¡HOLA MI FAMILIA!
So happy to hear all is well. I´ll be sure to send something off to Ben. Wow, 4 months. I honestly can´t believe it. I´m super happy for them but...still...wow. It´s just really weird to think Than is getting married.
Yes, I´m healthy, thanks. I´ve just been having to take a fair amount of money out of the card. We have been traveling to all the areas in the zone to inspect their houses and do interviews, but it´s almost all in reimbursments. I also put in an order to finish replacing all the stuff that was robbed. Alex is such a good missionary. He´s going to be so awesome in these last months, and also for all his life in the Church. I´m so proud of him. His analogy of the boat applies alot to what we are seeing in the zone right now. Every missionary enters thinking they will baptize many here in Mexico, they get out into the waters, and then comes the times without sight of the island. They get tired, which leads to discouragement for not seeing the fruits of their labors, and that weakens their faith. It´s what has happened in the zone, and even a bit in me as well. Alright, a lot. But wow, his letter really inspired me to start working even harder. To trust more in God and develop my faith. That is the focus in the mission right now. Faith. Right before reading his letter, I had been talking with Elder Tah about how we can help the zone start functioning, and we decided it all comes back to faith. We decided we need to teach them that, but we need it in ourselves first. Then I read his letter. Everything started to click. I´m super excited now to get to work.
In terms of the area, we have a baptismal date for this Sunday, a young women by the name of Marcela. She is 19, and her Mom is recieving the missionaries in Florida with her soon to be husband. We found her contacting a woman in the street, and she told us her niece was looking for missionaries. We went by about a month ago and started teaching her. The only problem is that she is starting to go to school to be a nurse, and her grandma hates that we go to her house, and we haven´t been able to find her. We found her recently and started talking about her Mom, who is getting married so she can get baptized, and has gone to church every single week since the missionaries found her. Marsela also committed to getting baptized this sunday. She is super cool. The bells for misa started ringing yesterday while we were talking outside of her house and everyone was running to church, and she looked a little uncomfortable, but didn´t shut off at all, or say that she had to go. She stayed outside even while all these people passing by looked at her badly. It really impressed me.
Also, we have a new investigator that I don´t even know his name. We just call him, CAMPEON! Campeon is a guy that I always saw on the corner of the church really, really drunk. Every day. One day we were walking down a back road and he starts talking to us, and comments he wants to change his life, enter our church, and get with his family again. We told him we would see him tuesday, but sober! We left not thinking much. We went back on Sunday to try and bring his wife and family to church, as they showed interest, but we only found him, fresh out of a hangover. He was depressed. He had a huge fight with his family I guess the night before and he looked like he was at the bottom of the barrel so to say. We told him the only way he could overcome this problem he has is by following the gospel of Jesus Christ. (he had mentioned before he has gone to rehab centers, but they didn´t help at all. They´re really honestly awful over here.) We started going to church and he started saying, I´m just going to drink a little bit, I have a hidden bottle and I´m just going to drink a little bit to calm down. He ran over to a semi truck and started pulling out a bottle from the hubcap of the car, and we told him that that wouldn´t help him. I just put my arm around him and started walking to church, explaining to him and promising him that God is the only one that is able to help him overcome this addiction that he wants to get rid of. He said, Ya, ya you´re right! We kept walking and he started saying things like, ESTA BIEN! Estoy bien! Hahahaha, esta biiiieeeeennnnn! I told him, now aren´t you so much happier that you didn´t drink? Ya! I could do it! I could not drink! We entered the church and it was fast and testimony meeting, we explained the sacrament quickly, and entered. When we left, we explained how the only way he could overcome all this is to be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ, recieve the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end, and he accepted a baptismal date for the 20th of this month. He was a man I saw every day for the past 3 months, and never talked to him. I assumed, eh, he´s drunk, he doesn´t want anything. How very wrong I was. I am so sad that I had to wait until his life became so much worse to talk with him about the gospel. But how happy I am now that he is starting to recieve the blessings of the gospel of Christ. We didn´t see him in his drinking store all day yesterday, or today.
The world is amazing. God has everything planned out so well. He knows exactly what we need and has placed his chosen servants, the prophets, to help us to understand what that thing is. I have seen that so much in my mission up until now. I love you all, I hope all stays well and that everyone is healthy.
¡ADIOS MI FAMILIA!
No comments:
Post a Comment