This week I ate octopus. Not calamari, just octopus. Like the little kind where you just pop the whole thing, head, tentacles, suction cups and all in your mouth. And I didn't die. The mission changes you.
This was one of those weeks where everything fell apart but then better stuff came together. So much happened that I don't even know where to start. I guess one of the coolest/most humbling things this week was that we went and visited a less active sister, and I mean I'm used to people living in trailers and such, but this lady lives in like a quarter of a trailer. It's a glorified box. I was so heartbroken. Then, we find out that her furniture had been purchased through a rent a center thing, and she didn't realize how much it cost, so she couldn't pay. They were coming the next day to take all of it away, bed, heater, everything, and she would just have a table and a couple chairs left. I thought my heart was literally going to shatter. Thank heavens for some amazing members. Through a miracle, we found someone who had just moved and was getting rid of a bed, and someone else had a truck, so we got it to her so she could have a bed. There was some poverty in Kenner, but nothing like down here in Houma. It's crazy because there are two extremes here: super fancy plantation type homes, or trailer parks. And it's super rare we're in the fancy homes, so we spend 99% of our time in the trailer parks, and other run down places. The crazy thing is, they always offer us food or water or anything they could give us and what do you say.... I don't even know. It's an incredibly humbling experience to be here. It's proof that Jesus was not just a mortal man because to walk where He walked and spend time with the people He spent time with, it just breaks your heart. I just want to give these people everything I have!
I think even harder than physical poverty is that we are with people in spiritual/emotional poverty a lot. I can't tell you how many people are lonely in this world. We see so many less active members that have basically been forgotten about, and they're just so sad. We see one lady pretty regularly because she literally has no one but us. I have no idea who her visiting teachers are, or if she even has any. Her kids don't speak to her even though they live right by her (she was in the hospital a couple weeks ago and her daughter refused to come see her, even though she worked in the same hospital). We were with her last night and she was talking about how her depression was bad that day and that she just felt like crying all day. She told us we are the lights in her life and that she's always so grateful when we come see her. I love that lady with my whole soul and it just breaks me to see her so sad. I've heard from a couple of my South American missionary friends that Elder Bednar gave an instruction to the missionaries down there about how we have to stop praying for people who aren't at church to just "magically" appear the next week. We have to go to their houses and rescue them for goodness sakes! You have no idea how many people just need a friend and just need to know that someone knows them and loves them.
Have the best week ever! I love you all so much!!
Hermana Sorensen