Dear Family and Friends,
I have got a lot to say this week and I hope I can say it all if you know what I mean! Anyway, first things first! I cut the comb over! I know it’s sad to say, because it was looking pretty sweet, but that just ain’t me, so I cut my hair really short again and that’s what I like. On Monday for our Zone activity we went bowling, and that was fun for about 10 minutes. I’m just not a fan of bowling; it’s probably because I’m the worst at it. But it’s all good, I’m just glad that my life and my future doesn’t depend on if I’m good at bowling or not!
I bought the Lord of the Rings soundtrack from the third movie since it is approved in our mission. It’s pretty sweet but I still want to get the 1st and 2nd soundtracks from the Lord of the Rings for Christmas. I tried finding them here on P-day but they don’t sell them, I think I might ask Heather for them for Christmas but if you guys want to get them for me that would be tight too. They are the sound tracks for the movies the Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers. Other than that I have everything I want or need. Heather sent me a package the other day that had the coolest stuff ever in it. It had this thing called a squirmel and it looks like a real animal but it’s not. I showed the little kids in the Rama the Squirmel and they love it! We named him Chico.
So I was on an exchange with my boy Elder Rangel from the other area the other day and I learned so much! I learned when you’re teaching people you have to put the ball in their court. As missionaries we are like guides, but it is up to the investigator to do the work to find out if our message is true. We give them the things they need to find out if it’s true, they just need to act! He also told me that we are looking for the elect. We can try to talk people into listening to our message, but unless they want to hear it and find out for themselves, there’s not much we can do. It’s like looking for a blue ball in a pit of red balls. Sure you can get a red ball and paint it blue, but it’s not the same and it will take longer and two years when you think about it really isn't that long.
O yeah, while I was on the exchange with Elder Rangel, he almost got hit by a car while riding bikes and it was crazy. It was an old lady driving and she didn’t see him. But she pressed on the brakes like 4 seconds before taking him out and was about 1 inch away from nailing him. I think that was a miracle for the old ladies reaction time because we all know that an old lady like that doesn’t have that fastest of reflexes! So that was a pretty sweet miracle I saw! I know that God does have Angels watching out for his servants. I learned a lot from the exchange with Elder Rangel and ever since my companion and I have been putting the ball in everyone’s court.
It snowed here a couple days ago and it was so cold. We aren’t permitted to ride bikes or drive the car when it snows so we had to walk. We walked forever that day but it was pretty fun because you can contact pretty much anyone you see. While we were walking on the street we met this guy from the Marshall Islands and shared the gospel message with him. He showed us where he was living and he was living with about 10 others from the Islands all in different apartments. We gave them to the English missionaries because they don’t speak Spanish. Well apparently some of them were Mormons that hadn’t found the church and where it was located because they just recently moved here. Well now they have found it and now some of their family members are getting baptized! Chyeah!
It’s pretty sweet to say but I can tell you that I feel I have been guided by the spirit so much this week. It’s not like a voice telling me to do something, it’s just like a thought that pops into my head and then I act upon it. I’ll give you these two examples and hopefully you can understand them! One day my companion and I were going to see some investigators Guadalupe and Laureano. Well they weren’t home and then we were like alright what’s plan B? Then I remembered a husband and wife named Orasto y Blanca that we met out on the streets near some apartments a couple weeks ago. I thought it would be a good idea to go visit them but we didn’t know exactly where they lived. I was like let’s just go knocking over there, and when we did Blanca answered the Door like 5 seconds later. In my head, I was like o snap! Anyway we taught them according to what we felt they needed to hear and Guadalupe said the closing prayer to the lesson. The spirit was really powerful so we extended un compromiso bautismal suave (a smooth baptismal challenge). I will let you know what happens with them later but I thought it was pretty sweet that just an idea in my head could turn into that. Since I don’t believe in coincidence anymore I’m pretty sure it happened for a reason.
Another sweet experience happened the other day as well with thoughts and promptings from the Spirit. Elder Hansen and I were driving along going to see an investigator, then I thought, yo man, let’s go see Julie (an investigator we have). He was like alright, since he’s always down to do something we feel prompted to do. Anyway, we knocked on her door and asked her how she was doing and everything. She told us that her sister was coming down from Washington to see her later that day and that she just joined the church a year ago. I was like that’s tight, can we stop buy later today and teach you a lesson with your sister here. She said that would be cool and we came back later to teach her. We brought Mario with us (our ward mission leader who went to high school with her back in the day). Anyway, the lesson went really well and she came to church yesterday with her sister. She said she really liked it and we have an appointment with her Tuesday so I’ll let you know how that goes. I just think that’s awesome how when you are trying to live your life in accordance with how the Lord wants you He blesses you with the promptings of the Holy Ghost! Chyeah!
It’s funny to think about it like this G, because you usually think that the really quiet, calm, never laughing missionaries that only think about the scriptures 24/7 would receive promptings because that’s what people think about when they think about the A grade missionaries. But I haven’t really changed who I am and I feel like I am being blessed every day too. I never lose sight of what my purpose is here and what I need to do, but I am having a great time while doing it. You always hear about those missionaries who can’t have fun because they feel like they can’t say what’s on their minds or be themselves. I am so grateful that I can be myself and that Heavenly Father still loves me enough to guide me with the Spirit.
THANKSGIVING WAS SO TIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know where to begin with Thanksgiving man except to say that it was awesome. We were treated like rock stars by the members in the Rama. But let me explain to you why. So we decided to make cookies for the members in the Branch that have helped us so much in our missionary efforts. So we have about 90 members in the Rama so we had to make a sufficient amount for all of them. So we made about 260 cookies for the members in the Rama and plastic wrapped them and left them little notes with the cookies. Then we went and had thanksgiving dinner with the Rivera's and it was so good. Then we went back to our place to get the cookies and then drove around to the member’s houses to give them out to them. Anyway, we would always just go to give them the cookies and try to leave because we had so many to deliver but the families would always invite us in and it felt like they were chanting for us as we entered into their homes ha-ha. It was pretty sweet because it was a feeling I haven’t experienced here yet. Each house that we entered we were greeted by high fives and handshakes and given food ha-ha. One house we entered was fairly small but packed with about 30 family members that were so nice. Anyway, Thanksgiving was tight and it was a good experience I will always remember.
That’s pretty much this week, it was a great week and I’m ready for the next one.
Peace out G
