Howdy!
So, this week was one of the weirdest weeks of my mission. At the end of last P-Day we learned that one of the families in the branch had one of their sons pass away in a motorcycle accident. Our Branch President Called us and asked if we could go to the church the next day to prepare for the funeral, as well as ask if I could play piano for the service. We accepted, and so we spent the morning of Tuesday preparing the church for the funeral. I had never played for a funeral before so I was unsure of which hymns to play, so I chose to play the sacrament hymns for the prelude. It worked well as it provided a somber yet happy environment, and Elder Valenzuela shared an excellent message of the plan of salvation and resurrection, and I am sure that their family received comfort from it. I found myself thinking back to this experience during General Conference, when the speakers would touch on the comfort we receive from the plan of salvation and the importance of being close with our families.
The rest of that Tuesday passed by rather quickly. Elder Valenzuela and I walked into our apartment at around 9 o’clock and were surprised by the odor and scene of light smoke running along the ceiling. We ran an inspection throughout the apartment, seeing where the cause of the alleged fire was. We found the culprit in our bathroom, and I was dumbfounded. Somehow, the plastic medicine cupboard that hangs above the sink caught on fire and melted, which caused Elder Valenzuela’s towel next to the sink to catch fire, which proceeded to burn and cause the cupboard to fall as well. It left a big mess on the floor as well as a huge stain mark on the wall. As we were cleaning up, several tiles on the wall popped loose as well. The culprit was rather funny. The lights in the bathroom had stopped working a week prior, and our landlords were in the process of fixing them. We resorted to using candles in the bathroom to bring light. We concluded that when Elder Valenzuela stopped by the bathroom before heading to lunch, the hot wax somehow caused something inside the cupboard to explode or catch fire which then caused the chain reaction. We replaced all our stuff and are completely fine. It was quite funny when we had district council the next day and read one of the rules from the mission handbook which talks about not using candles on the mission. Guess we forgot about that one.
We found a few new people to teach throughout the week and kept on working hard. The week was relatively normal up until Friday when we received a call from a random number. We were in the middle of a lesson so we didn’t answer it. Afterwards we called the number and were surprised to hear the person on the other end was a member of the other branch here in Oviedo. She said that the Elders there just left her house and were going to the police station as they had been robbed. She informed us that they would be in their apartment waiting for us so they could use our phone to call President. We changed our plans and trekked our way to their apartment. We met with the Elders and they told us the story, and afterwards they called President. Afterwards when we were leaving a car pulled up and a man stepped out and asked us if he could buy us a pizza. He explained further that he was an inactive member, and that although he doesn’t attend church anymore he still looks for ways to help others, especially the missionaries. We agreed and headed down the street to a local pizza joint. We continued to talk and found out that he lives in our area. Before leaving gave us his number and told us that he would love a visit in the future. We jokingly told the other Elders that they should be grateful, because if they were never robbed we would never have known this good brother and had the opportunity to minister unto him. God often works in Mysterious ways.
General Conference was excellent. Elder Taylor and I listened to it in English on the church computer while Elder Valenzuela and Elder Gonzalez listened to it in Spanish. Some of my favorite speakers were Elder Gilbert, President Oaks, Elder Kopischke, Elder Nielson, Elder Dunn, Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Perkins, and President Nelson. I received lots of revelation for me personally, and I hope you all did as well. Once the 2nd session on Sunday was over we visited a few people and returned home. I was lying down on my bed when Elder Valenzuela asked me what was on my big toe. He yelled in Guarani as he saw what is shown in the 3rd picture of this email. THAT my friends, is pique (pronounced pee-kay). Pique is a condition where a bug that is in the dirt embeds itself in the skin of either the foot or the leg and begins to eat the flesh, and lays eggs after a while. I don’t know where I had gotten this bug, as I don’t walk around without sandals in the apartment as well as I don’t walk without shoes outside. I had not noticed, for the past 2-ish weeks, the big ball on the right growing and growing on my big toe. I reckon it was because my toe always looks kind of weird due to my previous ingrown toenail surgeries, and it flew under the radar. So, thus we see the giant pique ball on the right with all the little eggs inside the chasm between my toe and toenail. Disgusting. Elder Valenzuela immediately began prepping to extract the mess. He used Q-tips and hand sanitizer to take out the eggs, and skillfully used a sewing needle to pick out the ball without it exploding. It wasn’t excruciatingly painful but it wasn’t a walk in the park either. After he finished his work and I cleaned it up a bit, we snapped a photo of the finished outcome. Needless to say I am very grateful for my companion and his surgery skills.
It was great to end a relatively crazy week with General Conference. One of the quotes from Elder Ballard’s talk, “Lovest Thou Me More Than These?”, really stuck out to me. He said, “At my age, I have attended many funerals. I am sure many of you have noticed what I have noticed. When celebrating the life of a deceased family member or a friend, it’s rare for the speaker to talk about the size of the person’s home, the number of cars or the bank account balances. They usually don’t speak about social media posts. Almost all of the funerals I have attended have focused on their loved ones’ relationships, service to others, life lessons, experiences, and their love for Jesus Christ.” I was able to look back at the funeral I attended at the beginning of the week and recognize one of the greatest gifts that God gives us: our families. We need to make sure we are not being trapped by the things of the world, putting our love into things that do not matter. When we put our love into our friends, our families, and most importantly into Jesus Christ, that is when we will find joy and meaning. I hope you can all put your love into what really matters most.
That’s it from me, stay safe!
Elder Watson