Man you guys really know how to make a girl homesick. Congrats all around to everybody! Exciting things are happening, and I am so so excited for all of y'all.
But I got awesome stories, so lets get to it. Lots to share, little time.
1) Funniest story of the week. Brobbey, our english investigator, from Ghana. We were studying right before his lesson, we teach in the morning with him cause thats what works well. And my companion remembered that they have been trying to find a Liahona we have in our apartment about Pioneers of Ghana. Immediately we both just got to our knees and began searching and searching. It took us a while, and we were 15 minutes late, but we found it. So we ran to our appt with brobbey. When we arrived, there were 2 people standing there. Strange, but we continued to walk up. When we walked up, I realized we were standing next to Jehovah Witness. Uhhhh.....very awkward conversation with them. They were Americans. We asked them if Brobbey was here, and they said they were waiting for an ataii (dont know how to spell this african name... ) and my comp and i look at each other like...who? No one here lives by that name. But whatever. Brobbey eventually comes out and my comp and I get all excited like Hi Brobbey!! And the Jehovahs are like...thats not Brobbey. So Brobbey starts explaining how Brobbey is a family name, used for family. Haha. Awkward. And then he turns to me and said, why are you late...i thought you weren't coming. And acted as if he wasn't going to let us in. So I begin to explain we have a special african present for him and it took us a while to find it. Immediately he opened the gate and let us in. But turned after and stopped the others. That was a quick 5 minute conversation with them until they turned around and were walking away. It was awkward...but funny. Even Brobbey was laughing... haha.
2) Julianna! That woman is incredible when it comes to obedience. Seriously incredible. We were going to visit her and my companion and I were just stuck on what to teach her. The entire walk we were just not settled on anything. So we said a prayer, and went in with no lesson, but a lot of faith. When we sat down we asked her if she was still reading and she said yes. I have questions! And she pulls out her Book of Mormon and marked was 3 Nephi 13; 30-34...I think thats it. And immediately we were like...Tithing. Teach about tithing. She just broke into tears. She had money to either pay for your tiny 4x4 house, or to feed to her 2 kids. And so we talked to her about tithing. And she said she would do it. So this sunday, she came up to us, and was like How do I pay tithing. Incredible. INCREDIBLE!!! Seriously that woman teaches me something every time I talk to her. And her oldest daughter, came to church! She is only 5 but never wanted to, but this sunday she did. And Juliana was so happy to have both girls with her! It was unbelievable.
3) Okay, now for the harder story. Harder in the sense that I know I will be crying while typing this. I told you guys about a family we were teaching. Celia, Erasmo, Antonio, Chagas, Fernanda... everybody. Well I love them. Seriously they are some of the greatest people I have ever met. This wednesday we went over and visit them. It was only Celia, and she said that Antonio (father in law) was sick in his room.So we just shared a quick message and left. Saturday we were planning on teaching them at night with our Ward Mission Leader (Irmao Iraldo, amazing person) so we went over and again it was only Celia and Antonio, and he was still really sick. So we asked what was wrong, and she said that he was going to tell us. And we were excited to finally see Antonio cause he is awesome! So he walks out, and his face was...destroyed. His eye was totally red, his face was all bruised super super bad. I wanted to cry at the sight of him. He sits down and tells us how he was robbed. By three men. And went to the hospital. The night after that was even harder for him. He had this dream that he was just in complete and total darkness. And was totally bound, and weak. I think he said the word Paralyzed. And so he just started praying to God with all his might, and when we finished the prayer, he opened his eyes and saw to angels. And as he said that he looked over at me and my comp and said...it was my 2 girls. And here you are again. We all were just bawling. Celia, Ward Mission Leader, Me, Comp...Antonio. IT was amazing. The ward mission leader shared with him the First Vision. And read JSH 1:14-16...I think those are the verses. How Jospeh Smith, as he started to pray in the grove found that his tongue was bound, and he put all his strength into praying to our Heavenly Father. We all went on the explain to Antonio that the Lord is saving him for something incredible. The Lord is walking with him at all times because he is trying to better his life. He talked about how he quite cold turkey drinking and smoking this week (he apparently was heavy into that stuff...) and he hasn't picked one up since. Instead he prays. We haven't even taught them the Word of Wisdom....and he already knows. This family is incredible. Irmao Iraldo gave him a Priesthood blessing, in which after Antonio just sat in silence crying for 5 minutes solid. Okay wait no...all of us sat in silence, bawling, for 5 minutes. Until my companion turned to me and said lets start singing I am a Child of God. In which, we did. The spirit was there. Testifying to all 5 of us that God Lives and loves each and every single person. Regardless of our life, our choices, our circumstances, God loves us. And he WANTS to help us. All we need to do is ask. We are his children. The day we visited, that wednesday...was the same day that Antonio was assaulted. And we only gave a short reminder, basically bearing our testimonies of the power of prayer and reading our scriptures. We ran home, because we left at 915, and live 15 minutes away, but we went home in silence, both just astonished in the power of the Holy Ghost. In the power of the Lord.
Anyways....so my week was really good. I am honestly growing to love this place more and more every day. I am going to leave you with my study this morning, and a testimony. I hope that you all are continuing to pray, read your scriptures, and go to church. This is how we obtain our blessings. This is how we show our faith, and in return gain the help of our Heavenly Father. This morning I read the conference talk, Lord, I Believe, by Jeffrey R. Holland. It was May 2013 conference I believe. I ask that you all go read it. It was a great talk. He always give great talks. But I like where he talked about that we need to be True to the faith we do have. He talks about the story in Mark 9 14-24. I love what he says about Faith. It is exactly what we all need to hear, always.
I know that my Savior lives. He died for us so that we could return to live with him. He WANTS us to live with him. He is hoping for us every day to withdraw from the temptations of evil. He walks with us daily, answers our prayers, guides us. He is our Heavenly Father. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and because of his courage, because of his strength and perseverance, the Gospel was restored for the Latter Days. I am so happy to be down here, sharing this message every day. I am so happy to meet the people the Lord has prepared for me. It feels like Im dreaming every day. Something incredible happens daily because I am an instrument in the Lords hand. And I am so grateful for that knowledge.
I love you all, and hope your week continues to be awesome! So grateful for you all, and the blessing of knowing and being with you for eternity. Love you long time!!!
Sister Craig.
Also-- for all you girls...RECIPE TIME.
Bolo Batismo (Baptism Cake!)
We make it every time we have a baptism!
And also, this is rough estimates of how much...everything is different down here cups and grams and what nots wise. Plus its all estimation with my comp.
1 bag of choclate cake mix.
1 egg.
2 tbsp of Margarine, or butter.
Mix that in one bowl.Becomes dough like.
In another small bowl, can of sweet and condensed milk (i really hope that is what it is...haha..translating is hard)
1 egg.
Mix together.
Spread the dough into a pan evenly and then spread the milk and egg mixture over it.
About a cup of Coconut shreds gets spread on top of that, and about a cup of chocolate chips (Down here we have to break apart a Hershey's chocolate semisweet bar for choc chips...haha)
Put it in the oven and (hopefully) enjoy...
Don't know what temp...don't know how long... sorry guys...doin the best I can here. My comp doesn't do recipes. She does by the heart cooking..
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