Hi All,
In honesty, it's just been a tough week for me. I am not dis-animated in any way, I've just been struggling a lot lately with who I am as a missionary. But that's okay. It's that kind of inner reflection that just pushes us to greater heights. It's what makes it so that we aren't pleased with being mediocre, but rather seeking excellence. Anyways, I'm in one piece, I'm still fighting tooth and nail and for the vast majority of the time, I've had a smile on my face.
Funny story of the week....Monday night we had a BRUTAL storm come
screaming in at about 9 pm and our power went out at 9:30. I have my flash
light and the cell phone has a little flash light so my comp was using
that.
WELLLLLLL....he went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and I
was finishing something and I hear clunk clunk.
E'Mar: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
E'Simpson: Que paso??? (What happened?)
E'Mar: Venga rapido!! (Come quick)
I get to the bathroom...no light....uh-oh. CELLPHONE IN THE TOILET YEA SON!
E'Simpson:.....
agarre lo elder. Ahora. Tenemos que desarmarlo y ponerlo en una bolsa
de arroz. Ademas....es su pichi y yo no quiero meter mi mano ahi. Que
asco. (Oh elder. We need to get it and put it in a back of rice. More over, its your pee, so I don't want to put my hand it there. That sucks)
Yea so we put it in a bag of rice and by Tuesday night it was
fine...just slightly traumatized. The screen is wack and it likes to
turn off by itself now and then, but it still works so it's all good. I
just laughed the whole time. My comp was pretty stressed but I just
couldn't stop laughing. .
Zone Conference was a blast. It was really good to see the elders from Rivera. My
MTC comp Elder Tyree is in Tranqueras finishing up the training of his
jr companion. It was really good to see them both and talk about the
area. It's a good area. Tranqueras and Cardona have been my favorite
areas so far. It's interesting because you'd think I'd healthy wards but
I prefer hellish doubt-filled firey pits. Go figure. The zone
conference was our meeting before Christmas and I loved the Christmas
letters. I loved Jessica's peanut themed card and Jakes tribute to
childhood. They both made me very trunky, but I love them anyways. The
snow monster consuming Calvin is currently pinned to the wall in front
of my desk. Win.
The investigator pool is shallow, but we're still digging. And the
hillssssssss are getting easier. Which means my legs are getting bigger.
I hope by the end of my time here that they still fit into my pants. I wish it were just a little bit cooler here. To put it this way, I'm tired of sweating. But it's alright. I know that it will only get hotter and that time is absolutely flying here. I can't believe that I've already been here for a month. 2 more weeks and the change is over. That's just nuts.
Teaching by the Spirit is the only way to teach. It's something that we stress a lot out here. You know and recognize the voice of the Spirit, all you have to do is open your mouth when it comes to your mind. That part is a little difficult at first and usually one has to humble themselves to do it, but it always goes so much better when we speak by the Spirit, sharing the things of our hearts. It can be the difference between an okay lesson and a sacred grove experience.
I'd like to share quote from our bishop, something that he shared about 2 weeks ago in sacrament meeting. "The greatest things that happen in this life are the spiritual things. They are gifts from God."
I agree. I couldn't agree more. The greatest things that happen in this life are the ones where we feel the presence of our home around us, remembering what it feels like to be in the presence of our heavenly parents. The birth of a child, often lauded to be one of the most amazing things on this world. is really the arrival of another of God's precious spirit children, arriving for this mortal sojurn. Of course one is going to feel the spirit at that point, I'm sure there are big beefy angels with gnarly spiritual swords that protect the ethereal conduit that conducts from heaven to a small human body. Anyways, thought that illustrated the point nicely.
I will honestly submit that I think I'm the most dedicated now to the work of the Lord that I ever have been. Regardless, I'm still striving to feel the spirit in greater and greater measures and I struggle at times. This is the work of the Lord. It just has to be. I've received answered to prayers so fast that it's utterly stunning. Take yesterday for example....We got of ward council where some remarks were made about the fact that we weren't baptizing. Those words cut me to the soul. As we were walking to our next appointment, at first I was mad at the inconsiderate remark. Then, the anger turned to grief at the fact that they're right. But then....I just started to look inside....and question....and ask....and wonder....and doubt....(Yes, I doubted, even Frodo Baggins doubted. The difference between Frodo and Gollum is that Frodo made it through the trial (with the very important help of Samwise Gamgee)) and within an hour we were teaching the Restoration, centered on the happiness of families and God quelled the fear of my soul. I know I'm doing what's right. The spirit filled my heart in that lesson and I know it's true. All of it. I'm not wasting my time, but learning at the feet of God. I love being a missionary. And so at the very edge, the point of tumbling into boiling lava, The Savior extended His hand...and eyes shining with tears and realization, once more I took it and He hoisted me to safety, out of the dangerous mouth of Mt. Doubt. H,ave a stupendous week.
