Fences

Let's chat.

About Peoria.

And the many happenings here.

More specifically, about the many happenings in the Delgado home. It all began with Mardiselle Delgado. Mardiselle is an incredible woman in her mid to late thirties. She's had a wild life, with the climax being when her ex husband shot her in the head in 2012. She has two girls and four boys, ranging from ages 13-21. The fact of her survival helped her recognize Gods hand in her life, and lead her to repent and settle down.

She's been investigating the church on and off since 2014, when a couple of elders tracted into her. I believe missionaries in the past have dropped her (meaning stop teaching her) again and again because she never keeps the appointments she makes. But I figured her out. It's just the culture of the Delgados, to just come and go as the wind takes them. They live a life without planners, calendars, or alarms. They simply don't set appointments, so of course they don't keep them. They are, however, always eager to have the missionaries come back. So I've just decided to stop by once or twice a week, and share the missionary discussions as we go along.

I want to briefly cover the culture of their home once again. Family are constantly walking in and out, coming and going. Extended family, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents, etc. It's quite distracting and difficult to keep track of who's who. But once again I've just accepted it as the culture of the Delgados, and always have my notebook ready to jot down names haha.

Harvey is the grandfather. A few weeks ago, the first time Bradford met the Delgados, I had a personal chat with Harvey. He told us that we're always welcome to come, and although he's always working on something, he listens every time we share a message. I asked him if, the next time we come around, he could gather up everyone in the family who's interested. After that it was great. He'd pull kids out of rooms, turn off the television, and say something like 'Having God in your life won't hurt you' or 'heaven and hell is real, and it's not just random where you go. It's your decision.' I've never appreciated anyone as much as when Harvey sets the stage for us that way.

After Harvey started doing that for us, more and more Delgados join us for our discussions. The distractions are still very present, but I'm hoping we'll teach the entire family by the time I leave hehe. As of the last time we went, we taught 5 of them. Mostly we teach the children, because Harvey essentially makes them listen, but they're full of questions and quite interested in the Book of Mormon. Their names are Luisa, Precious, Julie, and Jayline.

Julie is a ridiculously sassy 9 year old. The first time we taught her, I showed her what sin and repentance means with an object lesson. mardiselle made an offhand remark about how her children are bastards, and Julie turned to her, open mouth and wide eyed and said 'these women came to talk to you about GOD. And you're... sinning! You're a sin!' Bradford couldn't stop herself from laughing, but mardiselle wasn't amused hahah.

I won't tell you about everyone in the home, but I just want to share a bit about Precious. She's mardiselles youngest daughter at age 13, and she's AMAZING. When things get out of hand, she'll whip around and say 'you are so disrespectful! They're trying to explain something to you and you won't listen! Listen to them!' And then she'll turn back to us and implore that we teach on. Seriously, every time we come she asks about baptism (why? how? who?) even though we haven't taught much about it.

So that's life in the Delgado home. I want to end the on and off cycle of mardiselles by helping her become a progressing investigator, but it's all up to her and her agency.

Pray on,

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

As part of my discussion last week for district meeting, I had everyone (10 missionaries) put a tally next to how they found someone they baptized. PMF refers to Part Member Family. BUT THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD GIVE MISSIONARIES REFERRALS.

Family of the week! The colebrooks! They gave us a giant watermelon last night, and we gave it to the elders in our district. When I told them about it they literally ran to our vehicle... I've never seen them so giddy. 

I didn't go to the temple this week, this was taken when the flowers could still grow. As Harvey says, 'a little God won't hurt you!'