Well That Was Strange!

Oh today was such an odd day! It all started with my choice of breakfast. We bought some honey dew and watermelon on Monday for a potluck we went to with all of the senior missionaries. We made a fruit salad out of it and it was so good. I brought some for lunch Tuesday, and ate most of it, but I had a little left over, so I brought it home. I put it in the fridge, but then I took it out last night thinking I was going to eat it, but then left it on the counter all night. When I woke up this morning, I decided to eat it for breakfast...BAD IDEA! We started the workshop out just fine and I was doing fine but then I started feeling a little sick. I didn't think it was that bad and during break I went to the bathroom and I was okay, but still not feeling so hot. Well, we were going over our mock interviews with our students when I realized, that if I didn't leave right then I was going to throw up in front of everyone. So I ran to the bathroom and got there right about the time that the honey dew and watermelon decided to revolt. Since I hadn't eaten very much and since watermelon and honey dew are mostly water, it was not a pleasant experience to say the least. I came back to the class and sat down for a while and just taught from there, and eventually I was fine. Only one person noticed anything, so that was good. Ha ha!

Todays class was so great. I just love this group. All eleven came back today and the interviews were great. It is funny to see how each group approaches them, some are more hands on bring it on type people, while others are a lot more timid. We have two students we are struggling to get to and we are trying our hardest to help them understand, but it was a good day over all. This group has really grown together in the last two days and it has been really amazing to see them help each other out and get references from eachother. They have even planned a potluck for after class tomorrow. Sarah and I are gonna make rice crispie treats and guacamole with chips. This group also has had so much fun, we have laughed a lot more. I owe most of it two of our students Christian and Claudio. Christian is an RM who served in Portugal and finished his studies. He is SO funny. Today he was saying something and right now I don't remember what and I was laughing and finally said 'Cristian what am I going to do with you?' Without missing a beat he looked at me and said 'You are gonna miss me next week. You'll look around and wonder where I have gone, you better fail me so I come back.' Oh man it was funny. Claudio is the recently baptised/married man. He is pure Chilean. Everything he says has some hidden meaning and he is just so much fun to be around. They have really livened up the group a lot.

After the mock interviews, Pilar our Columbian non member kind of disagreed with what we were doing saying that interviews needed to be natural and that practicing what we were going to say wouldn't help us at all. I was shocked as the whole room came to our defence explaining that practicing gets the nerves out so that we can be natural. The idea isn't to memorize answers, it is more to think about what you are going to say before hand so you don't have to think about it in the moment, 'If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.'

We went to the temple tonight. It has been closed for two weeks, so it was nice to go again. We had been told it was going to be a session in english, but it wasn't. It gets hard for me to pay attention in Spanish, but today was actually really good. I was impressed with the amount of trust the Lord has in us. Agency is such a wonderful and powerful blessing, and yet he has given it to each and every one of us. I know that for me it isn't always easy to use it wisely, maybe because it is so powerful but tonight I just soaked in how much love that shows he has for us. I love the gospel.

Someday I'll have someone else take a picture of me, but for now, here I am in the gardens behind the temple in Santiago.