Black Eyes & Bunnies

April 8, 2013



This week has been kind of a crazy adventure. I hope you all learned so much from conference! It was AMAZING to watch it as a missionary. We just wish everyone would listen and apply it to their lives and this world would be such a better place. I liked the emphasis that was put on marriage and families because I have realized more from the mission how blessed I am to have an amazing family with the blessings of the gospel. I can see the difference in people and homes here who have the joys of Christ and the gospel.

So I gave one of my investigators a black eye... on accident! Cute little Mery Vallejos, who I think is in her 40's, is an active non-member of the church. She comes to play basketball on Thursday nights with the ward- which is probably one of the best/ most hilarious things I've ever seen! You have men, women, missionaries, and one teengage boy (Mery's son) who all play together- shouting things in Spanish, full-court press, and almost no rules, just having fun together! They are great, loving people. Anyway, I grabbed a rebound once and jabbed my elbow back right into poor little Mery's eye who was jumping up and down right behind me!

I bought a little ice pack thing and a chocolate bar and brought it to her between conferences yesterday... her eye looked really bad, but their family is really forgiving! She said it should be healed by Thursday to play again, Haha! I think she was mostly worried her husband wouldn't want her to play anymore and her oldest son Sabastien said she gets hurt every week. We just need her and her husband to get married and then she can be baptized. Their little daughter Emilia is an angel and Fabian Jr. came around the corner the other day with bowls of ice cream for us. Hermana Nava asked Fabian Sr. a serious question, "What does the gospel mean to you personally?" He said yesterday that he got an answer. We are looking forward to talking to them again.

Other, more serious tragedy this week- downtown in Trenton, while we were stopped at a red light in our car, a man got hit by a truck at full-speed right in front of us. I was looking down when it happened and heard Hermana Daniels shout next to me. It was a scary sight. We were not sure for a while if he was alive. We started dialing 911 but there were already other people calling. He finally moved and we drove on to our appointment and let the others take care of him and heard the ambulance just a couple minutes later. It was pretty traumatizing, especially for Hermana Daniels who saw it happen, but we are blessed to have the comfort of the gospel and Hermana Daniels was able to have a priestood blessing from some elders.

We do not have any baptismal dates yet. (The other man is actually in the elders' area, so they are teaching him now.) We have been working hard, but we are looking for ways to have more faith and success!

Growing up, The Easter Bunny always hid my sisters' and my Easter baskets full of treats and gifts in the house. In our home videos basically every year, one of us is crying and complaining, "I can't find mine! He forgot about me!" Meanwhile, Mom/ Dad is filming the basket sitting right behind us saying, "Are you SURE you don't see it? Keep looking!"

This is how I feel. I know if we wait a little longer and keep looking, we're going to find the people the Lord wants us to find. Because they are here. And I want to help bless their families like we have been blessed with the gospel. The mission is a little challenging! But I love it because we are growing from it! We are learning to love, have faith, sacrifice, and have fun and joy! I am doing really well and being taken care of! I love you all! Keep in touch!

Much love,
Hermana Martin