-Elder White
Saturday
The biggest miracle of the week was that I somehow got those lug nuts off last night. I was jumping on the wrench and everything in an effort to get them off. I've got some blisters to show for it too, and one of them popped. Anyways, I know that God wants us to be good citizens, which includes obeying the law and honoring the leader of the land. It's just a basic thing we can do to be good disciples of Jesus Christ. People always look at our example. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Brother Romney was teaching about this once in teachers quorum. We were like, "We're not going to kill anybody man, don't worry about about it!" Then he explained to us that the speed limit is a law, which is why cops pull us over when we go too fast. Then he said, "If you're speeding and don't get pulled over, you're still breaking the law, which means you're also breaking a commandment. That means that speeding is sinning." We all lost it, big time. I mean he's right I guess. I've got some repenting to do. haha This morning we all got up at 5 AM to go play soccer in the hood--El Agustino in zone central. I was like the environment surrounding the field: garbage. I couldn't do anything. It made me really long to play something I'm good at, like basketball. Then I realized I'm probably trash at basketball right now. It sufficeth me to say that we lost. Elder Wilcox and I had to book it back because we had a cita with Renzo scheduled for 9 AM. Everyone was like, "A cita on P-day? Sacrifice!" I don't really see it as a sacrifice; I'm just following what I know to be His will. The cita went really well. He was there, asked good questions, and accepted what we had to say. The only thing is is that he doesn't quite understand yet that our church is the only true church; he sees all religion as good. Right after, Elder Peterson, Elder Pardo and I went to go get 3 sol haircuts at a member's salon. They washed our hair after too, so that was cool. Then we went to go buy some stuff to make giant hotdogs for everyone for lunch. We ate those and watched the new live action Lion King (the cartoon is better by the way). Well, our 3 sol haircuts looked like 3 sol haircuts, so Elder Napier tried fixing it. Mine looked like a bowl cut. Looked good for his first time cutting hair, but...yeah. Elder Pardo decided to fix the shower right then, so I only had an hour for all of my internet time. We took Andrea and had a good cita with Marleni about temples. Luis canceled on us. We also taught Ciara and her friend.
Sunday
As we were sitting there in Sunday school today, the teacher shared Alma 5:27 as part of his lesson. I've always appreciated that scripture. It just makes you reflect on if you're constantly doing the things Jesus asks of you to be able to return to live with him. As I was pondering about it, I realized that I could change it up a little to personalize it a bit. In my head, I changed it to "if I were called to return home from my mission in this very moment, would I be satisfied with the work I've done? Or would I have to live with regrets knowing that I maybe could have done something more to bring more souls unto Christ?" Thinking about that really motivates me to be as obedient as I can be and work as hard as I can. Elder Pardo and I went to ward council this morning. Everything was pretty tranquil there. The bishop started teasing me a lot because I forgot who the relief society president was. Ciara and Marleni both came today. Elder Wilcox went with the other Elders to go pick up Renzo. Renzo is a good natured, funny kid. He likes and trusts Elder Peterson a lot. In our first lesson with him after Elder Peterson contacted him, we gave him the pamphlet of The Restoration. I said, "I know you're a super busy dude, but do you think you can find 10-15 minutes to read it?" Renzo responded, "Sure. I'll just read while I'm procrastinating on my other homework." He remembered everything he read. I like it. He seemed to really enjoy church too. We went to go eat lunch with la familia Cardenas. Everything from the roast beef and mashed potatoes to their fluent English gave it the feel of an American Sunday dinner. We really liked it. Their 2 kids learned French so that they could talk without their parents understanding. haha So yesterday my mom told me that Parker is really struggling with health concerns while on his mission. He is going home from his mission in Jacksonville. That was a tough pill to swallow. I wish there was something I could do to help him. We started our fast a day late today. During weekly planning, I feel like we put a lot of good spiritual goals to consecrate ourselves more. We did some quick member visits and then contacted. We were determined. The last street we contacted was almost empty, but we knew that there was someone there waiting for us. The last guy at the end of the night on the corner was an escogido named Carles that we took a cita with for Thursday. It was a typical last minute 4th floor last door situation. Love it.
