We had a companion exchange this week for 24 hours and I was with Elder Larson and Elder Bean, who was with me in the CCM, was with Elder Torres. It was really cool, I learned a lot from Elder Larson. Also, the service we do here is chiseling rock from the side of the mountain to make room for members to build their houses. It`s so much fun. These are definitely the descendants of the people that built Machu Picchu because these people know how to chisel rock. It`s really cool because we`re actually doing a service that helps the people out a ton. Yea, chiseling rock is huge here. A big part of ward council was figuring out how as a ward we can be better at chiseling rock for the people that need it. Right now we`re chiseling rock for a recent convert family with a mom and 3 really young kids. The dad died a couple years ago in an accident.
After we`re done chiseling rock we sit down with Josè who is 9 and his sister Mauffer who is 4 and teach them. It`s really humbling because this family has nothing. They live in a tiny plywood hut on the very top of the mountain but they're the happiest family I`ve ever met. We have 8 people in our ward that were baptized the Saturday before I came here so a lot of our time is spent helping the recent converts and teaching them and I`ve realized that I really do need to make an effort to develop my relationship with these people if I'm going to be here for a while.
So I'm not afraid to talk or go outside my comfort zone to be better friends with these people. It`s really cool because whenever I'm not afraid to make mistakes in the language I make a lot less mistakes and I can have really really cool conversations with these people and I feel like I'm already really good friends with all these people. We found a family one day just sitting outside eating oranges and we started talking to them and they agreed to have lessons with us and its really cool because every time we go they have so many questions and they read the Book of Mormon together whenever they have free time, and they`re progressing so much and we think they're going to get baptized. Whenever Elder Torres and I teach them we can feel the spirit really strongly. In the CCM they told us not to see our investigators as who they are today but rather who they can become. I didn`t really understand that until we started teaching this family. And the best part is that the parents are married! We have 5 people right now that really want to get baptized and have super strong testimonies but aren`t married to their spouse.
One thing that kind of surprised me about being a missionary is the lack of contacting we do. We`re never knocking on doors we`re always just teaching references and people who want to listen to us. I'm super sick here all the time. I`ve had a cold since Tuesday but I also super don't care because I love it here.
This week I have experienced what I`m pretty sure is teaching by the spirit. Whenever I'm teaching and I can feel the spirit my ability to speak increases far beyond that of what I`ve practiced before. Things that I hadn`t ever thought to say I just get the prompting to say them and I`m actually able to answer people`s questions even if they're really complicated doctrine questions. I`ve never felt the companionship of the Holy Ghost like this before. I definitely feel like a missionary now. there`s no more "Ahh I can`t believe I`m already a missionary" feelings. No. Im a missionary and that`s who I am now. I can explain a lot of gospel principles using my pen for an object lesson.
Also the fruit here is amazing. It is delicious to the taste and it fills my soul with Joy and I desire for my family to partake of it also. Last Monday we went to the supermarket to get some food for the week because there aren`t places to buy food in caja de agua. My companion and the other missionaries from Caja de agua immediately started getting soda and candy and I realized I didn`t want to live on soda and candy this week so I got a bunch of fruits and vegetables. You`d be so proud of me mom! But, yes, the fruit here is the best. The grapefruit here is the same size as I`ve usually had in the US but like 3 times heavier because there`s so much juice in them. Also the bananas... amazing.
One last thing before I go, yesterday I realized how crazy it is how much trust we can put in Moroni`s promise and the Holy Ghost. Last night we were teaching this woman who lives in Rome but is in Lima for a month to visit her family and, as you can guess, she`s really Catholic. She knows a lot about the Bible and she agrees with so much of what we believe in and she didn`t try to fight with us about how to interpret the Bible and we explained the Book of Mormon and a brief history of what it is and we invited her to read it and she said she couldn`t because she only believes in the Bible. I asked her how she knew the Bible was true, and she said because she has read it and prayed about it. We had talked about God as our Heavenly Father and I told her that the only way she can find if what we told her is true or if the Book of Mormon is just something we made up to bring more people into our church, is by reading it and praying about it. I told her that God loves her a lot and he answers prayers and if the Book of Mormon isn`t true he`s going to tell her. I told her that I knew that she would receive the answer that it was true and after that she said she was going to read it and pray about it. Afterwards I was thinking about how bold that is that we say that. We tell people to figure this out for themselves by asking God. No other church can make the promises we can. No one else can trust so much that the Holy Ghost will testify that what they are teaching is from God. Anyways yeah this was a good week. I love you guys! bye!
1 comment:
Looks like a challenging environment. Beautiful night scene. Hal is expressing great joy in serving God.
we rejoice!
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