En Memoria

Abraham passed away last Wednesday, after fighting for so long. On Tuesday, we were on exchanges, and we went to visit the Ramirez family, and I walked in and it was quiet. They had told me earlier that Abraham and his mom had gone to the hospital, so I asked them how he was. And the oldest son, Jorge, who's 13, tells me, "Abraham's dying." .. . ......... And I think I saw it coming. But we listened to Hno. Ramirez for a little bit and had a prayer with them, then we went on to the hospital to go see them. So it's me, an English-speaking missionary who just barely got switched to speak Spanish, so she doesn't know much, and the Elders, who have been struggling with Spanish. So I'm talking to Hna. Ramirez, and she's telling me how the tumors in Abraham's brain are just inflaming and inflaming his head, so much that it forces his eyes shut, and he's been unconscious and wasn't going to wake up. That they were pretty much just waiting for him to take his last breath. I was the only one who could understand what she was saying.. only cuz I was trying to put together the medical words with what I know from Mom hah :) so I start crying. But I had to gather myself and let everyone know what was going on. Sooo. We just sat in silence for a good while with Hermana Ramirez, because at 22 years old, I don't really know what to say to try and make someone feel better. Then we all knelt down around Abraham's hospital bed and had a prayer. Sooo that was Tuesday night! Wednesday he died. And Friday we had the funeral for him. So the branch, this AMAZING branch, was absolutely incredible putting everything together so fast. Oh! Something else! The Ramirez family asked that I speak at his funeral. So not only do I have no idea what I'm going to say, my very first talk as a Spanish missionary-other than bearing my testimony on fast Sundays-is at a funeral. Who EVER. would have thought hahah. But anyway. Everything's really okay now! Death is such a hard thing to go through. It is such a hard thing for me to accept. The fact that you won't hear one's voice again for a little while, the fact that you can't just go over and see their face. But everything beyond is so much more. There is so much more hope that we can have, because WE KNOW where these people are. WE KNOW they have a chance to be happy, and we have a chance to see them again. We know that Heavenly Father is paving the way for something so much more amazing for us than how great our pain is.

  Abraham had a hard life, especially a hard past couple of years, fighting and fighting brain cancer. But at the funeral, his Mom went up and spoke (Hermana Ramirez), and she said something that I will never EVER forget. She said, "I would do it all again." All the pain she had to go through, all of the heartache seeing her son go through every painful surgery and treatment, everything. She would do it all again. And that's how I want to be when I get older. Instead of saying, "Man. I wouldn't ever go through THAT trial again." hah I want to be able to take every single thing I have learned from my trials, and be eager to learn more. Or to love more. Because I always notice that I am wayyy more sensitive and have wayyy more love when I am going through something tough.

  Cambiando el tema! There is this investigator we have, Salvador. And we went on Saturday to visit him. He wasn't home, but there were 3 people sitting outside his house drinking. We went up to one of them who we knew and were talking to him for a little while.. while the woman and the man who were sitting down were just sitting there. full on MEAN MUGGING us, just glaring hah. When all of a sudden, the woman THROWS down and completely shatters her bottle of beer and gets up with the man and they start fighting in Spanish.. and she's trying to hit him over and over. This man who's twice the size of her. Then she goes over to us and is yelling, 'QUE??! VETE!' as in.. 'what?? GO!' hah. Soooo we left ! Haha what goes ON in this town I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND IT. But anyway. That was prooobably the funniest thing that has happened this week. Everything else is pretty much the same.

  I wanna let ya'll know that I love you! I'm praying for you, especially for Charlie, Sylus, and Tyler's families. You will be in every single on of my prayers, and the prayers of everyone around you and me :) I'm sorry this is such a sad week. Trust me, I'm feeling it here in NM. But we always have a reason to smile, no matter how hard it gets. And Heavenly Father is with us..carrying us every single step of the way. I love you :)

La Iglesia es verdadera....

La Hermana B.

PSALMS 116:8