David and Goliath

This week Hermana Canul and I decided the mission is like mothering.  Each lesson we verify if our investigators are reading their scriptures and saying their prayers.  We give them assignments and then later verify if they did what we asked them to.  We make appointments with them and then remind them throughout the week so they don't forget.  I feel like a mother here everyday, it's awesome:)

This week of course I had several interesting experiences, I think that's part of what you sign yourself up for when you serve a mission...at least in my case that's how it is. This week we had a lesson with an investigator who was of another religion, I'm not sure which but we taught her lesson 1, The Restoration and when we finished she offered to say the prayer to finish the lesson.  So we closed our eyes and folded our arms and she began to pray.  During her prayer she stood up and walked over to us.  The next thing we knew she put her hands on our heads and began shouting.  I'm not sure exactly all that she said, but after she finished we thanked her and left to our next appointment.  On our way to the next appointment my companion explained what had happened.  Apparently the sister we were teaching gave us blessings when she put her hands on our heads and prayed for us.  So that was an interesting experience.  It strengthened my testimony of the power of the priesthood.  You can feel the difference when you get a blessing from a worth priesthood holder, they have the authority of God.

This week we also had an interesting experience in the Combi...surprise! (I seem to have a lot of crazy experiences in the combi's) We were in the combi on the way to Santo Domingo to teach a recent convert named Ana.  Me and Hermana Canul were sitting in the back seats of the combi when all of a sudden we felt a big gust of wind come over us.  The trunk door had flown open!  There was a rope attached to the handle to pull the door shut.  I stood up and reached to grab the rope but I couldn't quite get it.  So they had to stop the combi and get out to go close it.  It was a nice try.:)

We also got completely soaked this week.  We decided not to bring our umbrellas with us when we left the house because we didn't want to carry them around with us all day and...you can probably guess what happened.  We got drenched!  We were so wet that at one of the lessons we arrived at they gave us towels to dry ourselves off.  I would say we learned our lesson, but...I'm sure it will happen again.

My companion continues to be a tiny little thing and I continue to learn more and more Spanish everyday.  My dictionary has become my new best friend this transfer.;)  Although my vocabulary continues to get bigger and bigger each day, it is still not where I would like it to be.  But for the most part me and my companion can communicate pretty well.  She does spend a lot of time laughing at me though...either I'm really funny of I make a lot of mistakes while I'm talking.  I have yet to figure it out?

This week during one of our lessons I realized just how tiny my companion really is.  We were teaching a group of little kids all under the age of 12.  As I looked around the room I saw that all of their feet were hanging about 5 inches off the ground swinging back and forth in the air.  I turned to look at my companions feet and hers were the same, dangling off the ground.  One of the sister training leaders came to Cacahoatan to do a companion exchange with the other sisters in our area.  Me and my companion ate lunch with them.

 The sister training leader that came is 6'2" and when I saw her next to my companion I just started laughing, it was like David and Goliath in front of me and I made sure to take a picture so you can see it too, it's hilarious:)

This week my testimony has been strengthened of the powers of the Book of Mormon.  There is a statement in Preach my Gospel that says, "The Book of Mormon, combined with the spirit, is your most powerful resource in conversion."  It is true!  This week we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with several different investigators and we could feel the power of it as we did so.  The investigators said they felt something beautiful and we explained how it was the spirit.  I was reminded this week of the words of Joseph Smith that "The book of Mormon is the most correct book on the earth and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book."

I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I have read it and have felt the power in its pages.  Reading the Book of Mormon everyday will help you become closer to Heavenly Father and you will feel the difference it brings in your life.  Make it a priority and you will see the blessings! Have a great week!

Love Hermana Peine