Electrified Refrigerador
To be honest, I could name this email many things.
Teaching the Drunkard Gang would be a cool name…
Welcome to Mickey D’s is also funny…
I lost a fight to a gang of chickens…
Electrified Refrigerator…
The worst Baleadas I have ever eaten…
Yeah, a lot of stuff happened this week!
Hi friends!
I hope you are all doing well and are finding happiness every day! I’m always on a quest to be happy and to trust in God, and during interviews this week Sis. McClellan invited me to take time to recognize the Holy Ghost in my life - I invite you all to do the same!
Whew, a lot of stuff happened this week, let me share a few things.
On Saturday we decided to invite everyone we could to church, so we went over to Maximiliano to check to see if he would go. As we approached his house we found him chatting to two people. We joined the conversation and invited them to church and they said that they would go, then one of them (Jose) asked us a question about the church, and another (Juan) responded because the missionaries had taught him a few years before, then we continued explaining the gospel to them when one of the local drunks (Mario) joined in. Juan suddenly mentions that he’s also one of the local drunkards and that Mario is his pal, and then another one shows up! Suddenly we had 5 people, half of them being the local drunkards all chatting about the church. They told us that they wanted to go to church so we invited them and told them the time.
Sadly, none of them showed up to church, but it’s the thought that counts.
Speaking of church, we invited SO MANY PEOPLE to go to church, from strangers on the street, to the Uber driver, to our friends, and only 1 person shows up (and that person always comes to church on account of her grandmother being a member). It was sucky to be waiting for them, but not having anyone come.
Let’s move on to another story: We were eating lunch with the pensionista when we wrap up, I started leaning on the refrigerator while chatting with Brianna (the great-grandchild of the pensionista). I was holding a pen and she wanted it to write something so she reached out to grab it, but suddenly jumped back saying that I shocked her. Now I need to note that the pensionista claims that the refrigerator is electrified and will frequently freak out when it shocks them, but for some reason it has never shocked the missionaries. Because I’ve never been shocked by it, I’ve been a little disbelieving that the refrigerator is actually electrified. I told Brianna to try again and she reached out again, only to pull back again saying I shocked her. That time I only kinda felt it (like when you touch an electrified balloon and you feel a small shock). I stopped leaning on the refrigerator and Elder Randall decided to go and put his hand on the refrigerator to see if it was electrified. Nothing. Briana is whimpering because the shock startled her and she’s standing right next to Elder Randall, and I’m behind and in between them.
I see the space between them and realize that it’s only a fingers space between the two, so I decide to bridge the gab and connect the two with my pointer and middle finger. I touch Elder Randall, and nothing. But when I bridge the gap and touch the shoulder of Brianna, it shocked us SO HARD. We all go jumping back, Brianna starts crying, and the pensionista, gives a good ‘ol belly laugh, and Junior starts teasing Brianna because she’s crying. I won’t lie, I felt bad because I didn’t believe it would actually shock us. From that experience, Brianna would touch me until the evening when she gave me a pound-it.
Things I learned from that experience, is that we should forgive like Brianna always forgives. And I also learned that Honduras are super electrified. (It literally only shocks them, and it only shocked us when they were connected in the loop)
God decided to punish me for my goofiness by giving me a cold during the week that absolutely wiped me out, and I slipped and fell while chasing some chickens (but I won’t admit it) and absolutely scraped up my knee. But I’m still walking so all’s good. Check out my Google Photos to see the vid (https://photos.app.goo.gl/
We had some super spiritual experiences with District Council (I was asked to give the training and it all went well (I talked about the Book of Mormon)), Interviews, and Stake Conference. One big takeaway I have from this week is that we need to spend more time paying attention to the Holy Ghost. This came up during several lessons I had and Sister McClelllan asked me the important question of whether I was feeling the Holy Ghost. It was a question that caught me off guard, I mean, I think I feel the Holy Ghost, I mean, I’m pretty sure that I’ve felt it, I mean, I have a testimony, so I must’ve felt it. But she invited me to take more time to just stop and acknowledge when the Holy Ghost is present. That left me with the question of: How do I feel the Holy Ghost? And as we were teaching a kid about prayer the answer came up, as we shared a short video that talked about personal revelation, and Elder Randall followed it up with a scripture from Galations 5:
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law”
If we’re feeling these feelings, then we can be certain that we are feeling the presence of the Holy Ghost, and we should take a moment to acknowledge it and thank God for being with us. There is such a big difference between feeling the Holy Ghost and not feeling it, and occasionally as missionaries we can see the contrast as we encounter difficult experiences while proselyting. Life is so much better with the Holy Ghost, so we gotta look for it always.
During those special moments during interviews and stake conference, I was able to feel peace, and I know that the Spirit was there. There’s so much that I’ve learned, but I don’t know if anything is more important than looking for the Holy Ghost, so I’m going to try to do that better.
On terms of progress in this area, it’s slow going. We’re meeting a lot of new people, but most either aren't showing interest or aren’t progressing. Its hard and frustrating, but I believe in miracles, and will keep trying to improve each day and pray for guidance in how we can help every find God every day.
Guys, please enjoy your summer. I have to shout out my dad for his wisdom and support that he gives me. I love him so much. I also need to shout out my uncle Connor who got married last Saturday. Congrats!!
I love you all so much, please keep doing well, no matter where you are. And remember that God loves you and will always help you. Go to Him in prayer and scripture study, and you will not go amis.
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