Monday
I know that the priesthood is the power of God given to man on the Earth to bless his children. I know that through the priesthood, I can heal the sick, bless the weak of heart, and participate in gospel ordinances. I know that my power depends upon my faith and my worthiness, so I must strive to take care of both those. I know that the priesthood is one of the ways that God shows his love unto us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Today we had our weekly office staff meeting. There's not usually a whole lot of exciting stuff going on there. Elder Wilcox, Elder Armstrong and I were all getting hungry and were craving Burger King to end our fast. We tried ordering delivery over the phone, but they were wanting to charge a ridiculous amount. So we decided we'd just have to go to the physical location. We were on our way out when President called us into his office so that we could plan out the mission Christmas activity. That took a bit, so the 3 of us were eager to get out the door. Elder Wilcox forgot his money, so he ran back in to get it. President saw him and asked if he could do our interviews before we left. RIP to our stomachs. My interview was good. He's a good guy. We signed another giant stack of papers afterwards too. We finally left after 2. I got 2 burgers, 2 chicken sandwiches, fries, a drink and an Oreo milkshake. Tasty beans. Tonight we did the pre interviews for Marleni and Ciara. Both were super good. I was nervous for Ciara. We had Andrea sit in another part of the park since Ciara usually looks to her for help. Ciara gave good complete answers instead of her usual "si", "no" or "no se". We were able to take out some citas with some really good contacts tonight too.
Tuesday
I know that missionary work is God's work. I know that this, the work of salvation, is the most important thing in the world. The Lord needs valiant servants. I know who I am so I'll follow him in faith proclaiming his truth to everyone that'll listen. I'll be his servant to stand for truth and right. I know that helping others to make covenants with Christ is the parth to helping them become happier and progress towards their salvation. I know that I'm right here right now because it is the will of God. I know that I am called of God and have his authority to preach His gospel. There isn't a greater joy that I've experienced than that of bringing souls unto Christ. The Lord can depend on me to get His work done. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I'd look really super guapisimo (handsome) with a beard. That's basically the only downside to being a missionary. Not too much happened in the office today. I told everybody that they could go take out money today. A zone went early and called me saying there wasn't enough on anyone's card. One thing lead to another and I realized that payments for pasaje aren't automatic, so no one had any. I had to send out a payment real quick and then tell all the zone leaders that the soles wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. So everyone is broke still and probably hates me. That's just how my job is. The miracle though is that the money is gonna be there tomorrow. I'm broke too though, so it's ok. I had to go run a couple of errands with Elder Wilcox today, one of which included depositing a rather large sum of cash back into the bank. The girl was pretty new who helped me. We almost weren't able to deposit it, but a quick call to Elder Tenney reminded me that I need four 0's not three. We had a cita with Renzo tonight. He had a lot of questions about himself that the Plan of Salvation answers, which is what we had planned to teach. We asked him what stopped him from being happier and he said, "My haircut." Hahaha, whose man is this? The lesson went well. We asked him to pray to end the lesson and he said, "Is there anything that you want me to include in the prayer for you guys?" We were all surprised. That's how we always start, but no one has ever asked me back before. I was touched. What a great guy. Both Marleni and Ciara passed their baptismal interviews tonight.
Wednesday
I know that marriage between man and woman is ordained of God. I know that somewhere out there, my future wife is waiting for me. (She's a lucky lady if I do say so myself. Just joking. hehe) I pray for her multiple times a day. I know that she's a very God-prepared lady to assist me in my priesthood duties and to raise a family together in the gospel too. Marrying her is gonna be the best thing ever. I'm already looking forward to it. I know that our marriage will last for time and all eternity if we stay true to our temple covenants. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. So I'm kinda sick right now, but not overly so. My sinuses are bad and my voice sounds like I'm going through puberty again because my throat is kinda sore and my nose is so stuffy that I feel like I'm talking with my nose pinched shut. I just remembered: last week during correlations, the bishop walked up to the window of the room we were in and pushed his face against the glass and made a bunch of funny faces. What a goofball. He's an awesome bishop. Last night Peru played against Uruguay in el estadio de la U. I wouldn't have even know though if members hadn't told me about it. It wasn't quite as big of a deal as U vs. Alianza. So this morning I had to go with Elder Armstrong to buy some shoes for Elder Salway at Jockey Plaza, which is a giant mall/shopping complex full of American stores. Missionaries otherwise aren't allowed to go there. It's a super worldly place. It's not a super wicked place necessarily, but it's not place for missionaries. Today was a very unproductive day in the office for me. I think that I did like 3 productive things the whole time. It was just one of those days where you listen to half a dozen conference talks. We taught a lesson to one of Elder Armstrong's contacts. Nothing really happened there. I took Elder Peterson to visit Marleni with me. She's super excited for Saturday. She said that she's 20.2/20. Yes! I told her that she had to be 20.1, but heck yeah! One of the things that I like about La Molina is that it's pretty efficient. For example, one day they made an announcement that they were going to redo a bunch of the roads and sidewalks. A week later they started. One day a section will be all torn up and the next there's wet concrete setting. I like it.
