Wake me up when September ends

October 1, 2018

So...today. Wake me up today.

We've just been on a roll with full days around here; it's been nice. Things are starting to cool down a bit, trees are starting to change color, and autumn is in the air. Last time I said that, I was in Badajoz and that ended up not being true because summer lasted through the end of November--but fortunately! My environment is completely different and I think I can officially say that my last Spanish summer is behind me. Thank heavens.  

This Monday, like most, was pretty calm. In the evening we helped a member clean the chapel, then headed on over to her house to have a little family home evening. She and her husband served in the Málaga Mission about 5 years ago, so we share a little pride about that.

Tuesday was full of visits with members. They're all doing well, and now they know Elder Harris a little better. We also met up with Isabella. She's doing great. Just another teenager trying to live a moral life in one of the most immoral regions of the world. 

We had district meeting on Wednesday, taking up most of the day. On the bright side, I finally got packages that I'd been waiting for for a good minute. I received more boxes of Hot Tamales, a nice assortment of American candy bars that happened to pretty much sum up my favorites. I also got a nice speaker to blast MoTab and general conference talks throughout the entire apartment building. If I should have received anything else, please let me know, but I'm more than grateful for what I received. Happy birthday to me 😊 Once we were back in our area we had a good visit and went over the law of chastity with Isabella. She's killing it.

Thursday consisted of weekly planning, a little contacting, visiting some less-active members, and meeting/contacting with Pájaro.

Friday was one of the first days that I've had in a while where there wasn't any type of visit set up because plans that we had set fell through or were changed to another day. Fun fact about Andorra: There is a boatload of Portuguese people that live out here. At least 40% of the people we stop up here are Portuguese. Why that is, I have no idea. We went out contacting with Pájaro again in La Seu in the evening and I quickly learned that he's a pretty dang good missionary. It would have been fun to see him in his prime over there in Venezuela. 

Saturday was a very satisfying day for me. Quick intro to why the day was so pleasing to me: There is a member named Ramón who was baptized last November. He's very nice, middle-aged, single, and, as of 2ish years ago, almost completely blind. Like, he can see, but he can't really see. If that makes any sense. Anywho, he doesn't take too much care of himself, nor is he the healthiest of eaters, and on top of that he has this fat dog named Pitufa that doesn't do much beyond breathe heavily and barf, poop, and pee everywhere in the apartment. Since Ramón is blind, he doesnt really catch every little gift that Pitufa leaves around the apartment, so small puddles and the occasional mound are a regular sight when we visit him. After visiting with him on Tuesday, Elder Harris and I asked him if we could come back and help him clean his apartment and he happily accepted our offer. 

We geared up Saturday morning with scrubbing pads, disinfectant, degreaser, multi-use spray, paper towels, and rubber gloves, and headed in. When we arrived he had already decluttered and filled two big bags with litter. I took to the floors and kitchen, while Elder Harris handled the dishes and bathroom. His kitchen sink is clogged, so we took apart pretty much all of the plumbing underneath as we looked for the clog, only to discover that the clog was suuuuper deep and out of our reach, so he'll have someone take care of that this week. Don't worry, we put the sink back together. That being said, Elder Harris had to do the dishes in the bathroom sink. I started with scrubbing ancient lumps of fecal matter off the floor, mopping up and spraying down various puddles, and sweeping up different forms of crud from the corners and edges of rooms. After taking care of that (and taking care of it again because Pitufa decided to...reclaim her territory), then after lunch I focused on the kitchen. Ohhh the kitchen. The floor was pretty much black from a solid layer a couple millimeters thick of dirt, grease, and oil. Fortunately, the degreaser proved to be more than enough and I scrubbed almost every square inch of tile until it was pretty much back to it's original light, cream color. After that, I started on the tile wall behind the stove. Ramón is a fryer and it shows. I grabbed a scraper and took all the gunk off of the back wall and the stove top to start. By the time I got to the counters, it was time to turn in for the day and visit a member for some dinner. I was dog-tired, but felt satisfaction of a good day of service.

We're coming back this week.

Sunday was good. I was still really tired, but fortunately I only had to teach the youth class during Sunday School in La Seu. Have I mentioned that the missionaries teach the young adult class during the second hour of church in La Seu? In the evening we essentially climbed a mountain, discovered this neat mountain path with street lamps, and found a couple up there that we might get to start teaching soon. Once we re-entered the atmosphere, we stumbled upon a teenage member that we had never met who did a double take when she saw us and said, "Élderes de la Iglesia? Qué guay!" It turns out that she's the granddaughter of one of the strong members of the Andorra group and invited us over to eat this week and told us that she'd be able to go to church not this Sunday but the next. That was pretty awesome. We're not the most well-known people up here in Andorra.

It was a good week with various forms of missionary work being carried out. I'm low on time, so I will have some spiritual thought put together next week. Stay tuned.

Hasta next week!

Elder Jensen :)