This week has been pretty good. Last Tuesday, we met with Victor. Since his probation has been terminated, he has had a ton of opportunities open up for him. He was offered a job in Sacramento and he had to take it. So he will have to leave on Monday. He told us not to worry because he is still planning on meeting with the missionaries and being baptized. It was pretty cool, he said he was even thinking about serving a mission! That one caught me by surprise. We were pretty bummed at first that he would be leaving, but we know that he really needed that job. We also know that he will keep up meeting with the missionaries once he leaves. I have his email now and he gave me his address, so I am going to refer him to the missionaries and make sure he finds them again.
We also met with Ofelia this week. I don't think I have mentioned her yet. She is a super sweet old lady that we have been visiting. She is really nice and kind, but she has gone through a lot and has been really bummed out for a long time now. On top of that, she has lots of cockroaches in her house and her property manager isn't doing much to help her out. While we were there on Friday, the property manager came over to finally talk with Ofelia about her problem and she was totally disrespectful to her. She acted like there wasn't even a problem and that Ofelia was making a big deal out of nothing. Trust me, there are TONS of cockroaches and it is a problem. So, Elder Juarez and I tried to simmer things down, but after the lady left, Ofelia was in tears. We tried really hard to help her calm down, but it was so sad. No sweet little old lady should ever be treated that way. This property manager causes her so much stress. We told Ofelia to tell us when there is something she needs and we can talk to the lady for her. I don't want Ofelia to have to deal with that. We invited her to church and told her that was a place where she could feel peace and get away from her worries at home. She told us she would come. I promised her we could call her at 8:00 to remind her and we could stop by so she could follow us there. So the next morning, I called her to remind her and she said she couldn't come because she was feeling stressed, there were bugs everywhere and she wasn't ready. I was so sad, because I know that church is somewhere she can go and feel the spirit and feel the peace that comes with that. I am not a pushy missionary. That has never really been my style. I don't like to push people do things that they aren't really comfortable with. And I wouldn't say that I got pushy with Ofelia, but I just told her that I thought she really needed to come to church, because I knew it could make her feel better. I told her that we could still come by her house in 45 minutes so that she could follow us to church. Then she said, "Well okay, I suppose." So we showed up at her house and she followed us to church and she loved it! Our ward has a set of sister missionaries who have done service for Ofelia, and Ofelia loves them. So we had the sisters sit by her and Elder Juarez and I sat in front of her. The Sisters said that she loved the whole thing and was crying during the Sacrament. I was so glad she liked it and it was able to calm her down. We are going to be visiting her again tonight.
Oh yeah, and we went over to Rudy's this week. Rudy is always trying to cut my hair. When we go over to teach him, he has us sit in his barber shop chair and its like a trap! So this week I was just kind of like, "Okay Rudy, go for it." So he did, and I thought he did a great job. We just taught him as he was cutting my hair, it was pretty cool. I think he will just be my barber from here on out.
Anyways, I hope you all have a great week. Enjoy summer while it lasts!
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson