What a week it has been. Thank you for your thoughts and kindnesses in regards to my dad. The funeral was nice and I think he would have been pleased. on our way home on Sunday we hit ice just above Plymouth. We spun off the road and rolled our truck. God was watching over us. He protected us in so many ways. I know we were blessed for many reasons and one of them is because of the service of our missionaries. We emailed them about the accident. Chris got the email before he wrote back, but Isabel did not...so she still has to hear about it all. I am going to post Dave's letter to them in between the two letters. He really puts it well. We walked away from the accident, our truck is a total loss. How blessed we were.
Here is Isabel's Letter.
it has been such a sad week and such an amazing week. and im feeling guitly for all the money and resources that i have at some point in my life wasted. we were preaching to this young family and when we were about to leave this little old lady that looked like a cute old bird soaking up the sunshine on a rock with her pollera (skirt) and grey braids yelled in a sweet but weak voice "mamitas que van predicando?" sweeties what are you preaching? i saw her and immediately my heart was filled with love for the grandma i went over to her and sat down right next to her and felt like i should hold her hand while i shared the message of the restoration my comp was taken aback by how familiar i was getting with her. she told us she was sick and was sitting in the sun to feel better she has herpes and a bad leg she is like 80 and still gets ready in the morning to sell in the market her veggies to make a living. hermanita Antonia takes pain medication that sometimes makes her very sleepy and to see her get all her little rags to put her veggies out on the ground in hopes to sell at her age with her curbed back brings tears to my eyes. she told us about her 5 kids and how only the last two boys remember to visit her and how even though she has asked for forgiveness her other kids hate her because she left them in the care of her mother and she left to argentina to make a living with her husband who ended up telling her that she wasnt worth all the trouble and left her there by her self to fend for the 5 kids. her little broken heart has so much guilt and pain and loneliness. i spent most of my money buying her yogurt and bread and eggs we visit her once a day to give her a big hug and kiss and make sure she hasnt died. she came to church this sunday we invited her to be baptized and she said to be born again sounds beautiful i think im going to die soon i want to be right with God. she is no longer selling on sundays to come to church to be baptized. its been wonderful to help her heal her wounds and feed her belly and clean her. some elders think that the priesthood authority is more powerful than priesthood power. but its not the case in the relief society i know we have the priesthood power and we can offer prayers onbehalf of the hands that hang down and the bellies that growl and the back that are broke and trying. i know that the lord hears us and answers us all. this christmas i dont want anything but money and things to make others burdens light please. 1 dollar can give a little family some relief 4 apples a bag of milk and 6 pieces of bread. there is another lady that has been sick because her husband left her 5 years ago cutting by half her income and still leaving her with 4 mouths to feed and so as a mom as a women she has gone without food to feed her kids and now she is "sick" and really all that she has is severe malnutrition yesterday we felt prompted to take a pharmacist to visit her. she said i waited for you this morning to go to church and you didnt come.. i thought about what you said and i do need to show my faith by actions to get blessings. we were so heart broken to know that she was ready and we forgot. but here is the amazing part the pharmacist had been mission leader and had seen a foto of this sister a long time ago when other sister missionaries told him she was in need. when i looked on her table which is her kitchen it was empty and they hadnt eaten anything. he called out brach pres. and we gave her out promise to help her with rent, food that members gave us to give her and this thur. she will get 150 bolivianos to start her business again. what to her was too much and overwhelming to pay equal like 55 dollars. rent food and work... 55 dollars. the lord blessed her. and her kids. and us. i know that he answers prayers. i love you all but have to go. chirs i love you too i have been writing my journal like letters to you. i will send the letters i have written to you when i have money again. i love you so much and pray for your safety always. janice please send him my address. but i havent gotten any mail bcc it goes to the mission office in cochabamba. mami ponme en wellsfargo. janice i have gotten wierd email adresses from you so i think its spam have you written me
forgot to mention i had two more baptisms this weekend will tell you later bye les amo!
Dave's Letter to the Kids
Oh kids,
The Lord protects us. I'm sure you've noticed this already on your missions. Last night he protected us.
If you felt a "tremor in the force" to quote from the Star Wars movies, I'll tell you why. (Isabella be calm, "all is well.")
Last Tuesday afternoon Janice's dad passed away. Tuesday evening she drove up to Idaho Falls in the Truck. I came up on Wednesday afternoon with grandpa and grandma Finch. They were going up to see Courtney compete in the Miss Hillcrest pageant.
