Things continue to be awesome here in Ybera! Turns out that Hna.
Fonseca has atypical pneumonia. One of her lungs has issues, which
explains her back pain. She´s now taking lots of medicine and watching
her health a lot more. She´s tired of feeling sick, but relieved that
now she knows what´s wrong with her.
I was sick this week, too. I had a really nasty cold. It started with
what felt like strep throat, turned into a dry cough (when I feared
that maybe I was developing pneumonia, too ), then turned into a super
runny nose. Thank goodness for my handkerchiefs! My Kneelex ran out
way too fast. Today, though, I feel perfectly fine. I´m relieved. We
didn´t have much energy to work this week, the two of us. We left the
house every day, but our numbers were pretty low and there were a few
mornings where we got a late start because Hna. Fonseca was so tired.
Life with Hna. Fonseca as a companion is so much fun. We have these
two dogs that live in our apartment complex--one´s a big
Doberman-looking thing (it makes me happy when he growls at strangers
yet LOVES Hna. Fonseca and me--I feel a lot safer in our apartment
with him around), and the other looks like an otter. He´s super short,
super long, has huge paws, and wiggles uncontrollably whenever we come
home. Hna. Fonseca LOVES that dog. It´s adorable how she baby-talks
him.
Last night after giving our weekly report to the Elders, Hna. Fonseca
wanted me to teach her how to play "Go Feesh." Somebody left her a
deck of cute Go Fish cards but she didn´t know how to play. It was so
hilarious teaching her--not only the techniques of the game, but also
how to pronounce "pufferfish," "seahorse," "whale," and "octopus." It
made me crack up how I would pronounce them well, and she´d just look
at me blankly. Then I´d say them in a Spanish accent ("pooferfeesh"
"seehor" "wallay" and "ohk-toh-poos") and THEN she understood. I love
Spanish accents. :)
She´s so adorably craftsy, too. She totally decked out the Zarate
place on Friday night. They felt so special when they came home from
the temple to find balloons, banners, party favors, ward friends, and
food waiting for them. That party was so great. This ward is so
united. The Zarate family was absolutely beaming after their
experience in the temple. They´d waited over five years to get sealed
due to some sort of complication, and they were all close to happy
tears as we took pictures with them and congratulated them. It was so
wonderful. And the Zarate family all bore their testimonies in church
yesterday. They cried a lot, and I think the ward was really touched
to hear about how worth it it is to be worthy to enter the temple.
The Zarate mother is especially more tender lately, and I can tell
that she felt God´s love for her and her family in the temple just as
strongly as I felt it when I entered. I can´t wait until April when i
get to go again. Hna. Fonseca is really sad that we couldn´t accompany
the Zarates. It would have been adorable to see the family of ten
being sealed. The littler ones look so adorable in their Sunday
clothes. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be to see them in
white.
Speaking of clothes--I just checked out a store that specializes in ao
po´i--the really cool Paraguayan traditional stitching that I´ve
really come to love. I now have a good idea of what I´m going to bring
home to you all. :)
I really don´t have much else to write about today because, like I
said before, we were sick. But I do want to mention that I´m reading
in Alma again about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. I´ve heard that story a
bazillion times and appreciated it lots in the past, but this time
around it really struck home with me. I´m not really sure why. I just
loved King Anti-Nephi-Lehi´s explanation of why he and his people
should bury their weapons rather than kill again. Before, I thought it
was just, "Well, we´ve been super bad in the past. We probably
shouldn´t add any more black marks to our record." But really, they
didn´t want to sin again because it was so HARD for them to repent and
become clean again. They didn´t want to undo all of the hard work
they´d done and have to struggle again to be worthy to enter God´s
presence. Similarly, after we´ve repented of something, we shouldn´t
let anything in the world undo all of our hard work and undermind our
sacrices. Instead, we should bury anything that would make us turn
back to bad ways. I love in the movie "Fireproof" how the husband
literally throws away his computer after deciding not to degrade his
wife by looking at pornography. I wish we all had the courage to just
cut the cord and do away with anything that would make us stumble
again. I hope I can manage to do that when I get home, because
honestly I feel a lot like the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. It was hard for me to
arrive at this point--this state of being--in my life. I don´t want to
let anything undo that.
I´m just babbling now. :) I hope you all had a great Valentine´s Day
and that you´re enjoying President´s Day. Question: Is President´s
Day to celebrate the CURRENT president, or to celebrate all presidents
in general? I was trying to explain to Hna. Fonseca what President´s
Day is, and I had no clue. Nor could i explain why we celebrate St.
Patrick´s Day (her birthday is March 17th, too). Anyone want to help
me get my facts straight? Thanks!
And thank you Grandma Springer, Laurel, Dad, Mom, Ashley, Amanda, and
the Blair Family for your letters this week! I love you all so much!
Take care!
---Hna. Springer
1-The banner that Hna. Fonseca and I made (she visualized it, I did
the drawing and cutting)
2- The newly-sealed couple Zarate
3- The kids chowing down on hot dogs
4- What was going to be an awesome photo of me and Hna. Fonseca with
the whole Zarate clan...except the man taking the picture couldn´t see
very well so he cut off the whole top row, and then the Zarates
scattered. Sigh.
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