Flesh Eating, Dog Stabbing, and Cat Killer (1 April 2015)

There is no such thing as a dull week here! How is everyone doing?

This week pretty much all starts with Sunday.

- Church. So I had to play the organ and piano last Sunday and only had a few days to learn the hymns! All I can say is God helped me on that one! It went well. I had the opportunity again this week to play and it was just wonderful. Especially when they sang out "yo sé qué vive mi salvador" (I know my savior lives). It was great! 

- Armando, Jacksiana and Tatí - So we went over to an investigator’s house that we haven't been able to see for about a month. He's the one from Mexico who met with the missionaries in Louisiana. He has two daughters. One 14 and the other 15. Without any notice, they will up and leave their house for 2-3 weeks without telling anyone. They skip school and they won't answer their phones when their dad calls them. Whatever they are doing outside, it can't be good because the area is not the best area. We even call it outer darkness haha.  So we finally got to meet the 14-year-old Jacksiana and she is awesome! She has true interest in the gospel and said she wants to change her life. She was super into the lesson and kept asking us questions and even told us she would make sure that her dad and they would go to church this week. 

A member also had me come into her class and had me play guitar and that was awesome as well.

So first of all a member asked us to come and accompany her and her daughter at their house because they were inviting a guy over who had a lot of questions about the gospel. So we go over, and he looks exactly like Elvis if he would have lived longer. He doesn't speak Spanish and that's all she spoke. We were the translators for a date! It was so awkward! She basically told us to tell him he couldn't come over anymore because she can't be there alone with him. It was so awkward and we thought he was over there to learn more about the gospel, but clearly he wasn't. He was overly nice and for the wrong reasons. Funny thing is, we saw him driving our bus this week after it all happened! It was a very funny experience. 

Jacksiana - So as we were having a lesson with her and her family, we kept hearing a man in the background. Finally at the end he came out, and Jacksiana told us that he was her baby daddy and that she was pregnant. He's quite a bit older than her and the situation was odd and pretty sad to see. I feel bad for her and the baby. So her baby daddy's name is Felix. So we asked her to say the prayer and it was a bit awkward. She kept praying for the "baby inside her" and it was rather odd. It was weird hearing a 14-year-old talk about being pregnant and becoming a mom. But the bright side is who more needs the gospel at a time like this?

It was a bit depressing to be honest. I felt the weight of her trials on my own shoulders. We met with them again this week, and Felix (Jacksiana's boyfriend) was there too. We were able to teach them more and we all gave them a baptism date to work for! Armando (the dad) Felix, Jacksiana, and Tatí. Even though this family is a little wild, I love them! They are just great!

Dominican family - so we are still teaching the Dominican family. Pedro (the father) works as a chef in a restaurant in the middle of Central Park. Yesterday we went over to their house for food and a lesson. We thought he was just going into cook us some average food, but we show up and he is making a feast amount of food! It was the best food I've yet to have on my mission. He's been a chef for 25 years and wow does he know how to cook! It was hard to stay awake during that lesson because I was stuffed and it felt like right after thanksgiving dinner! It was amazing! We had a lesson with them about living prophets and invited them to come to general conference this upcoming week (the time we get to listen to our living prophet speak to us).

Tracting - we have been tracting a lot lately and we had a very amazing, funny, and scary experience. Elder Lyons and I went on a split and we went tracting. We were just about to finish up tracting but we decided to go try another building. As we walked in I felt inspired to go to the 4th floor. We walked up the stairs to the 4th floor and knocked the first door. As we knocked, a lady opened the door very angrily and we began to talk to her. As we told her who we were, she started talking about how her neighbor is a witch and how anytime anyone talks to her, they come out and listen. It was rather odd, but we talked about the hope our Savior brings and we ended up giving her something to go look up. We ended the conversation, and the door closed, and as we were leaving the door, we got a call. I answered it and it happened to be a lady we just tracted into in another building. She told us that when we came up and knocked her door, she told us no, but she saw the card we left on her door (the only card we left on any door the entire time we were tracting) and she said she actually was interested and wanted to know more. That was the first miracle because that almost never happens and God knew we needed to leave that card on her door. So amongst all of this, the lady we just tracted into on the 4th floor was listening to us. We heard her saying "they are whispering they are whispering" and she kept repeating it louder and louder and finally she swung the door right open. She started talking about how she was going to kill her neighbors and how they are ruining her life, and she started to get a little out of hand. As we were talking to her, the super came up and told us for our safety, we needed to remove ourselves from that door. The lady started calling the super a witch and said to not listen to the super, but we did, and as we were walking downstairs, it turns out the lady on the fourth floor "stabs her dog, and has killed her cat," and she also told us that missionaries from another church came by a long time ago and were talking to her, and she "attacked them and bit a chunk of flesh out of one of their necks." We were super confused at this point and we're thankful that the super came and got us. We starting talking to the super for about 20 minutes, and as we were talking, it turns out the super was very interested in the message of happiness that we brought. We now have a return appointment with the super and we are going to go back to start teaching the super. 

We would have never found the super if we had not gone to floor 4 because the super lives in the basement, and the super would have never known we were in the building unless the cops got called (the neighbors of the crazy lady called the cops on us), and we could have never been led to the super if it weren't for that whole experience. God does work in mysterious ways and as I type this I'm still shocked from this experience. All I can say is that God leads us to who is ready to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ if we put in the work no matter how He gets us there. We have been tracting a lot recently and it's really been paying off. I find it fun because you absolutely never know what you are going to get. 

I loved the lesson the sister taught when I had to come in and play the guitar.  She related it to how we can be the Lord's servants if we let Him "tune us" and tweak us and if we give ourselves to him, we can do amazing things. We simply have to give ourselves to him. Obey what he asked us to do and we are promised to prosper temporally and spiritually in this life and the next! Sometimes I don't understand why people don't want to follow Him. Out of anyone or anything, he cares about us most, and knows and has provided a way that will make us happier than we are capable of imagining. Ask yourselves this week what you may need to do to give yourself to Him. He gave himself for us to be happy, now all we have to do is give a little of ourselves. 

I love you all so very much. My love is growing out here on my mission. I love this experience. I'm coming to realize how real my Savior is. I love Him so much and I am so thankful for his hands that carry me day to day.

That same love I share with you,

- Elder Celaya