Dearest Family, People and Kasey :)Yo what’s up my peeps de la USA? What’s the news on the mainstream? ¿Qué cuentan chiquillos? Well I have heard from mom and pops it has been a busy and exciting week full of unexpected surprises but at least the surprises didn’t hurt the family. Scarey how things can just change in a second. Well I hope you all had a good week and a weekend to rest up a little. Well I guess the big national news here would be the 33 miners that are trapped still but at least yesterday they made contact with them so they are all alive but say it will take up to 4 months to get them out. I don’t know but that sounds ridiculous to me and I don’t know all the facts, but if I was working I would go as fast as possible. That is all we are hearing about right now.....and the earthquake, not to sound mean but I am bored talking about the earthquake.....oh well.
Well this week was a long one and yesterday I was so dead I didn’t even have the energy to tell stupid jokes. A bunch of people told me I look like the walking dead but thanks to the house next door and the party they had all night I didn’t sleep at all. They were loud and had the music blasting all night, then at about 3 or 4am they went out to their cars and sped away but somebody didn’t turn the tunes off. No sleep.....zero courtesy...I was mad but what is done is done. I put my mattress on the floor because it was hot this week so I have been sleeping down there. It is a lot more comfy and I don’t get woken up every time Elder Sarmiento shifts in his sleep...it is a curse to e a light sleeper because nobody suffers but you.
We worked so hard to get investigators to church yesterday but satanas was working hard and we only had 1, Margarita, she did get confirmed so I am super happy. She was super nervous. I guess a kind of sad thing happened this week, well more caught me off guard. Margarita´s sister Ivonne was baptized in April and since we started teaching her sister’s and family we have been going by almost everyday to check on them and keep them progressing, well Ivonne wrote me and Elder Pierce a letter saying how much she appreciated us and what we have done for her family and said that we have become part of the family, she said she found out in a couple weeks there is a possibility that one of us will leave the sector and she has been down about that. She told us to not tell her when we leave because she knows it will be hard on her. It just made me realize how much the people Iam teaching depend and love me and how hard it really is to say goodbye to people who helped change your life and better your family. I try my hardest to not think about leaving a sector because it is so hard to say goodbye and it might be the last time you see this person. While it is sad it gave me that extra boost to do my best to stay in contact with people while I am out here and after too. It sure is hard to say goodbye. I too feel that the people I am teaching and members are part of my family I would do anything for them like I would for you guys. I just need to live worthy to be able to be an example to them all my life to help them achieve the vida eternal (eternal life).
This week we had a 2 day training with the assistance and it was about the new focus of the First Presidency of the Church. All the new mission presidents this year are starting this new program and next year it will be put in all missions. Basically we are teaching the same lessons but the church has come up with some other focus lessons to help the investigators be converted to the gospel and not just baptized so that they can stay active in the church. They are called ´´The 8 Simplified Lessons´´ and basically focus on the way we can receive personal revelation and how to teach and listen better. Teaching to what the person needs to help them be converted. We had this 2 day training to go over all the lessons in detail to help us learn how to teach them and we focused on listening to the Spirit and talking when He wants us to speak. We did a practice where it was just me and my companion and we extended the baptism invitation but when we felt the Spirit tell us to do it and then others how to respond yes or no according to if they felt the Spirit or not too. It really helped me learn how to recognize the spirit when He tells me to talk and not to try and solve things with my knowledge but put my faith in God and wait and listen then speak according to the promptings from Him. It was a very uplifting training for me and I am so grateful for it. At the end we had to do a practice and we had to teach according to what we knew about the person which wasn’t much it was about six points or so. Elder Wilde was this person, we had five minutes to plan how to start the lesson just how to start. Elder Pierce and I planned something and with luck got called on....I said a prayer in my head and started.....as I talked I could feel the spirit guiding me and as my companion spoke I listened and prayed...I didn’t think about what I wanted to say but put my faith in God and the Spirit to tell me what to say. We both listened and He opened up to us. I felt the Spirit so strong and I felt guided by Him, it was just a practice but I know if I can do that with all the people I teach I will be a better and more powerful missionary. I know this is the Lords work and He guides us in it. We shouldn’t be afraid to open our mouths and talk because He will tell us what to say in the precise moment when we need it. I am amazed at the things I say sometimes because I know I don’t have the capacity to teach alone and yet with the help of the Spirit I can reach out and touch the hearts of the people I was edified this week and I know I can be better and I am striving to do that, to teach better, to prepare better but most of all to listen to the Spirit better because He will guide me in the work.