Elder Simpson
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Tacuarembó Uruguay - Dec 10th 2012
Hi All,
Things are warming up around here. I'm happy, a bit tired and a little bit sore from the ultimate frisbee that we played this morning. I'll explain that a little further on.
It's been a long hard week. We're still really looking hard for the chosen that are waiting to hear the gospel we're not finding too many people that are wanting to progress. I actually told Elder Mar on Friday that I feel bad that everything seems to have dried up in the area since I got here. Trial of faith right? Anyways, we just keep chugging on and on and on.
We're using the bikes some days, and some days we're not, because it's getting so hot already that we're showing up to lessons almost literally soaked in sweat and that's just not too presentable. We work up less of a sweat by foot, I have my cowboy hat still, the only down side is, we take a little bit longer to get to our lessons instead of zipping around on our bikes. Really the biggest reason it's so hard for us is beacuse the entire area is situated on a set of decent sized hills and so we just have to plug up and down hill after hill and at like 1 and 2 in the afternoon it's just miserable. Let me tell you a little about Elder Chiilders, one of my new best friends. His is in our district and on Saturday's we do divisions. He and I got along really well. He's from St. George and so we can talk about anything we want and know exactly what the other is talking about. He's really goofy and loves to write so we just got along swimmingly. I hope so much that I will be able to keep in touch with the elders that I've really connected with on my mission.
Alright, so today as a zone we went to the bañario. It's like a pond and wilderness park area about 10 minutes outside of town. Elder Mar and I went and stayed at the house of Elder Childers last night, (because we live so far away from everything) and this morning the entire zone went out there because we met our zone baptismal goal last month. We have such a good zone and they are all so fun and get along so well. We played ultimate frisbee and mafia (the card game) and uno and just had a lot of fun during the morning and a lot of the afternoon which is why I have so little time here. I really didn't take pictures because you know how chill I am (almost to a fault) so i just didn't want to worry about pictures. Anyways, it was like any park in Utah that has tree-y portions and open areas like all the parks up Provo Canyon. Lots of fun.
We had fun with the zone and did a banana eating contest between one of the sisters (she volunteered.....) and one of the elders that we recruited and me. They blind folded the three of us and had us start pounding bananas down. Well....problem is.....I just took of the blind fold and started eating a banana because I was peckish and the rest of the zone started cheering and shouting and saying that I was eating like a machine (all according to plan). So the elder and the hermana started pounding banana after banana for like 2 minutes. I think the hermana quit after 4 and the elder got 6 and a half done and they pulled of the blind folds and I was just sitting there with my arms crossed leisurely eating my second banana. Pretty funny.
In my district I have one set of Hermanas, 2 sets of Elders and 1 of the zone leaders. I really like my district a lot. I've been having a problem with one of the elders in my district who likes to try and change everything that I say or ask of him which just really bugs me, but I don't want to sew the seeds of strife and so I just side step a lot of potential problems by not letting it bug me. It's both a lesson in charity and in patience. We'll see what changes bring, if i'm still DL and if he's still in my district, all quite possilbe. Not that I want changes to come, but we've always got our eyes on the future out here.
We usually have a rough plan of the next 6 weeks, every single week so it's really hard not to think of dates and numbers and statistics. That said, I don't like the focus on numbers out here. I know that they are supposed to help us grow and indicate performance. All of that is great, but I refuse to put of good numbers on empty lessons, and eternal investigators. There are some elders that do that and it's their call, but I just don't feel like that's okay. I've really been trying lately to love the people here, develop my charity and learn more about the atonement in this area.
I feel like I know what I'm doing is true but that it's become monotonous and hollow. as such, the lord answered my prayers through Mosiah 3. Great great chapter on the atonement and all things that have to do with it. So yea, zone conference tomorrow, no real investigators and it's getting hot. Life is good, the gospel is true. I spoke on sunday about sharing the gospel through our testimonies of Jesus Christ and meditating upon the eternities to open the windows of heaven ( see D&C 76:19-24)
19 And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about.
Have a great week,
Elder Simpson
Things are warming up around here. I'm happy, a bit tired and a little bit sore from the ultimate frisbee that we played this morning. I'll explain that a little further on.
