Week 12: A Turnaround

The Good
I cannot believe I am 3 months into the mission. Where has the time gone? And this past week flew by like crazy! It was a lot better week than last so that is partially why the subject of the email is what it is. There two more reasons and they comprise the reminder of my good section.

The time before last that we visited Carlos and Silvia, they all but told us to not come again. They said they are very active in their church and are content with not changing. The last time we visited them, we talked to Carlos for a long time about El Salvador (Carlos y Elder Medina son paisanos). After talking to him for a while, we asked if we could share a scripture from the Bible, shared John 3:16, connected it to the Plan of Salvation, and left a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We visited them again this past week and talked to both of them for a long time. Then, Elder Medina offered to fix their car window (I don't know if I have mentioned that Elder Medina is a mechanic). Up until this point, we hadn't had an opportunity to share even a small message and we had already spent almost 2 hours there. I had no idea how we could share something, but then Carlos asked "So what are you going to share with us today?" It was awesome and unexpected so we talked a little bit about the plan, set up a time to come back and teach it, and they said they would reread the pamphlet in preparation! What a change!

The other turnaround was with a lady that lives in Amado which is about half an hour away from our apartment so we only make it out there once a week on average. Well there was a lady that we have tried to visit several times that not even Elder Medina had met, but we have never been able to find her home and we were about to drop her. We decided to give her one last visit before dropping her and she was home! And let me tell you she has been super prepared. She asked us for a Book of Mormon before we could even offer it and even asked us if she would have to serve a mission if she continued on this path. I almost chuckled and we assured her that missions are completely voluntary. We read in the Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 11 when Christ comes and visits the Americas and we set a time to come back and give her the first lesson. Nothing can stop the work of the Lord and if you have faith and some patience then those who are looking for the truth will be put in our path. 

The Bad

I love being the companion of a district leader, but there are a couple down sides. One of them is that you tend to know the struggles of your district. The Sisters and an Elder in my district had some especially rough weeks this past week so if you all could keep them in their prayers I would really appreciate it. 

The Beautiful

This past week we had a dinner with a family that has 4 very young kids and they are all super cute. At the end when we were about to leave and it came time to say a prayer, Brother Hansen had asked his daughter who I think is 4 years old to say a prayer. I thought she would say no because she had been asked to bless the food and shyly declined. She didn't decline and she offered a beautiful 10 or 15 second prayer that only an innocent, pure little child could offer. It made me think of the primary song A Child's Prayer specifically the non-existant 3rd verse that an Elder from my brother Wesley's mission wrote. This verse is from the perspective of our Heavenly Father:

Fear not my child I'm here for you

And I am listening to your prayer

I know it's lonely in this life

But on your knees I'll be your guide

I am watching you

And will always be your friend

Your prayers are sweet to hear 

Just know my child I'm always near

The Funny

The funny for this week is something Elder Medina told me yesterday and had me dying just because the way he thinks sometimes is so different from mine that it is entertaining. I will not translate it however porque me da un poco pena so if you put forth the effort to translate it yourself (o ya sabe español) then enjoy jaja. 

Yesterday while on our way home he tells me "Sabe que, he estado pensando y somos una chimba de compañerismo porque trabajamos bien juntos y en realidad, loco, feo no somos." I was dead and also contemplated reading some scriptures on humility with him. Not actually but still. 

The Spiritual

I love stories and and I figured I would share 2 stories that lifted me spiritually this past week for my spiritual section. 

Story 1 was shared to me by Elder Medina who heard it from a man in his previous area. The man's name is Hermano Silba and when he was 19 he decided to serve a mission, but he was extremely poor and hardly had money for anything for a mission. Lots of the members at the time stepped in and helped him get the things he needed enough to go. While he was in the MTC, he got special permission so that his Aunt could visit him and she asked him if he had everything he needed. He said the only thing he would like to have that he didn't already was a towel to dry off after showering, so she went to buy him one. I guess towels in Mexico at the time were hard to come by or the stores had already closed or something because she could only find a dish towel. He took it appreciatively. When he entered the field he started to notice that the towel would stink because he would use it every day and it was small, and in turn he would start to stink to the point where people would visibly try to keep their distance. His trainer was a gringo that had money to burn. He had 4 towels: one for his hair, one for arms and legs, one for his torso, and one for his feet but never saw his companion's need for a towel. Well one day while they were walking down the street Hermano Silba said a prayer that went something to this effect "God I have never asked you for a miracle, but I know you created the earth and everything on it. It would be easy for you to provide me a towel today while we are walking, but I don't want to take away a towel that somebody owns." A couple minutes after, he found paper package sitting on the ground and so he picked it up and put it in his backpack. His trainer asked what was in the package and without a hesitation, he said towels. That night, Hermano Silba opened the package and saw two beautiful, long towels. To this day, he gifts every missionary preparing to go out a towel. It might not be much he says but at least I know they won't have that worry on their mission. 

Story 2 is from one of the members that we ate dinner with and i promise this one is shorter. He told us about an investigator they had on his mission and she was just golden. She believed everything they taught, she kept every comment, and she read the Book of Mormon every day. She made the decision to get baptized and the first Sunday after her baptism she didn't show up to church. During the week, they went to visit her and see what was wrong. She said that her family was extremely upset that she was baptized and would disown and shun her (yes she was married and had kids and yet her parents and husband told her this). The missionaries didn't know what to do and were absolutely crushed. The next Sunday she went to church and they were so happy to see here but at the same time knew what it meant. She only said "I know the Lord will bless me and my family for my commitment to Him." Brother Lambson said he and his companion stood there in awe. The next time they visited her, the husband went up to them with a stone cold expression and said "I have never liked you Mormons, but my wife would never do anything if it meant going against her family so I know what you have to say is important and I will listen." 2 months later, the husband and kids joined her in waters of baptism. 

Thank you for reading. I hope this email found all of you well and thank you to those that took my invitation last week and sent me your thoughts about what you learned. I learned a lot from you and loved reading them. Love you all!