This blog (while created mainly for a class at BYU) is meant for Kate Allen and her future siblings. Here I plan to write about stories that happened to me while on my mission in Peru/Bolivia that I would like to not only remember but share with my posterity. So here goes!
The past few days I've been thinking about PabloFernandez. He lived in Villamontes, Bolivia and was deaf and mute. I remember my very first time teaching him about the church. He couldn't read books, couldn't read lips, and only communicated through sounds his family recognized which had certain meanings and through a Spanish form of charades! So naturally a brand new Bolivian elder and a white guy from the United States were about to have an interesting time teaching this man. I grew up with a down syndrome brother that has a severe speech impediment so I at least was somewhat prepared to teach using charades, but to do charades in Spanish was a whole other ball game! Every lesson involved a lot of pictures and acting out. Even though this was difficult I still felt like my companion and I were able to help Pablo understand our message. An important lesson we taught to Pablo involved the code of health we refer to as the Word of Wisdom which specifically details that as members of the Church we do not drink coffee, alcohol, or use drugs; the three of which Pablo had problems with! We did our best to teach him that he shouldn't use cocaine or drink coffee or alcohol. We felt like he understood the importance of why this was important to become a member of the church. The next day while my companion and I were walking by the local community college we ran into Pablo's two nieces. I had been wondering how well Pablo understood our message from the night before and asked his nieces what they thought. They told me that after we had taught Pablo the word of wisdom and left his shack he went to his truck he slept in, grabbed his cocaine, alcohol, and coffee and through it in the river. Not only did he understand our game of charades, but he understood our message and applied what he learned. He became the watch guard at his families house making sure all inappropriate substances were tossed out! A little while later he was baptized. He will always be one of the most memorable people I have met in my life.