This has been quite the week. We've met some interesting people and It just doesn't stop. I literally find myself saying on the daily "Only in LA". Im going to start off with the People:
Rudy Roque: As you may know my companion is from Oaxaca, Mexico so he still has quite the accent when speaking English. (Which he speak very well!) So he talked to this guy in his old area and he agreed to meet with missionaries. So he sent out the referral. Turns out the referral never came through the system we use so when Elder Fierro was looking through his old planner he say Rudy and realized he was in our area. So its a miracle we were able to even find this guy. The whole time my companion was saying Rudy Roque, I thought he was saying Rudy Rocket. So he has been getting referred to as Rudy Rocket this entire transfer. Any who, Rudy is like 76 and is From Guatemala. I told him (jokingly) that I am from Chiquimula, Guatemala, because there are really lite skinned people there, and to this day he thinks I'm from Chiquimula. Hes super cool, He looks like a giant turtle man (im going to include the pic). Awesome man.
Juan Ramon Zaya: Juan Ramon Showed up to LAE English class out of the blue. He has a tube in his through that he breathes through so naturally were kind of sketched out when he walked in. He tells us he is alive by a miracle, and that hes a resident in the hospital, But gladly accepts missionaries. a few days later we visit him and he tells us the whole story. So this man, 8 years ago had a stroke. He had a brain aneurism and lost all function in his body and went comatose. He spent 5 years in a coma and then one day just woke up. The doctors don't know how but he did. The doctors told him he would be pretty much a vegetable but conscious. But he didn't take that! So hes been out of the coma for about 3 years now and is eating, walking, doing everything on his own!! He isn't medically cleared to live outside of the hospital yet though. He is pretty much back in business except the fact that the muscles in his throat are very week (for not being used for 5 years) So he has the tube that keeps his airways open until he regains full function. Long story short, Juan Ramon is a trooper. He accepted a baptismal date for Feb 22! By far one of the most amazing people on this earth!
We in this mission have a huge focus on talking to everyone we can. So we talked to this guy last night and we asked him what he knows about the Book of Mormon. To which he replies "Absolutely nothing". You could imagine how much we love to hear that. As I started to talk he jumped in and said "But my Dad has talked with missionaries like you two, actually they were supposed to be coming by last Thursday at 4 but they didn't." He didn't speak anything but Spanish and we were the only Spanish elders in the area. So we were super confused. So he offered to show us his house because his dad wasn't busy and was home. So we follow him back up the hill and what do you know. Hno. Vargas. A referral we got like a week ago that had very minimal information and we had passed by the address a few times and were about to drop him. We had a BOMB lesson with him. We explained what we do as missionaries and set expectations of how we can help. He asked a question that is pretty controversial in the latin culture which is "Should I be praying to the Virgin Mary?" We explained the doctrine of it and he understood! He was so worried about what to do because he said his family has raised him Catholic but he cant accept how the church is so different depending on where you go. He said "I wish I could just have someone send from God to tell me which way to go."
I cant explain in words how excited I am to meet with these people! I heard a quote that says "The happiest day in a missionaries life is the day he forgets about himself" Its true here in the mission and Im sure it will be true as normal people. There is no greater peace than having helped someone you love.
Love you all take care!
Elder Wilson
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