It feels so good to have a lot to tell you! I've been getting a little bit sick of all the snow cancelling our events!
So just to start off with a random note, the Vails are leaving in a week!!!! :( Elder and Sister Vail are the awesome senior couple we work with in the office. They're the ones who have saved our lives many-a-time with navigation and rides and food. . . So we decided to do something for them. Sister Couto is a genius chef. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that. It's wonderful. So she made an amazing, authentic Brazilian dinner for the Vails, and we brought it over and ate with them as part of our goodbye. Picture attached.
Our project for the week was tedious to say the least. . . but also rather fun. :D Sister Couto added all of the Chinese subtitles in for 6 videos we use as part of the Portable Visitors' Center. I figured out how an app works and created a Chinese exhibit within the app with all of said translated videos uploaded and running. It's pretty complicated. Don't ask me how we figured all of this out. I'm just grateful the Lord knows how to manage the configurations of an app, because I certainly don't.
We got transfer texts this week!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it's already been 6 weeks since I started in on the PVC???? Aaaand I have news. :) My streak is officially broken. I don't have a new companion. After 11 months on my mission, I'm getting some consistency. Sister Couto and I are staying on the PVC together. :) :) :) :)
Okay, are you ready for the events of the weekend??? Because I have so many amazing stories! Friday we took a mini road-trip to prep for the big events on Saturday and set a bunch of things up. We were so ready to hit the road again on Saturday. We headed to Revere, MA for a baptism. OPPOSITION HIT. Satan did NOT want us to be there. Okay, so we were using ALL of our displays for the weekend, including our 2 back-up TVs and cords. Most of our displays were already in Cambridge, set up and ready to go. We only took what we needed to Revere. Or so we thought. Problem was, we brought the back-up TV to Revere, and the back-up TV box didn't have a lot of what we needed.
First of all, we forgot the adapter that connects the iPad to the TV. SNAP. iPad out. Sister Couto was genius though, and we just used the HDMI cord to connect our laptop to the TV and just played the videos from the laptop behind the scenes instead of with the interactive iPad stand. (Sorry, this might be complicated, but I don't know how to say it more simply. Lots of words.) Then, just when we were starting to breathe again, we realized we didn't have our Allen wrench. That, too, was in Cambridge with the rest of our stuff. And super critical, because we need the wrench to set up the heavy-duty stand that holds the TV up perfectly for the display. Haha. Yeah. We stripped a couple of screws trying to get them out with knives, keys, you name it. A pair of scissors and a bleeding hand later, the stand was set up. Then we realized we didn't have ANY of our extension cords. Eventually we connected three of our power strips so the cord would be long enough to reach the outlet. Talk about resourceful. . .
We were all ready to go, proud of how we made things work. The baptism was beautiful, the spirit was felt, we pressed play on the laptop behind the scenes while Julieth was getting changed. . . and the screen zoomed in way too far, so you couldn't read a single phrase in the fabulous Because of Him video. AHHHH! It was so sad!!! I was going crazy! :( It was really awkward, too, because it was so obviously wrong that everyone was only watching it to be polite. Sheesh! Oh well. . . the other videos didn't have words on the screen, so they were better, if still a little intimidating for size. And we never know who those videos might have touched. There was a non-member front and center, and there had to be SOME reason why we had such intense opposition.
When the baptism was over, we headed to the most anticipated event of the week: the Chinese New Year party! That's why we had worked so hard on the app this week. :) We have a small Chinese group in Cambridge, MA, but they worked hard and invited the whole Chinese community in New England to come to their party. It. Was. Fabulous. There had to be 200+ people there, tons of food and activities, a Chinese "line-dance" performance, and so many non-members. We were ready for such an incredible event with the entire Portable Visitors' Center set up through the building. It was so effective!!!!! People were wandering all over, watching the videos and flipping through the copies of the Book of Mormon and asking questions! The Chinese Elders (there are six of them total in the mission, and all of them were there that night) were so pumped and on fire! Elder Chen and Elder Anderson started taking people through on full-blown church tours, complete with every Chinese video we had and answering tons of questions and getting contact information and inviting them to church. One group had sixteen people, mostly non-members. It was amazing to witness. It makes everything we do so worth it. I almost started crying when they were testifying about the Temple and the Spirit was so strong. . . of course, I didn't understand any of it. It was all in Chinese. But these people were captivated. It was a break-through!!!!
We finished out the weekend strong with another couple of Portuguese baptisms in Brockton. I love seeing the PVC have such a positive impact on people. This is truly so inspired. I can't wait to see what this next transfer will bring!
Thank you for your love and support! Missing you, but LOVING the mission!!!!
Love,
Sister Merkley
MBM PVC Missionary
0 comments:
Post a Comment