I don't even know what to say, because so much happened, and I can't really remember all of it. But I'm writing a page in my journal every day, so there will be plenty to read and tell when I get home.
For now I can at least tell you that I'm doing great! There are problems, as there always will be, but I'm great because I always know what I need to do to solve these problems. I completed a year on Thursday, and I made my goal to finish reading the New Testament in Spanish, so now I'm making a goal to read the Book of Mormon before Christmas. This time I'm going to go at a slower pace, and read in English so it's more personal and for me, rather than just reading it for the mission.
I'm also reading through the entire Spanish grammar book cover to cover that I got in the CCM and doing all the writing activities to clean up and polish my Spanish speaking and writing. Believe it or not, I learned a phrase from the first chapter that I say a lot, and have been saying wrong, and that in the first chapter, so going through the entire book will be very good for me.
For now I can at least tell you that I'm doing great! There are problems, as there always will be, but I'm great because I always know what I need to do to solve these problems. I completed a year on Thursday, and I made my goal to finish reading the New Testament in Spanish, so now I'm making a goal to read the Book of Mormon before Christmas. This time I'm going to go at a slower pace, and read in English so it's more personal and for me, rather than just reading it for the mission.
I'm also reading through the entire Spanish grammar book cover to cover that I got in the CCM and doing all the writing activities to clean up and polish my Spanish speaking and writing. Believe it or not, I learned a phrase from the first chapter that I say a lot, and have been saying wrong, and that in the first chapter, so going through the entire book will be very good for me.
On Tuesday we had a mult-izone conference which was good to spend the day inside on comfy seats in an air conditioned chapel receiving revelation. Pres. Klein talked about our motives for obedience, and how our job is to move away from thinking of ourselves to thinking only of others. He said that when we go between thinking of ourselves, and thinking of others, we don't make any progress because we're dancing back and forth on the line. He drew a pyramid and divided it in 3 stacked sections, the bottom said FEAR, the middle DUTY, and the top LOVE. When we obey out of fear, we are slothful servants. When we obey because we feel it is our duty, we tend to be lazy and selfish at times. we are dancing back and forth on the line. But when we constantly think of others, we're doing things out of pure love. It's our job as Elders to get away from dancing around the fear/duty obedience line and work out of love.
I love going to these conference because we get cookies, or cake, or brownies that are made by sister Klein or Sister Webb, so they're made by an American mom, so it tastes like home. And they always give us treats from the states, this time they gave us Poptarts!! The rest of the week went by fast, and things are going great!
I love going to these conference because we get cookies, or cake, or brownies that are made by sister Klein or Sister Webb, so they're made by an American mom, so it tastes like home. And they always give us treats from the states, this time they gave us Poptarts!! The rest of the week went by fast, and things are going great!
Missionary Life
Last Sunday during Sacrament meeting, after the sacrament and before the bishop got up to announce the speakers he called me up to the stand, and told me that I had five minutes to give a talk on missionary work. so I walked down to my seat thinking of what I could talk about. Bishop got up and announced the program, and I was the FIRST speaker. so I didn't even get time during another talk to prepare my talk! so within 30 seconds of being given the assignment, I was up on the stand with 5 minutes to talk to the ward. being a missionary is all about being on the ball with teaching, and always being ready to teach, so this was a fun and exciting challenge. As i was walking down from the stand, a scripture came to my mind in Mosiah 18, that talks about the covenant we make when we're baptized to help others. I decided to share that, knowing that it was a prompting by the spirit. So I introduced the scripture, read it, and applied it to us, baptized members of the church. I told the congregation that missionaries want their help, because there are things they have that we don't. I said first, they can speak Spanish better than us missionaries, and they can simply understand and relate to people in a way that we can't. And the purpose of quorums and auxillaries is to help people develop faith, and that's a big part of missionary work. The chance to give a talk on such short notice was really fun! I liked the challenge, and didn't feel nervous at all about talking to a group of people.
This week Progreso spent it's time on the edge of the Devil's frying pan instead of the middle, then the pan got put in the dishwasher over the weekend. The weird thing is that on Tuesday, we commented to Hna. M that it looked like it was going to rain today. She went out to the street, looked at a tree a block away, then told us not until May 3rd. She said that a specific tree always shoots green leaves right before it rains for the first time of the rainy season. Well we looked at the tree up closer and it did have some green leaves, and on Friday and Saturday it rained a little bit, but Hna. M was right about the storm, it hit right on Sunday, May 3rd.
And when it hit we were leaving the house Sunday afternoon without umbrellas so we were soaked when we arrived at our recent converts house. We sat outside under covering by their stove while she washed clothes, taking advantage of the rainwater, to use to wash. We went inside because a river started to form underneath our feet as her yard flooded. We went inside with 7 excited kids that couldn't go outside and entertained them by making things out of paper they tore out of magazines.
We realized it would probably be best to visit them on a different day, so we went outside to find their mom digging a trench. She didn't want to ask us for help because we were in nice clothes, but Elder Perdomo took the shovel from her, and I used a rake, and we cleared a path for water to flow. Of this last week, that time felt the most relaxing. Being drenched in a shirt and tie in the pouring rain digging up mud felt like I was in the right place at the right time, because I was doing service. If you're serving someone, you're always doing the right thing.
And when it hit we were leaving the house Sunday afternoon without umbrellas so we were soaked when we arrived at our recent converts house. We sat outside under covering by their stove while she washed clothes, taking advantage of the rainwater, to use to wash. We went inside because a river started to form underneath our feet as her yard flooded. We went inside with 7 excited kids that couldn't go outside and entertained them by making things out of paper they tore out of magazines.
We realized it would probably be best to visit them on a different day, so we went outside to find their mom digging a trench. She didn't want to ask us for help because we were in nice clothes, but Elder Perdomo took the shovel from her, and I used a rake, and we cleared a path for water to flow. Of this last week, that time felt the most relaxing. Being drenched in a shirt and tie in the pouring rain digging up mud felt like I was in the right place at the right time, because I was doing service. If you're serving someone, you're always doing the right thing.
4th of July Celebration
We bought Hamburger makings and made and cooked hamburgers for our 4th of July dinner on Saturday night. It was fun to cook in a clean kitchen. We had deep cleaned the house that morning because we found out that Sis. Klein would come by sometime this week to do house inspections, and she might count the mold growing on the tile by the pila as having a pet (which is against rules), so we decided to clean. Elder C and I ate 4 patties, Elder N had 2, and Elder J had one. After dinner Elder C and I sang the star spangled banner while saluting my Star spangled pillowcase mom sent, and then we went to bed.
Funny Story
At lunch we were given yellow rice with carrots mixed in, beans, corn tortillas, and a scrambled egg mix of onion, peppers, and chicken (we thought). so we were eating, and I bit a bone (just like usual), and I pulled it out and it was small and I thought "What part of the chicken did that come from?" Elder P also found a piece of meat that looked like an organ too small for a chicken. after we finished eating it, I asked what type of meat it was. Hna M smiled and said "elders, you don't know what chicken tastes like?" I said "that's the thing, I DO know what chicken tastes like." she made us guess what it was, and my first guess was Iguana. When I said that she just laughed, but not a laugh that any normal person from the States would do at the absurd presumption of eating iguana, her laugh sounded evil because her trick on us had just worked! So it was iguana that we ate, and I'm not disgusted that I ate reptile, I'm more proud that I recognized it by the taste and guessed right on the first try!