Elder Benjamin Michael Conover Mission Blog : Week 56: Pomelo Juice

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty slow, so I don't have that much to talk about, but I´ll try to make it as interesting as possible.

First off, we went as a district to the ¨Dique¨ last week, and we hiked around and threw rocks into the water and just hung out. It was fun!

That day, our appointment fell, so we decided that we would clean out the baptismal font that day to prepare for the baptism that we had planned. It was a painful experience haha. I will explain what happened in greater detail in the ¨Funny Section.¨

First off, we got to teach the Familia Chavez about how to stop smoking, and they committed to follow the plan that we gave them, and up to the point of me writing this letter, they have kept it and they have stopped smoking! Woo! Great Tender Mercies.

On Wednesday, we went to an appt, and the people weren´t there. As we walked away, we saw a woman standing across the street holding her grandson. We went up to her, and started talking. We asked her if she is religious, and she just broke down, and told us how her husband left her and that she feels so unloved and unuseful. It was so sad, but she told us to come back two days later.

When we went to her house a couple of days later, we had such a sweet visit with her. She is so humble, and just wants to feel loved. We invited her to be baptized, and in the most humble voice I have ever heard, asked ¨Will I be ready by then?¨ and we testified as hard as we could that she will be. She is such a nice, humble woman.

Anyways, after that miracle, we went to Mendoza, and we were there for a couple of days, so that kinda killed the work for a while, and then we had two sick days in the pension. Woooo.

However, this week, we should have two baptisms on Saturday! Juan Olguin and Gabriela! WOO!!!

Funny

A few weeks ago we were doing service, and we were mixing cement (which I have gotten pretty good at by the way), and the Hermano told me to put the ¨Cal¨ into the mix. I had no idea what that was, but it was a really soft white powder. I put it into the mix, and the dust came up and I breathed it in, and it hurt, and I was coughing a ton. Well, fast forward a few days, and I came across the word ¨Cal¨ in the dictionary.......it said ¨Lime¨ oh joy.

While we were cleaning the baptismal font, the pump didn't work, so we were emptying it with buckets. Well, I had a bucket full of water, and I fell down the stairs. That REALLY hurt. I broke the bucket, and my dignity, spilling water all over myself. And, I have had a nice bruise on my ¨Trasero¨ for the week. It has been a fun week.

Had the worst lunch ever this week. We were at the house of some members, and the hermano gave us a glass, and then filled it up with juice. Elder Crist took a swig, and then, disgusted, whispered, ¨This stuff is nasty.¨ After the hermano gave me some, he explained, proudly, that it was straight ¨Pomelo,¨ or grapefruit, juice. He proudly told us that there was no sugar, no salt, nothing, as if it was a good thing. I kept filling up Elder Crist´s cup just to throw him under the bus. It was SOOOOO gross. Then, for dessert, they gave us boiled grapefruit peel with sugar. It was so nasty, and Elder Crist whispered, ¨Dude I CANNOT eat this¨hahahaha. Then, they gave us like 2 liters of the stuff to take home... Gross.

I love you guys and the gospel is true! I hope that you are all happy and safe!

Love,

Elder Conover