Sunday, June 1, 2014



May 26th letter....




In the mission some days are short and then there are days when you think ¨wow it´s been a long day!¨ and you´re only half way through the day. We had one of those this week.


The day started with lots of rain and cold. We had planned to go out with a member, Carlos, who showed up at the church ready to go an hour late. When he arrived he said that he thought that we weren´t going to go out, because there was rain. ( que en el mundo???) Luckily, we had bikes this day and we were able to arrive in our area faster.
This had been the 2nd and last day of using bikes. We had lunch far away and we had discovered a short cut of how to get there faster earlier in the week. Luckily, by this time the rain had stopped and we were ready to let Carlitos go and head to lunch. The short cut we used was very ¨rocky¨, as in a little sketchy and literally rocky. We started to head down the rock covered hill on our bikes. Keep in mind these aren´t mountain bikes. These bikes were the kind of bikes you see people riding down the beach with, you know with the cute little baskets in front....... I fell twice. The second time I was bloody, scraped up, and the bike no longer worked.
I got a sick cut on my hand and the front tire of the bike was no longer functioning. We continued walking using the back tire of the bike and controlling it with the handle bars up in the air. We started to walk when we discovered ROCKS! Not just any rocks, but rocks that shined. Artigas is known for having amesty rocks in the streets and every once in a while we find one or two small ones, but these ones were BIG and this pathway was FULL of them. We started to gather the rocks in our backpacks and couldn´t walk 5 steps without stopping to grab more. This ¨shortcut¨ was taking a lot more time than we had planned.
The family we had lunch with called and asked where we were at and we told them about our problems. The next thing we knew he showed up with tools to fix the bike. :) ( what a guy) After lunch we headed home with the bike half fixed. This time I had no brakes and it was mostly downhill. We were also very worn out and our backs were hurting because of all the rocks we had gathered. We were almost home when the phone rang so we got off our bikes and walked.
We were only two minutes away from the house, but when we got there Hermana Jordan realized that she didn´t have her helmet. I thought to myself ¨ It was a two minute walk, we´ll find it¨ WRONG. Til´ this day we still have no idea how it got lost and went away that fast. The deal with bikes too is if you don´t have helmets, you don´t have bikes. Entonces, so long bikes. It was a fun time.
This was a day when arrived out the house worn out and said ¨wow it´s been a long day!¨ and it was only 2:00. I love where I get to work and I love making these memories. ( even if I get bite by dogs) I have this fire burning with happiness in me every day. I think everyone should have the opportunity to experience a day of being a missionary.
Some parts of your day aren´t the ideal experience, but then there are times during the day when I am just full of excitement. The experiences that give me this fire are what make it all worth it. Like when you find a mountain of shiny rocks! Hermana Jordan and I have a big pile of shiny rocks in the house and we will never forget that day. I wish I could share all my ¨shiny rocks¨ moments of the mission. The experiences I have had have changed my life in so many ways and have left me with a pile of ¨shiny rocks¨ in my heart.
I know I am doing the work of the Lord. One of the miracles of missionary work is how it´s able to transform young adults into disciples of Christ. I know my Savior and I am learning how to follow him everyday. I know that he is my Redeemer and that his atonement is what can change peoples lives.
I love you and miss you all!
Love,
Hermana Baca

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