Jan was at Richard's house every night starting with Tuesday till Saturday. We came home on Sunday.
I went to the pageant. Jan was with her family working out funeral details.
The viewing was Friday evening. They made Richards body look so much better than the last time we saw him. We had taken the previous Friday off and spent the day with him. Janice got to spend some quality tender time with him. They teased and had other conversations.
Monday evening she called him and only had a brief conversation with him. The call was basically an exchanging of "I love you's."
Jan and her cousin gave the life sketch at the funeral. I sang a solo called "Together Again," an old Buck Owens song. Another fellow sang an opening song. The choir Rich was a member of sang the closing song. A fellow who was the branch president of the singles ward that Rich served with as a councilor with also spoke. The current Bishop also gave comments.
Rich touched everyones life for better. He had many, many friends. He will be missed.
He was buried on Saturday, November 20th. Exactly 21 years earlier jan's mom had died on that date.
Jan got through to the Honduras mission office on Wednesday. She requested to talk with Chris about this event. His mission president gave him permission to call. He call at an almost perfect time. We were at the funeral home. We had just been shown in to view Richard's body for the first time. That's when Jannie's cell phone rang. We got to visit with Chris. It was wonderful. I think the phone call was more consoling to his parents than the parents consoling the son. Chris said some profound things. I'll paraphrase. "I was sad and emotional at first, then I realized he was with grandma again. What a beautiful thing.". And "I've been missing Isabella for only four months, they've been apart for 21 years."
Thanks for your comforting words, prayers and feelings Christopher.
We left to come home in a blizzard. This was no biggie. We've done this in the past. We had the back seat packed with all the family pictures and Jan's share of her mother's porcelain dolls. We left traveling 40 mph on the freeway. We drove with 4 wheel drive engaged. This was bad. We saw numerous slide offs between Idaho Falls and Pocatello. Then the roads improved. You could see all the lines on the road the yellow, white and dotted white lines. I increased our speed some. We got to and over Malad pass without any problems. I'd slow and engage 4 wheel drive when the roads looked bad.
Just before Plymouth we hit some ice. Whew no issue. The truck swerved. I engaged 4 wheel drive. Then we hit a patch of more ice. The truck fish tailed. I corrected. The truck spun the opposite way and we were out of control. We were heading towards the side of the road Sid ways. I told Janice "we're in trouble!". I pleaded with Heavenly Father for help out loud as the truck slid down the side of the road. The truck turned over and landed on its head. It rolled over on the passenger side and broke out that window. None of the other windows broke out during all of this. We were both wearing our seat belts. We were both hanging upside down from the seat belts. I was able to release mine. We asked each other if we were ok and we both were. The truck was now on it's cab pointing perpendicularly towards the freeway. I said some more prayers. We were both a bit panicked. We tried to stay calm. The ambulance had been behind us and saw the whole thing. We were out in about five minutes. They checked us out. No problems. Some scrapes and bruises. They took us to the hospital to wait. I called grandpa finch. They came and picked us up. We went to where the truck was towed to get our belongings. None of the pictures nor porcelain dolls were damaged. On the truck no damage was to the hood nor the bed. The box where the people sit was wrinkled, but it held it's shape. Thanks be to the Lord and Ford.
Today we'll hear from the insurance company. We'll let you know what happens.
The Lord protects us. We think that's the lesson to learn from all of this.
Again we are ok. Please thank the Lord for protecting us.
We love you both,
Dad
Christopher's Letter
Buenas,
I hope that you are well after the funeral and an accident. Wow. To read that and then to read the story from Isabel is all really touching.
I miss you all. I am a little home sick to be honest. I miss you, mom and Dad. I miss Grandma and Grandpa. The sound of your voice.
It is kind of like the smell of "ripe" rain. Sometimes the memories of you are all lost in the work and the wind, but...there is nothing like being with family.
This week we brought (almost) two families to church. We had more attendence of new investigators than Monterrey has ever had. 15 souls, 11 of which could take the decision to be baptized (usually which has been 2 or 3 or 0). Mario, the dad of one of the families, said that he has intentions to stay in the class Gospel Principles.
Isabel, from the Fam. Flores, the other fam, said that she loved how we gave her a bible (book of mormon) and taught her the way to read and understand it. She said that when she went to Catholic church as a young girl, her mother or the paster of the church simply gave her a bible and a peace of paper with scripture to memorize and said,"You need to memorize this to be confirmed."...With no explanation. Her son Orlando told us that he felt at home especially in that the opinion of every person matters. In the class for Priesthood, he loved that everyone was participating. I hope that both of them find what they are searching for. They are both beautiful families. Both Family Flores, too (but different families). Mario and his wife work really, really hard in their resturaunt, and you can tell they both want to rest because they work so very, very hard. And they deserve rest.
