with Efigenia 
Arrecife Ward baptismal font
Exchange grub- this is the golden standard for cooking and no one can convince me otherwise 
Belated zone conference pics
Pupusas
Morir Soñando
Camels

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