Dear Family,
Once again, this has been a fairly uneventful week. I doubt Puerto Rico has gotten less exciting, I think I have just become less excitable. I really feel like there are no surprises any more, and I just work.
I should note however, the interesting man we met outside the train station yesterday. His name was Wilfredo. Once we got talking, we found out he had visited the church before and had possibly been baptized. As we continued talking however, we came to find out why he no longer attends church. When asked whether he still reads in the Book of Mormon or not, he promptly replied that he "delivered" that to one of the ex-bishops. "Why is that?" I replied, and received an answer that was fairly entertaining. The ex-bishop was a member of the FBI, and Wilfredo said that he was being helped by him (it seems the FBI stole his identity and gave it to a criminal or something). He says that he doesn't read the Bible or the Book of Mormon anymore because that is how the CIA and FBI can track us, and they do it using radio waves. I'm not really sure what we said, but we were able to escape without any problem. Sometimes I wonder if people actually believe the things they tell us, or if they just do it for kicks and giggles, to see how we respond...or to give us a good story. Although he seemed fairly normal, I'm pretty sure he genuinely believed what he was saying.
In other news, we are still teaching people.... Every day. We've been able to talk to lots and share the gospel with them. Unfortunately, Saima seems to be avoiding us (a great disappointment since she was genuinely cool), and Wanda called us today to tell us she had made a decision (about whether to...I don't know, listen to us? Come to church? Be baptized?), and that decision is no. So, we don't get to visit her anymore. I don't think I've ever had someone call me to break up with us. It is a Puerto-Rican first, and we were a little surprised. Usually people just avoid us (see above, Saima). So, basically, we are back to looking for new people to teach, and have even resorted to searching for more less actives to teach. There seem to be a lot, so that is a fairly bottom-less pit...I mean pool...teaching pool.
It has been very sunny all week, which is good for my tan. haha. Like I tan. I don't seem to be burning any more though, even though I don't apply sunscreen any longer (yuck, I'm sick of the stuff). I may come back with skin cancer, but I won't smell like a trip to the beach anymore. In fact, I smell like vanilla now because a couple weeks ago I bought some more perfume (I left mine at home with the fear that the bugs would attack me, but as it turns out, they attacked me without the perfume anyway, so I thought I would start using it again, and smell pretty.). It is the same scent I used before I left, so it reminds me of Indiana when I put it on, which is interesting. Isn't it interesting how smells and sounds/music can take you back in time? I love that.
I know this letter has been rather boring and non-missionary-ish, I'm just a little disappointed in our recent set-backs and would rather focus on my new perfume and our funny contacts.
Okay, here is a good story...I guess. A classic "we were led by the Lord" story. We went to look for a less active one day who hardly ever opens her door, and who is hardly never home, but we were completely out of back-up plans (we make about 5 back-up back-up plans for the last hour of the day, because it always seems no one is available), so we went looking for her. In the elevator up to her house, we met a lady who has a Book of Mormon in her house and wants to start learning more about it again. It was exciting because we could set a cita and we're going to teach her more about the Book of Mormon. yay! That was a fun time.
We also found a less active in her home who we haven't been able to teach for a long time. In fact, Hermana Comoletti never even met her, so that was a true miracle too. Additionally, two less actives made it to church on Sunday, even though one, in response to our lesson about keeping the Sabbath Day holy recently told us that "It is important to keep the commandments and all, but you have to keep a balance, you know?" I don't know. It seems to me that you keep the commandments or you don't, but perhaps that is why she is less active...she doesn't understand that. We shared the story of Naaman with her yesterday, and talked about how all commandments are important, and how we have to keep them 100%...if Naaman hadn't washed himself a full 7 times in the water, he would not have been cleansed. It was a good lesson, although I don't think she fully understood (she chooses to misunderstand). But, we were really happy that two of them could make it to church on Sunday. Yay!
Thanks for the letters and support. I love you all!
Love,j
Hermana Miller.
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