Thursday
I know that the temple is the House of the Lord. I know that we can make sacred covenants with Him there that will lead us to find happiness in this life, and salvation and exaltation in the life to come. I know that when families are sealed there, they can last for all eternity. I know that in the temple, we can perform ordinances in behalf of our deceased family members. God gave us temples because He loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. We went to consejo de distrito this morning. Nothing unusual to report there. I personally haven't found a lot of value in going to these throughout my mission. I'd say that I've found around 25% of them to be really good where I fell like they made a difference. After that we came back to the house to cook lunch. I tried making some deep fried hamburgers--throwing patties in the same stuff they use for fried chicken. It was good in theory, but it didn't quite work out since the outside cooked a lot faster than the inside. Hopefully I can imporve a bit next time. As soon as we wrapped that up, we got a call from Elder Napier saying that Elder Wilcox's brother-in-law was there at the office looking for him. He was here in La Molina for work and decided to bring a big suitcase full of food for him. It's the 2nd time he's done it too. It was kinda weird to see your companion run into his brother-in-law. But yeah. There was a mild panic at the office today. Long story short, there's 14 new guys coming in from the MTC and they're all going to get here late Sunday night/early Monday morning. So they're getting here early and we don't know what to do with them. There's them in addition to all the missionaries going home. So Elder Wilcox came into my office freaking out. An Elder got called into President's office for an interview because he's getting sent home for health related reasons. Poor guy came into my office all red eyed to ask for money for a taxi. It hurt me to see that. I found the house where the Germans live. Now I just need to start practicing again hehe. We had a cita with a contact, but that didn't really go anywhere. Then we went to go check up on Ciara. She's lista. They gave us cachanga afterwards, so that was tasty. From there we went to go and visit some less active members. Everything is good here in Covima.
Our zone's gang sign ("y" in australian sign language).
Friday
I know that as we serve others, we will find true happiness because we're also in the service of our God. I know that as we follow the gospel and become more and more converted, we will naturally find ourselves serving others and wanting to share the gospel with them too. There's something about helping people that brings real, lasting happiness that you can't find in other places. I know that as we keep this, the second great commandment, we will find many blessings from Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. A couple of days ago, I got the chance to call Hermana Maria, my first pensionista. The missionaries in Huaycan are living with her and they didn't have the electronic payment set up yet, so I aprovechared (took advantage of) that opportunity to call her and catch up, and also to ask her to send me some papers. That was really nice to say hi again. So this morning we had a cita with Renzo. All of the other secretaries had errands to run, so I called the zone leaders and enlisted their help for it. So Elder Tenney, Elder Driggs and I took him to a park to teach him about the Sabbath day and Word of Wisdom. I thought it'd be an easy lesson, but it turns out that the guy likes his marijuana. I mean, he's got a plant in his house and everything. He was kinda reluctant about it, saying that he only smokes it once a month (they primarily use it as medicine for their grandpa). In the end though, he was in agreeance that he needed to give it up. It went well. At the end of the lesson he asked us if anyone else was getting baptized with him Nov. 2. We said a family of 4 was. Then he asked, "Pues, ¿quren esta ganando? ¿Quien tiene mas fe? (Well, who is winning? Who has more faith?)" Hahaha, let's see if you can stop smoking joints. He's cool though. So today Elder Armstrong, Elder Wilcox and I had to take Elder Ordoñez to the airport to drop him off. There was a lot of traffic and long story short, we got him on his flight, but the airport attendant dude said that we were literally 1 1/2 minutes late and couldn't get his bags on. We were triggered. "I watched you guys stand there for 2 minutes. You should have talked to me sooner." Anyways, we had a lesson with Patricia and her El Salvadorian-Canadian husband. It was a good lesson. I definitely think they're gonna progress, but it might be a different course than what we usually take.
Pictures from the week:
Playing soccer this morning.
Filling my water bottle.
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