Sometimes They Just Dissappear!
The baptism didn't work out ...
Hi friends!
I won’t lie, it’s been really hard to decide on a name for this week. This week went kinda slow because so many notable things happened! This week was NOT EASY, but very WORTH IT.
There’s a ton of stuff I want to say this week, and I’ll try to keep it brief … but if you are lacking in time, my recommendation is to only read the spiritual thought. Nothing else is more important than learning about Christ.
Important things to mention about this week!:
-We had our monthly fast on Tuesday, in preparation for an important meeting on Wednesday.
-Because we’re still sick we asked the mission doctor for help.
-She prescribed us pills.
For those who don’t know, in my 19 years of life, I have never successfully swallowed a pill. When we were prescribed 3 pills to take, multiple times each day, I went straight to my knees for help.
-With much help and many prayers, I learned how to swallow pills!!!
-We visited the house of Kimberly Lopez - our upcoming baptism, but she wasn’t home.
STORY TIME!: We visited the house of Kimberly and her mom was home. Her mom told us that Kimberly wasn’t home and that she finally ‘escaped’ from the house. We asked what that meant and the mom replied that she ran away from home. We asked where she went and her mom replied that she was likely living with her boyfriend (so much for that Law of Chastity lesson). We then asked if she would come back again soon, and the mom replied with ‘probably’. We left.
-We came back the next day…this time with a member
-Kimberly still wasn’t home
-The mother was worried and sad
-Her mom passed out
STORY TIME AGAIN!!: So we visited the next day (Wednesday) and the mom was super sad. She started crying and sharing her worries about her daughter with us, and we couldn’t do anything besides listen to her. The member came to her side and started rubbing her back to comfort her, and she was just SO sad that her child disappeared. She mentioned how she was just trying to be a good mother, it wasn’t fair that her child ran away, basically her whole heart she was pouring out to us. After a while she quieted down, and started leaning in our direction. If you want to imagine better. From Right to Left there was sitting the member and the mother, then on another sofa, my comp and I. The mother started leaning towards us, basically into our laps, then she fell off the chair and laid passed out on the floor! I have never seen a person faint, nor an unconscious person before, so I wasn’t sure what to do, but my comp took several health classes before his mission and he knew what to do. We gave her a priesthood blessing and then let her family take care of her.
-Aside from that … interesting experience we:
-Met Elder Giuffra in a mission-wide conference!
He talked about our mission call and why we are here as missionaries. He highlighted the responsibilities we have: to be representatives of Jesus Christ and the Church, and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to “Invite all to come unto Christ, and help them to receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism by immersion, the reception of the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end.”
He also talked about how we could be more effective missionaries, and what we should do in our daily planning to best plan how to serve each day. The Gospel of Christ is a Gospel of Blessings, and if we work for them, we receive more than we deserve.
I sadly did not get a photo with Elder Giuffra, but I do recommend that you listen to his Oct 2021 general conference talk where he describes his conversion story (A Faithful Search Rewarded -
https://www.
-We listened to an amazing musical by many amazing missionaries (Elders: Porter, Snyder, Evanson, Jarvis, and one other I do not know)
-Took photos as a mission
-Socialized with my friends and got amazing news about the progress of the people in my previous area. They are amazing people and I love them so much.
-On other news:
-I learned my Love Languages (I’m bilingual with equal appreciation for Words of Affirmation and Acts of Service (with quality time closely following)
-I also learned the love language of my comp (I won’t say what it is though)
-Karen asked us to accompany her for Family Home Evening events where she presented this test to several other people we’ve been teaching. Having good family relationships are very important to her.
-We also had a Valentines day Activity (on March 1st) - Several investigators came to the activity
-I taught youth my favorite card game (I call it Egyptian Slap-Rat)
-We are nearly finished with the mural - it will be 100% complete next week
-We also met many new people who have shown interest in the gospel, I am especially enthustiastic for:
Justin Quiroz
A youth who has shown great interest in the church, even though his family attends a different church. He participated in sacrament meeting with us and is a great learner. I just want to teach him everything at once, but I have to space it out so he can learn.
Jenny Quiroz
The mother of Justin. She goes to another church, but has been going less often since her mother passed away. She has a few relatives who are members of the church, so she is okay with (and even encouraging) of her son investigating the church. I would like to teach her as well, because families are most greatly blessed when they go to church together.
So… a ton of stuff happened this week. This week has also been extremely hot, and next week even more so (100°F, and it’s not even peak summer yet - it may get to 114°F in April!). I’ve still not fully recovered from the cough I picked up a month ago, and I now have 8 months in the mish. Things are great! I’m having a ton of fun and I’m learning a ton. I hope that things will only get better from here (hope I’m not jinxing things)
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
This morning I read a bunch of weekly email reports and I saw a ton of missionaries reporting on the difficulties of their areas. It really struck me how life is difficult, I’m always fretting over the state of the people I teach, because life sometimes is just a bunch of trials all at once. Right now, I’m feeling enthusiastic and happy about what happened this week, but who knows what will happen next week! Maybe I’ll fall deathly ill, or my companion will, or some other crazy event can happen (like an out-of-control motorcycle accident). This morning as I was pondering over that, I felt prompted to start listening to some general conference talks. As I did I found two amazing talks that are very encouraging for me as a missionary. Those two talks are:
One Man Can Make a Difference
https://speeches.byu.edu/
One Convert at a Time
https://speeches.byu.edu/
I especially love the second talk because it really highlights how missionary work is not our work. Converting people is really the easiest thing to do because we don’t do anything. We just bring the Holy Ghost and He teaches the rest. Because that is God’s work, he actively participates in it, and He will bring in His sheep. It makes me think of stories I’ve heard of missionaries setting goals to smile more, and just smiling more lead to a conversion. Our responsibilities as missionaries and members are not to convert people, but to “... keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength.” (D&C 11:20 - https://www.
https://www.
Thank you so much for your time and your love and support. I love you all so much and look forward to talking again!
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