HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!!
So....I am going to do this day by day...because I am going to
be COMPLETELY honest, it was a hard week. Like SUPER hard.
Tuesday: We
went to district meeting and had a great time, learned a lot. Our district just
fits together SO well. After, Hma. Fa'asa and I walked to go eat with a member.
I was served fish and Hma. Fa'asa, chicken. I started eating because I was
SOOOOO hungry! I was halfway through, and I just felt like I needed to, well,
vomit. I ran to the bathroom, did my business and we returned to the house. I
just rested at the house the whole day because Hma. Fa'asa got sick too.
Wednesday: So I am going to clarify what happened when I said "Satan
Books"....William literally had black magic, Satan worshipping books that
his dad gave to his family before his dad was thrown into jail because he
murdered someone. We called the Zone Leaders asking what should we do, they said,
"Burn them!" And we did. I promise I am fine, it was a scary
experience, but I am fine.
We visited William, who came to church this recent Sunday,
and he was dressed up like an Elder! MY HEART REJOICED! We watched with him
"How to Find Faith in Christ." It is amazing to witness his change. He
shared his testimony with us after we watched ... it was powerful! He talked to
the Bishop to start his mission papers...I have a feeling he'll be going SOON!
:)
We visited Cesar and read Ether 12 with him, and he still
definitely wants nothing to do with baptism....absolutely nothing.
Thursday: I woke up in what I like to call, "super pain mode." I
didn't sleep very well the night before and so I tried sleeping it off in the
morning. As I was asleep, the zone leader Elder Boyce calls Hermana Fa'asa to
remind us of something and he asks, "How is Hma. Winsor?" And she
tells him that I am sick and that I was sleeping. He tells her that as soon as
I wake up, to call Hma. Villarreal (wife of the President).
So I wake up, she tells me what to do and I do it! I tell her
what was going on and she said, "Okay, Hermana Winsor you need to look for
the Pharmacy Farmacia a La Oro." Sweet, so I write down the name in my
agenda, we get ready to go search for this pharmacy to talk to the doctor and
get some meds. And then I realized, "Aubri, you have never heard of this
pharmacy and you have no idea where this pharmacy is."
So we go to a member’s house asking if they knew where it was,
they give us an idea. We go to this area, it's not there. We pull over a taxi
to ask, he drives 10 minutes away OUTSIDE our area/30 away from our house to
pharmacy that isn't even called "Farmacia a la Oro," which is in an
area that I don't recognize. Now I am not only in pain, sick and tired...I am
irritated, and nervous. Good thing it was during the day!
We call some missionaries, our district leader, EVERYONE and
they give us 982 different directions. We go try to find all of the 982
directions and NOTHING. Now I am just beyond irritated, we call Hma. Villarreal
and she says, "Just ask your district leader to help you!" Been there,
DONE THAT. She hangs up, and we get a call from Elder Boyce and he tells me
this, "Honestly Hermana, you can go to ANY pharmacy as long as there is a
doctor. You don't have to go to THAT specific one. And that pharmacy doesn't
even exist! Besides, what you have? You should honestly go to the hospital
asking for a consult. And it won't even be THAT expensive."
My heart dropped. If there is ONE thing I never EVER wanted to
do while in Mexico, it would be going to the hospital. He told me I would be
okay, that I wasn't going to be admitted to the hospital, but I was going to
have blood taken out, I would poo in a cup and talk with a doctor. If I needed ANYTHING,
I could call him.
We asked one of the members, Hermana Longoria, to go with us
because she KNOWS ENGLISH AND SPANISH. Such a blessing, she was more than
willing to go with us to help us out. We talk to the doctor, he does some
studies, Hermana Longoria translates....it is going well! He gave us some cups
to do our business in, and tells us to come back to take out blood (And I
thought "Awwwww HECK NO. My mom isn't here.")
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| Handy dandy cups.....embarrassing. |
And as soon as we went to go pay for it, we were told it was
going to be a cheap and we had the money for "cheap." We find out the
ONE appointment was 130 AMERICAN DOLLARS (1311.50 pesos), my heart dropped. I
gave them my mission card, nothing...American card, nothing....and we did not
have enough cash.
Hma. Longoria gives the pharmacist her card, "Lo
pagaré." WHAT? We tried reasoning with her, "Hermanas, don't worry
about it. You can pay me back once you have the money. I want to help!"
