We met lots of weird people this week--like, not in a bad way or anything--I just felt like I stepped into the Twilight Zone. But Hey, we saw 5 monkeys and 2 crocodiles!! It was funny--when we saw the monkeys we got super excited and this guy that was walking down the road laughed at how shocked we were. We also saw some maggots but we don't need to talk about that.
There are lots of stories I could tell about this week but I think I'll just tell ONE so I don't fluster myself. It was the most crazy thing.
So, we were in the last 3 minutes of Proselyting (we call it cosechas and there's a little more to it, but for the sake of simiplicity we were just proselyting) and we get to this house and yell "Buenas" like we always do and then after a few seconds we hear this voice from the house say "I'll be right there" or something but it was in ENGLISH so my companion and I just gave each other a LOOK because it's RARE that we hear English outside of other gringo missionaries or like Jamaican cab drivers. So anyways, he comes out of his house and we come to find out that he, Michael, was born in Costa Rica but his mom died in childbirth so then he was adopted by 2 Americans that were living in Panama and he's lived here ever since. But he was teaching English back in the 90's and was somehow involved in an explosion/accident/something that put him into a coma for 9 months! and right before he woke up from the coma he heard a clear voice that said "Be at Peace." So anyways because of that explosion he has brain damage that affects his speech (he has a stutter) and his memory and he says some days he'll wake up and only remember how to speak Spanish and other days he'll only be able to speak English (and on those days he just stays in his house because nobody can understand him in English). And we just happened to catch him on an English day! Even more crazy than that, he kept thinking that he'd met me before--just mentioning that my face and voice were familiar to him even though we've never been on that street or talked to him before. So anyways YEAH. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation (which we had "coincidentally" practiced that morning in English by the way) and he said it was absolutely beautiful and he wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom. Then we invited him to be baptized and he said "Yes!" without even hesitating! So yeah, that happened. We're going back to visit with him and I have fears that because of his bad memory he'll just forget that we visited somehow, I don't know. Anyways, I'll keep you all updated on how it ends up but it was super cool.
At church on Sunday, I bore my testimony in Spanish, which is a big personal triumph for me. I thought I did pretty well, but then a kind sister came up to me and said she'd be happy to help me with my Spanish. I know she meant well, but I was deflated and embarrassed. Then in Relief Society (women's meeting), the teacher referred to my testimony as a great example of her lesson. I am so grateful for that tender mercy.
Other than that, I don't know. We went on half-day splits with the sister missionary version of the AP's (assistants to the president). It was good I guess. Everything felt like a sneaky test. Oh also I went to migrations (immigration office) again early, early this morning and now I have my 6-months visa! Yay! I only have to go back one more time and then I'll be good to go for the rest of my mission. OK I think I'll end my letter here because I'm on a very bumpy bus and it's very difficult to write.
I hope you all had a great Easter! 😃 Stay safe out there and remember...
God Loves You...and is mindful of you.
😊😊😊
Hermana Tolman
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| Monkeys!! |
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| Can you spot the croc?? |
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| Another camouflaged croc |
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| "Big Only God" |
Video of the Monkeys we saw!!
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