Anyways this week was
really really awesome. So Tuesday I got to work on some family history
stuff because we have to fill out this pamphlet about our families and
what not. It was really fun to do actually and it was really cool to
learn a bit more about all of my ancestors and their families. Shout out
to my sidekick Aunt Karen who was the biggest help in the world! You´re
the best Watson! That day we did a lot of walking and a decent number
of contacts as well. Usually days like that seem super long but we were
in good spirits and we just kept trucking. That night we had a lesson
with Alex and Carola that went a bit long so we didn´t get around to try
and visit Erika but that´s alright. Nothing special in the lesson but I
felt good about Tuesday.
So Wednesday was
when the crazy week started. After District Class we had a lesson with a
recent convert Carlos Valdez. We read a chapter of the Book of Mormon
with him and he really seems to be warming up to the idea of reading it
again. So that was good and he is definitely warming up to us now he
even smiles at me in church these days! After him we went to visit
Mercedes to see how she was doing after the blessing we gave her last
week. She was so excited when we stopped by and she just raved on and on
about how almost immediately after we left the pain in her leg had
left. She was just asking all sorts of questions about if it was bad
that she couldn´t get to church and what not. We told her that it was
alright because she literally can´t go but that we would try to find a
wheelchair so we can take her someday. When we asked her if we could end
with a prayer she said "Elders everything in this house is yours now do
what you want" lol. She was happy to say the least. She is really old
but really seems to have a lot of faith. If she keeps her commitments
and we can get her to church maybe she´ll get baptized. We visited with
Chano that afternoon. Kind of a tough visit. Dude is having a lot of
problems with our bishopric and the church. Great guy but a little bit
lost right now I think. I didn´t know how I was going to respond but I
made a conscious effort to just keep listening. At the end of the lesson
I had two talks come into my mind and I really felt guided by the
Spirit which I was so thankful for. It´s not that it was an amazing
lesson but I really felt like we were able to help him out a bit. That
night we had a lesson with Alejandro who is the brother of Guillermo. It
was kind of short. He seems to have more problems than his brother but
you can´t count anyone out. We´ll see how the Spirit can work with him.
Thursday
we visited Ruth in the afternoon. Her grandaughter is sick and she
wanted us to give her a blessing. It´s interesting for an investigator
to ask for that but I guess missionaries have given a blessing to
someone in her family in the past. It was really cool because during the
blessing and after that little girl was just so quiet and still and
peaceful. Definitely a sweet spirit there. We had planned to go back
over the plan of salvation with her. She has almost all the lessons but
Elder Ortiz and I are the first to find her in quite some time. But the
less active Maria that is her help started talking about a concert at
the temple and next thing you know we taught tithing, eternal families,
temples, and family history... That afternoon we went to visit a less
active from the list. His name is Carlos Araya and he´s pretty old but
he´s a super awesome member of the church. They had books from the
church all over the place and they are sealed and everything. He just
can´t come to church because of his health. That night we had a lesson
about fasting with Alex and Carola and I felt that it went really well.
There was another lesson that day but I don´t remember who.
Friday
morning we visited Juan. We finally found an hour when his son in law
isn´t there and we can actually visit him. When the son in law is there
we can´t go in and visit him. That was a fun visit. Juan is a character.
We went by and taught Mercedes and her daughter and grandaughter that
afternoon. We talked about prayer. They´ve had lesson 1 a million times
so we´re trying to take a little bit of a different route there. It was
kind of lame at the end of the lesson because during my prayer her
daughter and grandaughter were laughing and I have no idea why.
Everything was kind of crazy there. That night we visited Maria Rojas.
She is very busy with getting things ready for the move but she was
happy to take some time out to visit with the missionaries. After that
lesson we visited Camila and her mom Anaise. Anaise is a less active of
many years. The missionaries have visited them before and we have been
trying to find them for forever and we finally got in the door. Camila
is super awesome and has had 1 Nephi 3:7 memorized since she was like 11
lol. She´s 17 now... She´s very smart and attentive so we´ll see what
happens there. Anaise had just had an operation on her ear. Apparently
it wasn´t too successful. :( She seemed to be in a bit of pain so we
tried to be short. After Elder Ortiz shared his scripture, Anaise
started talking about being grateful. Man the spirit was so strong. She
definitely has an attitude of gratitude. Great day!
Saturday
was quite the different start from the previous three days. We walked
and walked and walked and walked... and walked. Everything fell through
and man we were tired. But we kept trucking and kept reminding ourselves
that we would get to chow down during once with Elizabeth and Pablo.
Then guess who called to cancel... Yup Elizabeth and Pablo couldn´t do
once with us that night. So we headed to the house and ate a bit and
just sat down for our dinner hour. When we headed back out we went to
visit someone who lives on the same street as Alex and Carola. As we
turn on the street we hear music blasting and we see a huge white tent
and a giant cake. Alex and Carola and allll of their family lives there
and there were having a party. We were practically forced to sit down
and eat some cake and when we asked what the occasion was they said one
of the girl cousins had turned 5.... Leave it to them to through a huge
party for someone who was turning 5 lol. After talking for a minute we
reluctant got up cause we knew we had to get back to work. We went to
visit this lady Patricia who is a past investigator. We haven´t taught
her yet but we´ve passed by a few times. This time her son opened the
door and we talked with him for a second. He´s a cool guy and much nicer
than her husband who persistently slams the door in our face. His mom
wasn´t there but he said we could come on in. He has a fairly new baby
so we talked a bit about the plan of salvation. He isn´t very religious
but he listens intently. So we found a new investigator and I am excited
to see what happens there. Then that night we were able to teach the
less active Family Osorio. We haven´t been able to get a hold of them
since my first week with Elder Bullock. We had a great time getting to
know them and there two boys are fun. They seemed pretty please that I
tired out their youngest because as we got ready to leave he just laid
on the floor and said he was ready for bed. It was fun! I´ve learned
that whenever there is a really long day like that Heavenly Father just
never leaves you out to dry. Everytime someone says no and everytime
someone cancels you can just be more and more sure that there are
blessings down the road.
Sunday we didn´t have
really anyone in Church which was a bummer. We found out later Alex is
sick again. But we had a lesson with Carmen who lives out in the
boonies. We managed to be relatively short too which is a success
because man does she like to talk. We had a short lesson..., I don´t
even know if you can call it that with, with Guillermo. Then the week
ended with Alex and Carola and her aunt and uncle as we watched the
movie of the restoration of the church. I love that movie. Seems like
that did too. The spirit was really strong. The aunt seemed to really
like it but she lives a ways a way so no new investigators there. Either
way great way to end the week. I could tell Alex really felt the spirit
during that movie and that he has a stronger testimony now of the
Prophet Joseph Smith.
I haven´t taught that
much in my mission. It was kind of a whirlwind and I´m still trying to
figure out what changed or what happened for that matter. There were
still a fair sure of tougher moments during the week but this week just
flew by and frankly I can´t remember much lol. I really know that if we
just keep trying to do what is right that blessings will come. Some come
immediately some later and some not until after this life but they
come. This week I felt like it was raining blessings and I´m so thankful
for that. I will leave you with this quote that I really like from
President Harold B. Lee. "You must learn to walk a few steps ahead into
the darkness and then the light will turn on and go before you." Have
faith and trust in your Heavenly Father. He will not let you down.
Elder Shell
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