So Tuesday, we got to get up at 5, and get on the bus at 6 to travel to Capital for Leadership Council. Its a longggg ride but its okay because the bus has like beds as seats so we just sleep the whole time. But anyway, it was a crazy and somewhat tense meeting. Sadly, there are a lot of missionaries that are having a hard time adjusting to President Smith and his vision for the mission. Its hard because its COMPLETELY different than President Ayre´s. But the meeting was like 6 hours long and we changed everything. It was intense. For example, I´ve never knocked a door in my life, as before, we didnt knock doors here. And now President is telling us that if we think it will work, then do it! And before it was ALL about the numbers. How many of lessons with a member and Less active and Recent converts that we had every week and so on. We had "numbers of excellency" that we were trying to hit every week. And now numbers are almost at the bottom of the list of things that are important. I´m having a hard time adjusting to that.. especially since we didnt get anywhere near the numbers of excellency this week.
Then my and my comp and the zone leaders were asked to stay after in the offices to have our interviews with President. They were super cool. With President Ayre they were super fast, 5 minutes max. But with President Smith they were easily 30 minutes. But that resulted us getting back to Zárate SUPER late.,
Then Wenesday we had a Zone Meeting. We were stressing out big time with the Zone Leaders trying to figure out how we were going to present and explain the changes in the mission when we ourselves didnt even understand them. But we got through it and I think it went fine. Then we did divisions in Zárate. I went with Hermana Gonzalez from Mexico. It was super fun.
Thursday we had to go to Capital to pick up some medicine for my comp. And I dont remember what else we did that day to be honest..
Friday we got to go to Capital again, but this time for me. I´ve been having some problems with my knee, and after talking to the nurse, and trying to treat it ourselves for about 3 weeks, she sent me to the doctor. We got an X-ray and he touched it and moved it in ways that had me crying, and then told me that I need to rest it with advil and ice until it gets better. I asked what he meant by "rest" explaining what we do on a daily basis. He said no bike. So I asked if I could at least walk, and he said no. Until it stops hurting. So I left there scared about what the nurse was going to tell me, as the doctor told me to do the same things that I´ve been doing for the past 3 weeks (minus the rest.. ha..) And so the nurse scheduled me for an appointment with a knee specialist, and told me to "say everything possible" to get them to do an MRI on my knee to figure out what the deal is. When talking to her I asked if there was a possibility that I would have to go home. There was a long silence after and then a ".....Well... I dont know. Lets just see what he says". She then said that she was going to talk to President because I cant be in an area with bikes, and so Im going through every day not knowing if its going to be my last here or not. Which sucks because I LOVE Zárate.
Now a little about the progress of the area. We had a lesson with Aldana and Cristian this week. We decided not to mention anything about marriage, and taught the first lesson again. We left them with the challenge to pray again. The next day we ran into Aldana in the street and asked how her prayer went. She said super casually "the same as the first time, the church is true". We were like jumping up and down in the street. haha I love her so much. And Alicia and Emilio. Alicia came to church! she just showed up. It was so awesome. Then we introduced her to the bishop and he asked why her husband didnt come, and she explained he was in a wheelchair and there wasnt anyone to help him. The bishop told her to "bring him" no más, completely forgetting that we had asked for his help like a week ago and he refused to give it to us. We then had another member come up and pretty much yell as us for "not doing our job" for not getting her husband here and telling us that Zárate needs better sister missionaries so that was great.
I´ve been studying a talk by Elder Holland called "Remember Lot´s Wife" For those who havent read it, I suggest you do. Its a super cool talk about looking at the future with faith, and leaving the past in the past. And not only ours, but that of others. Also another talk I read called "That´s How the Light Gets In" by Tyler J. Jarvis. It talked about how we naturally strive for perfection, and how we need to accept that we will never reach it, but that doesnt mean we aim lower, but that we aim higher and higher until we reach perfection after this life.
I hit 11 months tomorrow. I cant believe it. I am so greatful for this time I have to be serving. To focus 100% on the gospel and how and what I need to do and change to help other people as well. Something I read this week said that we as missionaries arent expected to be perfect. We´re not going to be perfect examples for the members and investigators always even when we try, and we´re not getting them to follow us. Instead of saying "follow me", we should say "follow me as I try to follow the Savior". I just really liked that.
I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! Ill send pictures in a different email. Sorry it was so long!
Love,
Hermana Prestwich
1. My comp is dying here in the mish.. so we had a little funeral.
2. Sisters in the zone :)
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