It's been a long hard week. We're still really looking hard for the chosen that are waiting to hear the gospel we're not finding too many people that are wanting to progress. I actually told Elder Mar on Friday that I feel bad that everything seems to have dried up in the area since I got here. Trial of faith right? Anyways, we just keep chugging on and on and on.
We're using the bikes some days, and some days we're not, because it's getting so hot already that we're showing up to lessons almost literally soaked in sweat and that's just not too presentable. We work up less of a sweat by foot, I have my cowboy hat still, the only down side is, we take a little bit longer to get to our lessons instead of zipping around on our bikes. Really the biggest reason it's so hard for us is beacuse the entire area is situated on a set of decent sized hills and so we just have to plug up and down hill after hill and at like 1 and 2 in the afternoon it's just miserable. Let me tell you a little about Elder Chiilders, one of my new best friends. His is in our district and on Saturday's we do divisions. He and I got along really well. He's from St. George and so we can talk about anything we want and know exactly what the other is talking about. He's really goofy and loves to write so we just got along swimmingly. I hope so much that I will be able to keep in touch with the elders that I've really connected with on my mission.
Alright, so today as a zone we went to the bañario. It's like a pond and wilderness park area about 10 minutes outside of town. Elder Mar and I went and stayed at the house of Elder Childers last night, (because we live so far away from everything) and this morning the entire zone went out there because we met our zone baptismal goal last month. We have such a good zone and they are all so fun and get along so well. We played ultimate frisbee and mafia (the card game) and uno and just had a lot of fun during the morning and a lot of the afternoon which is why I have so little time here. I really didn't take pictures because you know how chill I am (almost to a fault) so i just didn't want to worry about pictures. Anyways, it was like any park in Utah that has tree-y portions and open areas like all the parks up Provo Canyon. Lots of fun.
We had fun with the zone and did a banana eating contest between one of the sisters (she volunteered.....) and one of the elders that we recruited and me. They blind folded the three of us and had us start pounding bananas down. Well....problem is.....I just took of the blind fold and started eating a banana because I was peckish and the rest of the zone started cheering and shouting and saying that I was eating like a machine (all according to plan). So the elder and the hermana started pounding banana after banana for like 2 minutes. I think the hermana quit after 4 and the elder got 6 and a half done and they pulled of the blind folds and I was just sitting there with my arms crossed leisurely eating my second banana. Pretty funny.
In my district I have one set of Hermanas, 2 sets of Elders and 1 of the zone leaders. I really like my district a lot. I've been having a problem with one of the elders in my district who likes to try and change everything that I say or ask of him which just really bugs me, but I don't want to sew the seeds of strife and so I just side step a lot of potential problems by not letting it bug me. It's both a lesson in charity and in patience. We'll see what changes bring, if i'm still DL and if he's still in my district, all quite possilbe. Not that I want changes to come, but we've always got our eyes on the future out here.
We usually have a rough plan of the next 6 weeks, every single week so it's really hard not to think of dates and numbers and statistics. That said, I don't like the focus on numbers out here. I know that they are supposed to help us grow and indicate performance. All of that is great, but I refuse to put of good numbers on empty lessons, and eternal investigators. There are some elders that do that and it's their call, but I just don't feel like that's okay. I've really been trying lately to love the people here, develop my charity and learn more about the atonement in this area.
I feel like I know what I'm doing is true but that it's become monotonous and hollow. as such, the lord answered my prayers through Mosiah 3. Great great chapter on the atonement and all things that have to do with it. So yea, zone conference tomorrow, no real investigators and it's getting hot. Life is good, the gospel is true. I spoke on sunday about sharing the gospel through our testimonies of Jesus Christ and meditating upon the eternities to open the windows of heaven ( see D&C 76:19-24)
19 And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about.
20 And we beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of his fulness;
21 And saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever and ever.
22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
23 For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—
24 That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.
Pretty awesome. I love speaking in church.Have a great week,
Elder Simpson
Monday, December 3, 2012
Tacuarembó Uruguay - Dec 3rd 2012
Hi All,
Our part of the city of t-bo is super super tranquilo. We’re almost out in the sticks, but not quite. We’re just outside of the road and our area is composed of roughly 5 neighborhoods. You can see at least two of the other neighborhoods from each area so they’re really not spread out that much but there is at least a couple of blocks between each area and lots of fields in that area.
