Greeting for the last time from Rivera Uruguay
We worked HARD this last week. We found 13 new possible investigators, had 10 lessons with a member present and 7 other lessons and 50 contacts. We put up some pretty respectable numbers. Last night, at 10:35 our phone rang. I answered and it was our Zone Leader Elder Pope. There's an elder in Tranqueras and so he's getting sent to Monte Video. There's also a pretty fresh elder there, 3rd change which means he`'s just above me, who's had a rough first three changes and he needs a fresh start. The districts have been reorganized in this zone twice in the last change (three weeks. Hump day is this wednesday.) and so I'm going out to Tranqueras with elder Velazquez and my trainer, Elder Johnson, gets the new elder from Monte Video.
Elder Killpack and Elder McDaniel are changing with Elder Rivas and Elder Taylor, the latter of which goes home next change. So! The world went up in flames in the last 24 hours.
Last week when we were dealing with a lot of the fury of the storm, Elder Johnson was having a really hard time with it and so I offered to give him a blessing of comfort. He said yea, so we turned the lights on and I'm so thankful to my Lord above that I'm worthy to utilize the healing powers of heaven to bless those around me. That was a really good experience.
Elder Velazquez, was born in New York and grew up in Washington state, in Spokane. He converted 2 years ago when he was studying to become a preacher. He knows the bible back and front as well as the original 150 pokèmon.. :D He's in my zone and has been since I got here and so I've met him more than a couple times. I'm really excited to be able to work with him. He's very passionate about the work and has about 6 changes left. The Lord need me in Tranqueras and I'm excited to see what I can learn and do out there. It's got a reputation as a pretty rought area. Hopefully Elder Velazquez and I can do some serious work and see some results. The Lord knows that there is something that I can learn out there and that my progression in tres cruzes has come to an end. Time to move on.
We transfer tomorrow morning at 9:30 so it should be a pretty clean switch. This is not a negative special change, but rather an opportunity for Elder Johnson to help another elder out and for me to learn a lot more. All I know about my new area is that it's about a 30 to 40 minute bus ride away from town and we only come in 3 P-days out of the change. We come in every Tuesday for district meeting and there are cibers out there so i will still be able to email. Oh, also, I anointed for the first time in Spanish this last week. That was really cool.
To quote our Zone Leader, "Fists up and fears out. There's no room in the pit for a coward." I'm definitely in the pit and in active combat against very real forces of evil, but I fight with the power of the lord. I finished Alma and now I'm in like heleman 5. The Nephites always win when they put their trust in the Lord. 1 Peter 5:8, I memorized this one this week, "Be sober. Be Vigilant, Because your Adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Maybe I construe my daily occurrences as something far grander than they really are, but i like it, and i think it's an honest evaluation of the situation. These are real human souls that will have eternal consequences waiting depending on how they receive us.
By the way, I hit my 4 month mark yesterday. Nuts huh? We've got a big mission. I don't know if I've said this already, but there are 230 missionaries in this mission. I don't know how that compares to else where, but from what I've gathered that's pretty sizable.
So, it's HOT down here. I don't think my emails have done that justice. It's hot by 7:30 in the morning. Like sweating hot. We take cold showers morning and night so that we can sleep and start the day off right. I have a cowboy hat now to keep the sun off my face, because even though i use sunscreen, my nose is starting to burn. I use sun screen every day and so with the hat, i should be totally fine now. ;D
I found nutella in a free shop last week. I finished it in 2 days. I'm trying to start eating healthier now, because i'll get fat off of coke and nutella. I've pretty much stopped drinking soda the last two weeks, and i've been drinking about 2 litros of water every day. That reminds me of drinking DP or coke in the shower....Jeez those were the days. :)
I think as members we forget sometimes how different we really are. How happy we are. How clear this life is to us. There are a lot of very lost and confused people in this life. The gospel rectifies and answers all of our questions.
Spiritual thought of the week. We were teaching a lesson to a bunch of little kids, aged from 8 to 11 at a members house. We were talking about Alma's parable of the seed and elder Johnson asked how we grow our seed of faith. One of the responses really lept out at me and so I felt like i'd share it. The boy, Gabriel, simply said we accept the seed. I'd never thought about that. So often we talk about all the things we have to do to develop a testimony such as read and pray and meditate on what we read and apply it to our lives. That does not mean we should over look the first and just as important step of accepting the seed. It is offered but we have to take it in our hands and place it in our heart for it to grow. Then we can nourish and till about it and such sort. Christ talks of the planter who scatters seeds, and so if we combine both parables, the gospel is offered. Sometimes it falls on rocky soil or is scorched or eaten up, but sometimes, it falls on fertile soil, where there are eager hands there to plant it and take care of it. The gospel is a gift, and gifts can be refused. I see it every day. But it is also accepted. And it clicks with some people. You can see it in their eyes. They know that what we testify of is true. Their heart tells it to them, and the Holy Ghost tells them it's true as well. Remember, we have to accept the seed before we can nourish it. :)
By the way, when you're boxing, they tell you to keep your elbows tight and in. Lifes a battle, we gotta keep swinging.
Almost all the members are pretty well off and so the food we get isn't too sketchy. But. There are plenty of areas that are like that out here. I'm on Brasilian frontier right now. There are places in the interior that are super poor too, but don't even worry about it. I don't drink the water unless i use a filtered water bottle they gave us or unless i buy bottled water. Also, i was all my fruits and veggies with a tiny bit of bleach in the water and I pray extra hard over every meal. I'm on the Lord's errand. He will not let any harm befall his servants if we put all of our trust in him.
This is just the next step in my ascension to the heavens. Trivium has a line that goes, i will bring my insurrection, my war upon heaven. Well, i'm here to tell you, I will bring a chance for salvation, my war upon evil. I'm a preacher shakin dust off at you from my heel. Okay not really but that's a line from the showdown. But in reality, i'm out here doing what songs and stories are written about. I'm living through insanity. Take 45 minutes ago. We got 7 blocks away from a park when elder McDaniel realized he'd left his backpack with his camera in it. Needless to say i shoved my backpack at him and his companion and I took off. Elder McDaniel was wearing alpargatas and I trusted the hunch I had this morning and wore my running shoes. Thanks for the advice on the hunch thing again dad. We made it about 5 blocks back before we ran into another pair of Elders that for some reason had stayed behind and had Elder McDaniels backpack. God is watching out for us mindless 19 year olds. We're just smart enough to stay alive and just animated enough to do anything we can to bring the gospel to people. That's my theory on why god sends us out. He's watching me. And you as well.
Well, that's all I've got for now. I know it seems like a deluge of insanity, but i'm actually doing really well. I got a lot of my packing done this morning, and we'll finish up tonight after 9. After pday from 6 to 9 I'm gonna go say good bye to the members in our area. I've met some really really nice families out here so I'll take pictures. Don't worry :)
¡Chau!
Elder Andy
No comments:
Post a Comment