Hello, all.
WILD week.
Had a lesson with Job again in which he told us about a dream that he
had about two weeks ago. He said the a disciple of Christ, whose name
was Juan, was talking to him and asked him, "Do you know me?" Job said
no, and this happened three or so more times. Juan told him that he
knew him and that it had been a long time since he had seen him. Then
Job saw a stair case leading up to heaven with a bunch of people on
it. When they were just about to get to the top, the whole thing
crumbled and turned to dust. Then Juan said to Job, "It's your turn."
Job told him he wasn't afraid and he started making his way up the
stairs. He got to the top and was about to meet Jesus when he woke up.
He told us he was crying tears of joy and that while we were talking
to him, his dream had been completed. Still don't exactly understand
all of it, but hey, sounds like an answer to me!
Had another mutual activity which was awesome. Elder Murphy and I were
in charge of the games and we totally nailed it. We played this game
where you pack a bunch of flour into a cup and pretty much make a
little flour tower. Like a sand castle. Then you put a coin on top and
take turns shaving the sides off with a card or something. Whoever
shaves a side and knocks over the tower has to get the coin with their
mouth haha. It was hilarious! Then we played charades and it was a
disaster hahaha. The people here do NOT know their animal sounds or
motions. But, it was hilarious nonetheless. Super awesome night.
Thursday, we had to go to Formosa for our multi-zone conference. We
had rented a mini-bus for our zone, so we were stoked on that! When we
got on the bus around 6 in the morning, there were just 4 random
people hangin' out on the bus. This was a problem because there was a
specific amount of seats we needed. It ended up working out because
one of the random people sat on a stool next to the driver for the
whole three hour trip. BUT LISTEN TO THIS.
So we are just driving along, talking, resting our eyes, looking at
the plains of Argentina, when all of a sudden we hear a super loud
noise and the bus starts vibrating. Then we look in front of us and
there is a big huge transport truck coming towards us. We barely move
over a couple inches and the truck flies past us. Honestly, it was
probably like five inches from our bus. And I was sitting on the side
closest to the truck. So, we are all just kind of in shock. We think
we have a flat tire, so we eventually get to the side of the road and
get out to help. When we get around to the back left side of the bus,
we see that the tires are completely missing! The bus had two wheels
on each side in the back, and the two tires from the left side were
just gone. At this point, we are all wondering how we didn't lose
control and die. Anyway, we start walking with the driver to recover
the tires which had apparently hit that truck I mentioned earlier.
They did a pretty good amount of damage since we were on the main
route going pretty fast. As we were walking, we looked at the lane
that we were in and saw a straight white line that went on for about a
half a mile and ended where our bus was pulled over on the side of the
road. This was the mark our bus made when the tires came off. If that
line was just a little bit closer to the other lane, we probably
would've been hit by the truck and that would not have been a pretty
sight. But we were all just so amazed that we were able to stay
straight for so long and that we didn't lose control. We called
President and told him what happened and that we might be a little
late. But guess what - we still made it to Formosa on time! Also,
while we were walking to the tires and thinking about our precious
lives, we saw a tucan flying through the air with such grace and
majesty, leaving a trail of Froot Loops behind it. Maybe those weren't
Froot Loops...we'll never know. But, in all seriousness, I know that
we were protected that day and I know that the Lord was and is always
watching out for us. We were all just stunned when we learned what
actually happened with the tires. I don't know what usually happens
when the tires come off of a bus while it's going about 80 mph, but I
think the fact that no one was hurt and that the bus didn't crash is a
miracle.
Friday was a good day haha. We worked on applying the practices from
the conference in our teaching. We had a realy successful day and
taught some great lessons. That night, we had dinner with Pable and
her family for the birthday of her nephew's son. Some of the
neighborhood kids were there and we had a great time talking and
laughing. We ate pizza, empanadas, and the ham, mayo, and cheese
sandwiches with the crust cut off that everyone loves here.
We had Carnival again this weeked, so we had to be in our pension at 7
on Saturday and Sunday. Laaaaaame. Lost out on some work, but all is
well. We had an amazing branch council on Sunday. This lady, who none
of us missonaries know, and who is apparently a counselor in the
Relief Society, was talking about how this is the first time in years
that she has had confidence in the missionaries in the branch. She
told us that she can see our desire to work and to serve the Lord and
the people of Clorinda. She said she hasn't felt comfortable giving
references to the missionaries in the past, but now she would love to
hand us some sweet, sweet references. This was awesome to hear! Then
the meeting was just absolutely baller. The members all were talking
about plans to help boost retention here and trying to think of ways
to help the missionaries with our investigators. They were so willing
to help us and to make a plan. I'm kind of nervous for transfers next
week because things here seem to really be improving. We're starting
to see a lot of the fruits of our labors and it has been super
exciting. It makes me not want to leave! But anyway, the branch is
doing a lot better with attendance numbers and we're hoping to keep
boosting attendance and retention.
Elder Sotelo and I made super burgers. These burgers had meat patties,
chorizo, eggs, hot dogs, cheese, french fries, lettuce, and tomatoes.
We each ate two and I almost died. Again.
On Sunday, we had lunch with Tito and Sylvia Rodas. I FINALLY got to
try the blood sausage that I had heard so much about. Morcilla is what
it's called. I had heard that it was really gross and that it's easy
to get sick from eating it. Even Elder Murphy's grandma, who is from
Buenos Aires, can only eat about half of one. It's this deep, deep
reddish purple color. Needless to say, I ate it. It really wasn't
terrible, but I definitey couldn't eat more than half of one. Just
straight up blood or something haha. Anyway, that was neat.
That's pretty much my week. Pretty wild, but we had some cool
experienes. Through different experiences that I have had so far, it
has been made very clear to me that I am here for a reason. This week
has been one of the most incredible weeks in my mission so far. I have
been able to receive protection from our Heavenly Father and see the
Spirit working on the people here in Clorinda. I am so blessed to be
able to have this opportunity to serve and to share the Gospel. Thank
you all for your prayers for the missionaries and your thoughts. As
you can tell, we need them haha. Stay righteous and hold down the
fort. #USA #ARG #OneLove #OneRepublic #Apologize
Amor, Paz, y Bendiciones,
Elder Sipple
P.S. I will try to send pictures of the bus and other pictures from
the week another time. The Internet is puttin' up a
reeeeeeaaaaaallllll lucha right now.
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