Friday, March 26, 2010

Writer's Block

(I actually wrote this poem last summer, forgot about it, and rediscovered it on my computer today.  I think it sums up the end of a semester pretty well.)


My brain is fried
My thoughts are limp
Like noodles overcooked
and left to drip into the drain

I cannot sit another hour
My thoughts will not behave
they wriggle and wiggle and
slither right off of the page

I will never get finished
I’ll stay here forever
My eyes will cloud over
My rear will harden

I’ll be stuck in a chair
Full of despair
And everyone walking by
Simply will stare

At the statue before them
A struggling girl
Stuck with her brain
in a never-ending whirl

Oh the cramps!
The misery!
The endless agony
The . . .

I’ve got it!
An idea for my paper!
Here goes!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Nursery Rap

I had help from my FHE sisters both in composing and performing this one

Yo! Didizzle, didizzle,
Da alley cat be jammin' on da fidizzle.
Da heifer she jumpin' so high, so high,
She jump right over da moon, da sky!
Snoop dog be laughin', say "gimme a what what"
He laughin' so hard he almost bust a gut.
Da dish be pickin' up what da spoon be layin' down,
So peace out wi' dis nursery rap P-town!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Don't Worry About Me!

It was a good and fast week. A little bit crazy, but generally good.

As you can tell from my emails, Silvano Contreras is always on our minds and we´ve been focusing on him for months now. He was progressing quite a bit and even had a baptisimal date with Sofia for March 20, but even with everything we try he´s still having a hard time giving up his alcohol, and every time his family and we lose a little bit of our faith. One day this week during companionship study, after I shared what I had studied, and how I had thought of Silvano, Hermana Figueroa asked if I had studied for our other investigators. Ashamed, I said no, and neither had she. We repented and are trying to focus on all, because we don´t know what will happen, it´s in the Lord´s hands.

However, we´ve been happy to see the progress in a sweet 30 year old that we´re teaching named Tania. She has a 10 year old son Alberto and lives with her parents Juan and Olga Zamora. Juan believes in Evolution and doesn´t believe in God, and Olga has Christian views. We have befriended them and invited them to activities etc, and have faith that someday and hopefully soon they will come. Anyway, Tania is very receptive and I enjoy teaching her. We practice English sometimes and she has tried to ... what is the word?... convince us to marry one of her three brothers who live in the States someday. Funny story, this week we were eating dinner with them and Olga asked us how many children we wanted to have someday. Hna. Figueroa said 6 and I said 5. She expressed her disappointment... she only wants 3 grandchildren. So I suppose we are saved from the betrothal (that´s the word I wanted!)

This week we were inviting some young men, James, Edward, Omar, Carlos, to an activity we had (we watched the movie The Testaments in the court outside the church) and suddenly we saw a moving lump in Omar´s shirt. Out came a big white rat and Hermana Figueroa screamed ¨Raton!¨ and ran from the room. It´s an adventure to be serving with her and in this crazy but wonderful place. = )

It´s fun to teach Hermana Figueroa english. We have postit notes on all the devices around the apartment with English and Spanish words, and we work on basic phrases together. Who would´ve thought the word ¨dance¨ would be so hard to pronounce? I´m hoping to have the opportunity to teach an English class in my mission, perhaps in my next area (Pres. Merren, our Branch Pres. is hesitant with the idea because he wants the class to be weekly and if I get transferred and another North American doesn´t replace me, the enthusiasm will fall rapidly). But it´s good to get some practice in teaching now, as I help my companion. And she is always teaching me new words and patiently helping me with Spanish all day, every day.

I realize that last week I wrote that she wasn´t super obedient and that frustrated me. But really, I need to just be better at communicating my wishes and the reasons for them, because for her it wasn´t a big deal to miss a week in writing her family but for me it was. I could´ve suggested that we left to go to the internet cafe earlier. I´m happy to have the opportunity to learn how to work in a spirit of unity with others and bring the good news of the gospel to all in Honduras. I´ve already experienced some changes and I hope the Lord will continue to help me change to become who He would have me be.

This week I read from the Liahona a devotional address from Jeffrey R. Holland, ¨ The best is yet to be¨. It seemed to be directed right at me, because sometimes I have worry when it´s unnecessary or live in the past. I´m grateful that the Lord answers prayers and truly speaks to us personally. I know He knows and loves each of those that I´m teaching, each missionary, and each and every one of you. Thank you for your constant support and for loving and caring about me.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox, Hermana Francis

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Blinking Together

The difference between a wink
and a blink
is a matter of arithmetic:
a single blink is a double wink,
or rather,
one wink is only half the other.

One eye alone can't blink, you see
but longs to.
So it winks away its halfway blinks
until eventually it spies
another eye
that winks back, and two become one.