Our ward is really good. They love the missionaries and are willing to help us. The catch is, church attendance has steadily been dropping for about a month now, so we’ve got to reverse that trend and by doing so that should help us to be able to find new investigators, something that we’ve been lacking. Sunday here was a tough day for the ward. Attendance was pretty low for some reason so that was one of our main concerns in ward council. We’re really trying to stregthen the ward with reactivation and solid investigators. Last week was the primary program. There was a little boy who was just full to bursting with energy…..we’re talking Spencer Lewis-esque antics here. Quite enjoyable. Lil’ Spencer Lewis is a legend, so this kid really has nothin on him, but I thought about him anyways. Hello to the Lewis family :)
All that being said, I’ve been pondering and praying and studying a lot as to how the Lord wants me to be working here so we’ll see what this week brings. Which brings us to "The who" which is the real problem actually….. we’re almost pretty much starting from zero with investigators because we really didn’t have any when I got here. We’re doing a lot of looking and trying to activate memebers and find through them. Our most promising investigators, Daianna and Victoria have been …..complicated lately. Daianna has had to reschedule every single day of the week for some reason or another and didn’t come to church. Victoria…..well turns out she wasn’t interested in Jesus Christ, just my companion. So we left her rather quickly. Don’t want problems in that area!
There are really no mosquitoes here and the weather is just…..hot. Just plain hot, but there is usually always a breeze and the temps really haven’t gotten that high yet, so whenever I even pause to consider if it’s hot or not, I just tell myself that I’ve passed through worse. Today is pretty humid and it’s been needing to rain all week long to get rid of the humidity, but thus far I don’t think it’s rained since my second day here.
Elder Mar is great. We get along really well and he’s really happy to be out here a lot. We laugh and joke a lot, but we’re still very focused on helping and loving the people. We get along really well. He’s still really new so I have to be careful not to dominate lessons because he’s not a very aggressive teacher. That means we’ve been doing a LOT of practices to sharpen up his blades. Problem is, he’s always using the same moves, or rather he says a lot of the same things and uses a lot of the same examples, which means we have to boost his arsenal. I like to use a lot of tools when I’m working, which means my knife belt is full and always growing. You know how I like to paint pretty pictures with precise words. ?
Not only is my companion great, but my district is GREAT TOO!! I love them all a lot. This last district meeting was fantastic! I wish you guys could have been there because I really don’t know how to describe it. We talked a lot about the spirit and helping other people by being powerful vessels of the spirit. There was a lot of…..stunned and heavy silence. The spirit was very very strong and I know we all left feeling pretty animated.
This last Friday….we did service…..and I just can’t believe it still. We get there and the brother says, you boys ready? Yes….Good. Lets go. We arrive at his horse pasture. Alright, what you’re going to be doing today is gathering raw organic materials to aid in the fertilization of gardens. Yup. That’s right. I was pickin up horse poop. With my bare hands. And the fresher the better. I picked up some pretty warm turds. And hucked a couple at my comp, just to say I’ve flung poo. We got back to his house with some rather dirty hands….well he’s a nurse and had a good scrubber and gnarly soap and told us to scrub our hands down until the smell was gone so it’s all good. Then…I fell off my bike on the way home. We were coming down a big dirt hill to a sharp turn and so I knew I was gonna fall and put my foot down and did a slow split and then sat down. Pretty darn funny. People came running to check on my and I just sat there and laughed and then stood up and we left.
Elder Mar and I got the Christmas tree up on Saturday night, so we’re both pretty excited about that. We had a strand of Christmas lights in the house, but it doesn’t work which was pretty depressing, but we had a good time. We listened to Christmas music and decorated our tree. And got a little bit of the Christmas spirit flowing here in South America, where the sun is hot and the fireworks are cheap and easily found. Lots and lots of fireworks….all the time….kinda obnoxious but hey... Whatevs.
I’m going on divisions tomorrow after zone capacitation (not to be confused with zone conference , that’s next week.) We’re always working super hard here, racing around to each appointment trying to talk with people and help them out. I’m happy and tired….I'm currently trying to figure out how I can have a greater appreciation for the Atonement of Christ and what it means for me personally… Just something for each of us to think on during the week. Have a great week.
