Dear Family and Friends,
First
and foremost, next week is going to be the beginning of my 8th
Transfer. As a result we will have e-mailing and preparation day on Monday
instead of Tuesday. Consider yourselves duly warned :) I hear we are
going to have a surplus of missionaries from what we now do, and the
Socorro New Mexico area is going to be opening up. That means I will be
in a NEW DISTRICT almost no matter what. I was kind of hoping to make it
a whole year in the same one, but oh well :)
**Spoiler
Note: If you have a easily unsettled stomach continue with caution, or
skip to the stars and read after that.** On another exciting note, I
participated and assisted in slaughtering a sheep yesterday. That is a
common thing to do for celebrations in Navajo culture. The thing about
this is that nothing goes to waste. Not even the blood is wasted. I
realize that this may be a sensitive topic so I will forebear the
details, but I want to mention that is was so cool to see a family work
together in such great unity. Everyone knew what to do, and did it. All
the way down to eating it and staking claim on the different parts
(Something I have only heard of but never witnessed nor thought I
would.) I want to also share the list of things that I tried.
First
was the "Bible" which is a part of the internal stomach. It get's it's
name because it has flaps similar to pages on a book. This is eaten raw,
and Yes I did gag. Next I helped make twister, which is a sheet of
abdominal fat cut into strips and wrapped with the small intestine. It
literally tastes like Bacon. I also tried the heart, stuffed liver,
kidney, tongue, and blood sausage. The last on is made by taking all the
blood, straining it and mixing it with potatoes, red chile, habanero,
and putting it all into the cleaned out stomach and boiling it for two
ours. That was an experience that I will remember.
**
This
week I have been feeling a lot of strength in just coming to terms that
this life is not always easy. I don't expect it to be either. In fact I
like the thought I heard once that we should never pray for the Lord to
take away our challenges, but pray that we may have the strength to
overcome them. We are all called to go through trials and tribulations,
also known as the refiners fire. Often during these times the real
struggle can be not knowing if the path we are on is the right one. It
is at times like these when I would turn to D&C 58 and read that we
should all be "anxiously engaged in a good cause." There are a lot of
things in this life that do not make a truly significant impact on our
eternal destination. Many of the choices we make in life are completely
our own to make. These are things that can often cause frustration and
anxiety or sadness because it's hard to get a really definite answer
through the spirit, at least in my experience. If we are living the
commandments and striving our very best to serve God then we need not
worry. I would take this scripture one step further and say that instead
of doing many good things, to do many of the "best" things. Our God
takes priority over anything else, and when we put him first then our
Natural course following would be to put our families as our next
priority. Just as I saw this family work together yesterday to bring
this food to their table, we can work together in all things.
One
other quick experience, I had the opportunity to give a priesthood
blessing this week to a new investigator. He and His partner have been
together 30 years and are now planning to get married in September which
is how we met them. My first day here in Alamo they cam e to ask if
they could use our church to do it. I can't give any specifics because
of the sacred and personal nature of the information. In giving him that
blessing though, I can say without a shadow of doubt I know that Jesus
Christ lives and directs this work. It is by his power and his mercy
that we are all here. The Priesthood is real. After we gave them each a
blessing, the sister mentioned that they (including their son) want to
be Baptized! Just another perk of being where you need to be when you
need to be there.
I
love you all :) I love hearing from you! So many good stories. So much
of the best things in life are right now! Keep me updated on life and
adventures. I miss hearing from some of you, so you're not all off the
hook ;) I am loving the work here and it is Always challenging, But the
Lord is my strength and in him I will trust now, and forever.
Ayoo' Aniinishni
Elder McGarry
Berwyn and the little one Helping Supervise :) |
Me gettin' my "Explorer" on :) (everything but the coke) |
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