The husband of Isabel left her when she had 30 years or something, with five kids, nothing to eat at all. And she told us that she threw her self on her bed and pleaded with the lord,"I have nothing. You need to give a job so that I can feed these kids." And 3 days later she found work. And ever since has worked. And now her kids support her, I think. People have hard lives here.
There is also a family here, Family Medina. 3 siblings of 24 to 33 years old that live with their mom. Bellinda is the oldest there, and is also married. The brother below her is 27, Jose Luis. And their sister Jizel lives with them with her boyfriend or something and their child. Anyway, we have taught this family a lot. I mean, a lot a lot. They love us a lot and always want us to come teach, but one day forever ago, jose luis told us that he wanted to just be friends, that we can share our testimonio and what we have learned, but just friends...Kind of weird. But here is something really interesting. They are siblings with Mario of Family Flores. he is the oldest. and yesterday we taught Bellinda, after we had eaten dinner with them. And we had a very spiritual experience of bearing testimony. And really, breaking down the walls as much as possible. She has doubts and has always asked things like,"Well, where is that in the Bible?" Which yesterday we were pleading with her, because recently we discovered that their dad had died two years ago and it has really hurt the family a lot, that she should have faith and for the sake that she could be with her dad again to pray about the book of mormon because when she receives the answer about it, then she knows that she can be with her dad again. And with tears running down her cheeks, she said yes. And with tears in my eyes, I bore testimony. And it was really special, because there is so much love and respect in between my comp and i and this family.
So we are working with 3 really awesome families right now, and I cant wait for them to receive their rest in their souls. That is one of my favorite things in the book of mormon to research. "Rest." I recommend researching it in the scriptures, Book of Mormon, D&C, Bible. It is really beautiful.
I love you all. I am really, really glad that you are all safe. Please dont do that again. Haha. It sounds like all went well with Grandpa.
Sincerely, Elder Hill
(this is an email to Isabel....some of which I am deleting...it is between them....but he tells a wonderful story I want to share.)
Babysweet,
...I am so happy that you are helping "the cute little people with cute little hats." What you wrote to my mom and everyone reminded me of this lady that has a tiny little house which is more like a garage in the states. She is very old and frail with black spots all over her skin. But she always wears a really nice dress and red knitted cardigan, with a handmade hat like someone might wear by the sea. One day I sat by her, as she was all alone. We talked about God a little, her light raspy voice telling me about God has always loved her. And I told her that I loved her and that God loves her. She told me that I was guapo (handsome) and she leaned her head into the fore of my shoulder and I put my arm around her. We just sat there for a while, Elder Christensen, this lady and me. She has never told us her name, because i think that she is somewhat incoherrent. But since then whenever she sees me, she waves and points her finger to the sky and then to her heart. And I dont really know in words how I would describe it, but I know that my redeemer lives and loves her.
... almost everything here brings utterance to the stories you told me about Colombia. This morning I washed
my garments and socks by hand for a few hours. I drink water and milk from a bag. And pinol. And San Concho or Sopa de reis. I eat fresh lyches and lemons and all kinds of things. There is an old man that sells fruits named Miguel Angel, who wears handmade cowboy hats of straw and leather. And everytime I see him, I think about your mom for some reason. He looks very native and he has 70 years. And he loves us. And we love him. And he loves to tell us about fruit and how he wants us to visit his tierra of fruit down the river. And I want to. The sad thing is that he is too afraid to not sell every day, because he has had to work so hard everyday of his life. But he loves God. And he wants us to baptize him, because he knows its right. WE have been teaching him to read so that he can read the BoM so that he can have a testimony of it. I love him, and know that we knew each other before this life.
I am always tired and always excited to work. This week also, I ate noni and fresh cacao smoothies everyday which was fun. the cool part was... it was a gift from someone in the ward who has a cacao farm... And they live like two houses down from us.
I work really hard until I cant anymore, and I am always tired. I am always excited to do the work. To be yours in the future is all I could ever hope for after this. that and I want to be mission leader when I get back. haha.
I love you sweetie. Take care. Know that I love you and that I know that you love me. see you soon, baby!
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| Isabella, Grandpa Hatch, & Christopher June 2010 |
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