She pays for it! I am SO grateful for her!
We go back later that day to take out blood and I was starting
to panic a bit....(Mom, you know me.) And Hma. Longoria was there by my side
comforting me, like this, "Ah, Hermana! Stop worrying! It doesn't even
hurt!" hahaha. Tough love, love it.
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| Yeah, yeah....see that RED DOT?! Proof that they took blood outta me. And Mom, you weren't even there! IMMA ADULT! hahaha |
We (yes, Hermana Fa'asa too) then get ULTRASOUNDS!! It's not a
girl, it's not a boy, ... it's amebas! Yay! hahaha. Got to have a little humor.
The doc tells us to come the next day to "read the results"....
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| It's amibas!!!! |
Friday: We go back to the hospital, but this time it is just Hma. Fa'asa
and I because Hma. Longoria is an English Teacher 8:00am to 1:00pm.
We go to the hospital at 10am for our 10:30am appointment, we
wait and wait and wait and wait.....it hits 11:00am and the doctor
still doesn't show up.
His secretary comes out and says the doctor wants Hma. Fa'asa to
have a face x-ray to check her nose because she has been having colds and nose
congestion. I ask the secretary if it is TRULY necessary, and apparently it
was. We take her x-ray and while I am in the room with the radiologist, and I
ask her how much the x-ray with cost, "1500 pesos." I about die! I
definitely don't have that money...I don't know what to do. When we go to the
pharmacy to pay, we ask if we can go to a nearby bank to take out money,
"No, we will not let you leave until you pay. You have to pay in the
moment."
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| Hermana Fa'asa's incredibly expensive head scan....and they found nothing. GOSH. But it was pretty cool to watch the xray :) |
Panic mode begins. I ask her if we could call someone (Um, like
the district leader....or Heavenly Father). She lets us and I call Elder Ouderkirk
telling him the situation. He told us he is going to try to find money and
he'll be at the hospital to help us out. We wait, and Elder Boyce calls and
says for us to call Hma. Villarreal. As soon as Hma. Villarreal answers, she is
not using a "firm voice" (*cough cough* Mom and Dad...haha)...she is
YELLING at me. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO CALL THE INSURANCE
PEOPLE FIRST TO SET AN APPOINTMENT SO THEY CAN PREPARE TO PAY FOR IT BLAH BLAH
BLAH. How have you been paying for this?!?!?!" I answer trying to hold
back my incredibly obvious shaky voice, "Um, a member went with us and
when we found out how expensive it was...she paid for it." Hma. Villarreal
flipped her lid, "WHAT!?!?! A MEMBER IS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE WITH YOU IN
THE HOSPITAL AND TO PAY FOR YOU!" "I'm sorry Hma. Villarreal, I
honestly didn't know to do. Elder Boyce told me just to come to the hospital to
ask for a consult and that's what I did." Mom, Dad...you'd be proud that I
did not raise my voice...I was calm.
She ends up hanging up on me because I couldn't understand most
of her Spanish. Now I am in absolute TEARS, I am officially in "panic mode."
And then, in walks Hma. Longoria, an angel Heavenly Father sent us. She asks us
what was going on, and we explain everything. Hma. Villarreal sends a text
message asking for some information on my insurance card of the mission. Hma.
Longoria tries calming us down, and the doctor comes in. We go into his office
with our ultrasounds and results for him to read. We are talking to him and Hma.
Villarreal calls, so I give the phone to Hma. Longoria while we talk to the
doctor.
Apparently that is ALSO not okay, because Hma. Villarreal starts
yelling at the member! "Why do you have the missionaries’ phone?! Who are
you?!" Hma. Longoria explains everything, who she is and why she is with
us....that we are talking to the doctor. She hangs up on the member and I am
still in tears, panicking...feeling like I completely failed in LIFE. 15
minutes later, Hma. Villarreal calls again, with a "firm voice"
"....Hermana Winsor." "Yes." "Is this the
missionaries’ phone or a member’s phone?" "Our phone."
"Then why did the member have it?" "Because we were talking to
the doctor and I was stressed out." Little did she know, I was still
stressed out. "That's not an excuse. Why did a member have a missionary
phone?" "Because she wanted to help us." "Not an
excuse...they should NEVER have your phone." I put the phone on speaker
phone and she says this, "The member was very angry with me and had an angry
tone in her voice." Hma. Longoria hears EVERYTHING!! She hangs up, and I
burst into tears.
