Tuesday we had a zone class, and everyone reported, ya know,
im not trying to be proud,. but when i saw how other missionaries teach
and how much success other missionaries get it made me smile...
Sometimes i expect to much of myself, well actually not enough, but it
was a huge tender mercy for me to realize at that moment that i can do
this. such a confidence builder and for that i am so grateful... We ate
lunch with one of our favorite ward families, we actually eat lunch
with members every day but familia juarez is special... this wards
really poor, these people barely have enough money to put food on the
table and to pay for transportation to get to church on sundays, but
every single day i feel these peoples love for god and love for fellow
man when they dig deeper then their pockets even go to put together a
meal for us, ever heard of the widows mite? yeah, go read about it and
youll realize how great their little sacrifice is in the sight of god...
but what makes this family even more special? they do it every week...
usually we only eat with a family once a month, or less, but sister
juarez (who lives in the poorest area of our mission) has a heart bigger
then anyone ive ever seen and she feeds us... usually, after every meal
we share a message with the family, and it sucks so bad because i
cannot think of a lesson to share with her that will make as big as an
impact as her example for me... I cannot do enough to thank this
incredible woman. To make that day even better we had a lesson with
gabriel that night, ya know, our golden investigator... but that night
was different, when we arrived his mother (who wed never even taught
before) made all of her boys and their wives, and their kids come sit
down and listen... i quote "vamos a escuchar a la palabra de dios." it
was such an incredible miracle to see god soften the hearts of that
entire family as well, they have all agreed to a babtism, and so right
now were just working on preparation. it is so much fun.
Wednesday we had a multi zone conference, it was fun to get
some pointers from Pres. Anaya and the APs as well as get to know a
bunch of the other missionaries!!! we made a lot of contacts and taught a
lot of people too... we stopped by the ward mission leaders house to
ask him to come to a lesson, he wasnt there, but his cousin was, and his
cousin needed help... hes having a hard time with his family and we
showed up, right on time, well, on gods time, to teach him about
families, were now teachingt him and his family how to be stronger
together and more unified. In one week we can already see such a big
difference, i cant wait to meet with them agian.
thursday morning.... well, this entire day was incredible
actually, tuaght the tapieas, made a bunch of contacts, set a record for
lessons taught in a day... but thursday morning was the best. So, we
had an appointment with an investigator and her neighbor a member was
oging to take us... well the appointment fell through, but we went to
the neighbor membres house anyway... her names margarita, shes a single
mom with an 11 year old kid and a 6 year old kid... those boys are
crazy, but they wanted to come with us to teach there neighbors... we
talked to margarita, and like every good mother she said they had to
finish their homework first... so, thursday morning i was helping one
with addition and teaching the other how to spell (in a language i dont
even understand) haha it was so much fun, and after they asked if they
could show us all the members houses and go on visits with us in the
little neighborhood, margarita said yes and we went to work. hahaha
the 6 year old, joshua decided he wanted to ride on my shoulders from
house to house, while cristofer the 11 year old was going to ride his
bike... IT WAS A BLAST.. they showed us former investigators houses and
members as well, and we acutally taught 4 lessons together, most people
would think that an 11 year old and a 6 year old would be bad
companions but they really were incredible, all because their momma
taught em right..,. Every house we went to asked christofer and joshua
to say the opening and closing prayers, and we based our lessons off of
what those two boys knew, so christofer would read the scriptures for us
and give us an explanation in his words, those are the best, and
joshua, a six year old kid that cant even read would recite any one of
the articles of faith for us... the faith of their mother margarita was
astounding, and well definitely be taking those kids to do missionary
work with us again, such a cool experience.
Friday was nothing too special, although its fun to plan with
the bishop stuff for this ward so we can get it going.... in the 5 short
weeks ive been here this wards really come to life, and were not done
yet. it really makes me stoked to be here.
saturday was another fantastic day, we got to teach fernando
(the ward mission leaders cousin) agian and we just went to work, had
another run in with a drunk saturday night, dont worry we didnt fight,
we just had a nice little chat aobut the gospel... hahahahaha elder
sumano and i have so much fun with people that try and rain on our nice
little mormon missionary parade.. elder sumano and i dont always get
along, were super different, but if theres one thing hes teaching me how
to do is to defend the faith. really, its so much fun.
yesterday we got to partake of the fruit of our labors as the
tapias came to church along with some other investigators and a few of
the lessactive to inactive families weve been teaching... ya know,
everyone says its all about babtisms and thats a lie because the
inactive members are just as important as the investigators, and to be
honest with you, helping them find their way again is so so so
rewarding... so ya, you could say i was pretty stoked to see them at
church.
as for me? well, im doing fantastic, im still losing
weight, here a little, there a little... i speak better every day...
sometimes im really not happy, usually with my companion or with fallen
appointments but every single night i feel gods love for me and the
happiness associated with sharing the gospel.. so yeah, i go to sleep
smiling, too bad i cant say that about when i wake up hahaha jk, usually
im happy in the mornings, im only a "big american bear" in the mornings
when ive been sitting on the jon all night and havnt gotten any sleep.
haha, i still miss all of you dearly, no im not homesick, i just wish i
could have appointments with you guys too. I still love letters ;) Im
still hood, and im only kinda rogue...;) But most importantly my
relationship with our father in heaven gets stronger and stronger every
day.
As for the scripture of the week? well, im thinking 2nd
nephi 2:27... if any of you are not happy with your life and how things
are going then go read that. We have an incredible gift called agency,
sometimes satan makes us forget it, but we all have the ability to
choose the high road and experience real happiness, so if any of you are
feeling like you need a reminder on what agency is the go read it, go
learn it, and apply it.
Be Good ;)
Elda Hicks
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