Elevator

HELLO,

We had a night this week where our plan and all our backups failed us, so we had this awkward hour where we weren´t entirely sure what to do. So we started walking towards this members house in the hopes that she would be home and we could follow up on a reference she had given us. 

We were blessed to run into another member )Kettu) and her daughter  (Camilia) on our way.  So we get in the elevator to go down to the metro so she can put money on thier bus card. We get in and the elevator doesn´t move at first so we push the button a couple more times. Then we decide to just take the stairs since the elevator is being silly and not moving. So we push the button for the doors to open and it m akes this sound and the doors jiggle but won´t open. We try a few more times, not really believing what is happening. 

We are actually trapped in an elevator. Just like the movies. So we push the emergency button. Lo and behold, the button sets off a siren that rings all across the square. An important fact is that this is a clear elevator. So everyone is staring. Someone tries to come help us but it doesn´t work from the outside either. When we push the button again the emergency help line guy (or whatever you want to call him) comes on and in a very bored voice tells us we can only call if its an emergency. Kettu explains the situation (we´re all laughing in disbelief this whole time) and the guy comes and helps us get out. 

Quite the adventure. We did go to her house still with Camilia and spent a few minutes cleaning her kitchen to say thank you for all the help she´s given us over the last few weeks. Definately a memorable night!

And then this week we ran out of butane, and since we don´t have an oven that meant no cooking. We didn´t have any food that didn´t need to be cooked. So we ate cereal that day and thankfully another member let us come over to eat lunch the next day (yummy seafood from Argentina!) and then we were able to get butane today. So we can cook our pasta and rice again. 

For sunday dinner we were invited over by this other family from Ecuador in teh ward to eat. They made this special dish that they normally only make during the Semana Santa to say goodbye to Hna Greenwood. Yep, she´s leaving this week. Can´t believe it!

But this stew... kind of. It´s thicker than a stew, more of a paste like soup. And full of beans and corn and chicken and fish and another type of beans and all sorts of things. And then you put slices of cheese and hard boiled eggs and fried platano in it. And I have to say, it´s my new favortie thing I´ve eaten here. It was absolutely fantastic. I felt like I was going to die I was so full. The eggs and cheese wierded me out at first but the flavors worked so, so well. And the platano. Oh, the platano. I love that stuff. It was beautiful. 

And THEN, to top it off, she made us arroz con leche (rice pudding) and I´ve been wanting to try it since I got here. So good! Before my mission when dad told me about it I thought it sounded gross, but it´s amazing! So yeah, food yesterday was amazing.

Sorry this isn´t a very spiritual email. Lots of other great things happened this week. We had a very honest lesson with Cristofer and Luis where they opened up with us a lot. Luis said he wants to be baptized, but not yet, that he doesn´t feel ready. But he said he wants to be baptized before we leave, so we´ll see. I have a lot of faith that both of them will get baptized. Not faith in them, but faith in Christ and his gospel and hope in Cristofer and Luis. 

We´ve been trying really hard to invite members to lessons, but it hasn´t worked super well lately. We have a usual guy named Tonino that goes with us a lot, he´s a RM and seved in Utah and is just awesome. But we´re really trying to branch out and use all the members, especially those in our area. We have some, but other times they can´t and a couple times the cita´s failed on us. That´s always hard because we don´t want to drag a member aroudn with us to our backups because usually thats knocking since our area is really new, and we don´t want to just tell them to go home. From a members point of view, what would you like best in that situation? 

Also, I´m sure that if you told the missionary´s in the ward that you would love to have investigators come meet at your house that would be a blessing for them. I know that when we teach other ppl of the other gender its really hard sometimes to teach them if you don´t have someone who can come with you all the time. We´ll have a hard time with that when Hna Greenwood leaves on wed because now we have to find a girl or two men to go with us, and all the people who´ve helped us a lot so far have been men. 

Alright, I´m out of time. I love you all a lot! Big hugs and kisses from Spain

Hna Woolley