Luckily Hma. Longoria is very easy going and couldn’t care less...but
she was NOT talking with an "angry tone"... she does NOT talk like
that AT ALL. Now I am not only stressed out and panicky...I am shamed and
embarrassed. I never knew ANY of these things....I didn't know!!!
The doctor gives us our prescriptions, we work with the
insurance and they pay for EVERYTHING and Hma. Longoria gets her money back. By
the time we left, it was 3pm and it was raining HARD outside. (Which
was awesome. It was like Heavenly Father was like "Hey, be happy. Here is
some awesome rain.")
 |
| When it rains...IT POURS! Hna Fa'asa heard her first "Bomb-like thunder"! :) |
We went straight home, I did NOT want to work. I was
mentally, emotionally, physically drained and incredibly discouraged. We have a
multi-zone conference this Thursday in Zacatecas and the President
and his wife will be there...I am incredibly nervous to go! Pray for me!
hahaha! I am sure Hma. Villarreal was stressed out this day and I am not angry
with her, I forgive her for her reaction.....no hard feelings :)
Saturday: We went to contact 2 ancient investigators, Eduardo and
Federico. We go to their house and they seem excited to receive us...but
nervous...which makes me nervous. Their house is long and their mom is there.
"Pasen! Pasen!" And they take us to the very far end of their house,
farthest away from their front door. They keep talking at the same time, asking
us questions…so we were overwhelmed. They walk into a separate house and I hear
LITERALLY a voice telling me, "Get out."
Now I am on high alert...."Come in hermanas!" We
cautiously walk in the room and they tell us to sit down, we sit down...once
again, "Get out."
They sit in front of us, still talking nervously at the same
time. I am holding my umbrella thinking, "If they lunge...I need to hit
them as hard as I can. And Hma. Fa'asa has her pepper spray." I look at Hma.
Fa'asa and tell her that we need to get out.
I finally ask them if we could share a message with them
outside. They agree and we go outside, but I don't feel ANY better. They keep
talking/laughing nervously, very fidgety. "GET OUT AUBRI."
I tell them "Look, we have an appointment but it was nice
meeting you!" Federico says goodbye but Eduardo wants to show us how he, "imagines
God." "Come to my room Hermanas! I have a bunch of pictures and you
can meet my wife."
He takes us to another room closer to the front door, and we
stand outside the doorway, "Come in!" "Uhhh, no we're
fine." He shows us pictures of the Catholic Saints, Maria Guadalupe as his
wife sits on the bed watching TV. I keep trying to tell him that we need to
leave but he keeps talking and talking and talking and TALKING.
"AubriAnna Winsor! GET OUT NOW! Why are you still
there?!?!" The voice yells at me. And Hermana Fa'asa tells Eduardo,
"Vamos a regresar...mucho gusto!" and we turn around and LEAVE.
I have no idea what would have happened if we didn't listen to
that voice. I am so glad for the Holy Ghost and it's warnings. I am grateful
that I am WORTHY enough to receive these promptings. We come to find out from
the mission leader that the 2 brothers, Eduardo and Federico are actually less
actives who are crazy and that we should always bring a priesthood holder with
us. CRAZY.
We also visited Hermana Mari and we watched, "Finding Faith
in Christ." She told us she only smoked ONE TIME! WOO HOO!!! She also came
to church with us!! :)
Sunday: I played the piano in church again! And William and Mari AND
Martin and Miriam came! It was an awesome day. We ate Tostadas with the
Hernandez Family, and then we went to the Stake Center to receive transfer news. I will remain in Barrio Alto/Fresnillo for
another transfer to finish up Hermana Fa'asa's training. It's like you, Dad,
and your mission! haha. Hermana Eliason got transferred to train and open up an
area in Aguas :) I am going to miss my "twin" :(
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| We got transfers on Sunday, and Hermana Eliason got transferred to Aguas to OPEN an area and TRAIN :) I miss her and I love her, I miss my "twin" :( |
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| Our distrist did NOT get transfers! :) |
LES AMO!
Con amor (y amibas)
Con amor (y amibas)
Hermana Winsor
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