Northern Argentina is bipolar and decides every other day that it wants to be a different season. Blazing summer heat one day, and bone-chilling winter cold the next.
On Thursday my companion and I went to help Sandra, an investigator, break up pieces of bricks and rocks with mallets and hammers so that she can create some sort of flooring in her dirt-floor house. I think we were working for 15 minutes and I already felt my neck and shoulders burning and sweat beading up on my forehead. Sandra loaned me her son´s Argentine cowboy hat to shade me from the sun, and a pair of gloves because after 15 minutes I also already had several nasty blisters (I felt so weak and self-conscious about my delicate hands...I so wanted to be strong and helpful and work for hours without tiring and with no signs of wear. Instead I hammered for 15 minutes and already had broken stinging skin. Pathetic. Oh well.) Sandra was amazing and kept on bringing out cups of cold juice and we would rotate, taking turns hammering.
Anyways, the point is, 2 days later I was bundled up in three layers of clothes trying not to freeze. The weather here never ceases to amaze me.
Anyways the cold rain proved to be a challenge in getting investigators to commit to come to church once again. For some reason it seems that it is lovely and sunny all week and then the rain hits on the weekend, right when we are running around like crazy trying to get everyone ready to come to church. The truth is that the cold rain and thick deep mud really does make it complicated for most people to come and so it is understandable, but it doesn´t make it any less frustrating.
Still, we had a little miracle I wanted to share. On Saturday night the elders and hermanas in the neighboring ward had a giant double baptism. Two older couples were getting married and then baptized. We were really excited to invite investigators because it´s always good for them to see what a baptism is like and there was even going to be a fun little party afterwards to celebrate. The elders only told us the night before, though, so we spent the morning visiting people and inviting them to come. One of our investigators, a teenage boy named Ezequiel, told us he wanted to come and his younger sister also excitedly asked if she could come too. We said "Yes!" (of course) and made plans to come get them at 6:30 PM. We got there at 6:30. No one was there. The house appeared empty. Finally, after much knocking, a little boy (I think the youngest brother) came out and told us that everyone left.
We were pretty sad. We can only go to baptisms if we bring investigators with us. We hadn´t made many back-up plans and the night was cold, wet, windy, dark. What would have been an enjoyable, spiritual night, turned into a 3-hour romp around in the mud knocking on doors and being rejected. At the very last hour, before turning in for the night I suggested that we pass by one last time for Ezequiel´s house so we could at least confirm with him about church the next morning and offer to come pick him up. When we got there he still wasn´t home but we talked to his younger sister and she said that they were already planning on coming to church and that they would be ready at 8:30 when we came by in a taxi. It was nice to hear, but I still didn´t feel very assured just because people often say one thing and do another (as our experiences that day had proved).
Well, we passed by yesterday morning and the mom (Raquel) came out, ready to go to church at 8:30 and Ezequiel (our investigator) and his younger brother too! Ezequiel´s mom loved church! It was beautiful to see her there. Ezequiel has already been to church several times but we had been trying to talk to his mom for WEEKS and then, all of a sudden, she just CAME. We had been feeling for weeks that Raquel would be the key in helping Ezequiel to progress towards baptism because she kept telling him that he should wait, that he shouldn´t do it, that he needed to learn so much more, that he shouldn´t go. Then at church, Raquel came to us, with tears in her eyes after the classes and told us that she wants Ezequiel to be baptized, and she wants to get baptized too, and she wants to help her family and make more time for God in her life, and she knows this will help her family. After all the meetings, one of the counselors in the branch presidency gave her a blessing, because she has been struggling with big health issues recently. It was simple. We went to an empty classroom, and the brother anointed her with consecrated oil and then put his hands on her head offered a short, simple prayer asking god to heal her according to her faith. Simple, but powerful. Raquel sat weeping. She stood up afterwards and touched my arm and whispered, voice-trembling "I felt the presence of God, I felt the presence of God."
These are the beautiful moments I cherish and hope to never forget.
I hope all is well back home.
All my love,
Hna Parker
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