Elder Simpson
Our part of the city of t-bo is super super tranquilo. We’re almost out in the sticks, but not quite. We’re just outside of the road and our area is composed of roughly 5 neighborhoods. You can see at least two of the other neighborhoods from each area so they’re really not spread out that much but there is at least a couple of blocks between each area and lots of fields in that area.
Our ward is really good. They love the missionaries and are willing to help us. The catch is, church attendance has steadily been dropping for about a month now, so we’ve got to reverse that trend and by doing so that should help us to be able to find new investigators, something that we’ve been lacking. Sunday here was a tough day for the ward. Attendance was pretty low for some reason so that was one of our main concerns in ward council. We’re really trying to stregthen the ward with reactivation and solid investigators. Last week was the primary program. There was a little boy who was just full to bursting with energy…..we’re talking Spencer Lewis-esque antics here. Quite enjoyable. Lil’ Spencer Lewis is a legend, so this kid really has nothin on him, but I thought about him anyways. Hello to the Lewis family :)
All that being said, I’ve been pondering and praying and studying a lot as to how the Lord wants me to be working here so we’ll see what this week brings. Which brings us to "The who" which is the real problem actually….. we’re almost pretty much starting from zero with investigators because we really didn’t have any when I got here. We’re doing a lot of looking and trying to activate memebers and find through them. Our most promising investigators, Daianna and Victoria have been …..complicated lately. Daianna has had to reschedule every single day of the week for some reason or another and didn’t come to church. Victoria…..well turns out she wasn’t interested in Jesus Christ, just my companion. So we left her rather quickly. Don’t want problems in that area!
There are really no mosquitoes here and the weather is just…..hot. Just plain hot, but there is usually always a breeze and the temps really haven’t gotten that high yet, so whenever I even pause to consider if it’s hot or not, I just tell myself that I’ve passed through worse. Today is pretty humid and it’s been needing to rain all week long to get rid of the humidity, but thus far I don’t think it’s rained since my second day here.
Elder Mar is great. We get along really well and he’s really happy to be out here a lot. We laugh and joke a lot, but we’re still very focused on helping and loving the people. We get along really well. He’s still really new so I have to be careful not to dominate lessons because he’s not a very aggressive teacher. That means we’ve been doing a LOT of practices to sharpen up his blades. Problem is, he’s always using the same moves, or rather he says a lot of the same things and uses a lot of the same examples, which means we have to boost his arsenal. I like to use a lot of tools when I’m working, which means my knife belt is full and always growing. You know how I like to paint pretty pictures with precise words. ?
Not only is my companion great, but my district is GREAT TOO!! I love them all a lot. This last district meeting was fantastic! I wish you guys could have been there because I really don’t know how to describe it. We talked a lot about the spirit and helping other people by being powerful vessels of the spirit. There was a lot of…..stunned and heavy silence. The spirit was very very strong and I know we all left feeling pretty animated.
 |
| The Elders in the District |
This last Friday….we did service…..and I just can’t believe it still. We get there and the brother says, you boys ready? Yes….Good. Lets go. We arrive at his horse pasture. Alright, what you’re going to be doing today is gathering raw organic materials to aid in the fertilization of gardens. Yup. That’s right. I was pickin up horse poop. With my bare hands. And the fresher the better. I picked up some pretty warm turds. And hucked a couple at my comp, just to say I’ve flung poo. We got back to his house with some rather dirty hands….well he’s a nurse and had a good scrubber and gnarly soap and told us to scrub our hands down until the smell was gone so it’s all good. Then…I fell off my bike on the way home. We were coming down a big dirt hill to a sharp turn and so I knew I was gonna fall and put my foot down and did a slow split and then sat down. Pretty darn funny. People came running to check on my and I just sat there and laughed and then stood up and we left.
Elder Mar and I got the Christmas tree up on Saturday night, so we’re both pretty excited about that. We had a strand of Christmas lights in the house, but it doesn’t work which was pretty depressing, but we had a good time. We listened to Christmas music and decorated our tree. And got a little bit of the Christmas spirit flowing here in South America, where the sun is hot and the fireworks are cheap and easily found. Lots and lots of fireworks….all the time….kinda obnoxious but hey... Whatevs.
I’m going on divisions tomorrow after zone capacitation (not to be confused with zone conference , that’s next week.) We’re always working super hard here, racing around to each appointment trying to talk with people and help them out. I’m happy and tired….I'm currently trying to figure out how I can have a greater appreciation for the Atonement of Christ and what it means for me personally… Just something for each of us to think on during the week. Have a great week.
Elder Simpson
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