It was a good tiring week. We had a mini cambio too, so it threw some stuff off but oh well. We had a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and last night and I am sweeted out I have eaten a lot of brownies and other sweets I need salt now! I am perfecting the brownie and it gets better every time. Oh I got the package thanks mom but one question....Why did you send me potato pearls? they feed me here! but thanks mom I think I will start eating them for breakfast. I sure do love them thanks mom I love you. Thank you for all you do for me and for your love and support I love you all so much and hope as is well with you. I know the gospel is true and that we have the knowledge of the things that will guide us to the life entera. I love you so much and have a great week. Love you say hi to all for me.
Love Eric
This week we had a 2 day training with the assistance and it was about the new focus of the First Presidency of the Church. All the new mission presidents this year are starting this new program and next year it will be put in all missions. Basically we are teaching the same lessons but the church has come up with some other focus lessons to help the investigators be converted to the gospel and not just baptized so that they can stay active in the church. They are called ´´The 8 Simplified Lessons´´ and basically focus on the way we can receive personal revelation and how to teach and listen better. Teaching to what the person needs to help them be converted. We had this 2 day training to go over all the lessons in detail to help us learn how to teach them and we focused on listening to the Spirit and talking when He wants us to speak. We did a practice where it was just me and my companion and we extended the baptism invitation but when we felt the Spirit tell us to do it and then others how to respond yes or no according to if they felt the Spirit or not too. It really helped me learn how to recognize the spirit when He tells me to talk and not to try and solve things with my knowledge but put my faith in God and wait and listen then speak according to the promptings from Him. It was a very uplifting training for me and I am so grateful for it. At the end we had to do a practice and we had to teach according to what we knew about the person which wasn’t much it was about six points or so. Elder Wilde was this person, we had five minutes to plan how to start the lesson just how to start. Elder Pierce and I planned something and with luck got called on....I said a prayer in my head and started.....as I talked I could feel the spirit guiding me and as my companion spoke I listened and prayed...I didn’t think about what I wanted to say but put my faith in God and the Spirit to tell me what to say. We both listened and He opened up to us. I felt the Spirit so strong and I felt guided by Him, it was just a practice but I know if I can do that with all the people I teach I will be a better and more powerful missionary. I know this is the Lords work and He guides us in it. We shouldn’t be afraid to open our mouths and talk because He will tell us what to say in the precise moment when we need it. I am amazed at the things I say sometimes because I know I don’t have the capacity to teach alone and yet with the help of the Spirit I can reach out and touch the hearts of the people I was edified this week and I know I can be better and I am striving to do that, to teach better, to prepare better but most of all to listen to the Spirit better because He will guide me in the work.
It was a good tiring week. We had a mini cambio too, so it threw some stuff off but oh well. We had a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and last night and I am sweeted out I have eaten a lot of brownies and other sweets I need salt now! I am perfecting the brownie and it gets better every time. Oh I got the package thanks mom but one question....Why did you send me potato pearls? they feed me here! but thanks mom I think I will start eating them for breakfast. I sure do love them thanks mom I love you. Thank you for all you do for me and for your love and support I love you all so much and hope as is well with you. I know the gospel is true and that we have the knowledge of the things that will guide us to the life entera. I love you so much and have a great week. Love you say hi to all for me.
Love Eric
No comments:
Post a Comment