We got the exchange information yesterday and our district shuffled around a bit. I am going to... stay in Centro for another month and a half! Elder Chamberlain is still my companion but he is having really bad headaches so we are going to see a specialist and he might change to a colder mission. Also, the district is going to get two more latino sisters so we are now 10 missionaries strong. We went from 6 to 10 in a few changes. This is going to seriously affect my district meeting treat funds.
We had a really slow week because we always had something going on so we didn't get a single full-day. Nevertheless we got out and worked.
We had a great special conference with the Mission President on Friday. We had some really great trainings and I learned a ton on how I can improve. A lot of times I am trying so hard to teach every point of the Preach My Gospel lessons and to extend every invitation and every little thing that we need to do (like ask for references, set a return appointment, etc.) that I often lose myself in checking them off. I learned that I need to take a step back, and let the spirit guide. To put my heart into every moment and to always remember why I am here and who I am here for. My brothers and sisters and my Heavenly Father. It is so easy to lose track of this in the hustle and bustle of trying to get everything done. I know that as we trust in the spirit, he will guide the lesson. And I know that he will guide the lesson how it needs to be led.
I taught my first lesson with devout Apostolics yesterday. That was a new experience. We were searching for Jesus, a newer investigator who is very good but very busy, but he wasn't home. We checked two houses down because sometimes he is at his wife's parent's house. He wasn't there but his father-in-law answered the door. He was really nice and we presented ourselves and asked if we could stop by sometime and share a message about Jesus Christ. He let us in. (It was in this moment when I glimpsed the score of the superbowl...Go Seahawks!) We sat down as he welcomed in his wife and a bit later his daughter and her boyfriend entered, all Apostolics.
We asked if we could start with a prayer and Brother Aguilar (the father-in-law of Jesus) said he'd like to offer it so they all stood up and the ladies put on viels over their heads. I gotta say it is the first time I have been in a prayer like this. We started to teach about the Restoration starting with "God is our Loving Heavenly Father". We progressed through the lesson (with wee side comments from them in the section about the prophets how they only had them back then) and we entered the life of Christ and the Apostasy. We explained why there were so many churches and why the people were in darkness in this time. I was able to share the story of Joseph Smith. We asked them to open their Bibles to James 1:5 where we explained that if we lack wisdom, we can ask of God and as we ask in faith, He will answer us. They randomly started pulling out a few other scriptures they knew from their religion. I think they were trying to prove something but I wasn't quite sure what it was because we agreed with what they said. We went forward with the first vision and they remained quiet for a bit. Sister Aguilar expressed her doubts about why Joseph Smith's writings don't appear in the Bible and we simply said because they had already compiled the Bible before he existed. We showed them a few scriptures about the apostasy after their doubts about there being an apostasy and they seemed to sit still. (and I gotta say I think I was praying harder than in any other lesson before that we could be helped by the spirit. There wasn't any arguing, but there was a feeling of heat) We also told them about the Book of Mormon and they seemed to be interested. We explained that Jesus Christ himself said that we could know if someone is a prophet or not perfectly by their fruits, or by what they produce, which in this case is the Book of Mormon. We had given the last book in my bag to a boy in the visit before so we didn't have one with us which was really unfortunate but they said they would like to try it to see if Joseph Smith was really a prophet. We will see how it progesses. I think I learned an important lesson in that lesson. That a lot of times the people we teach will say some things that are different from our doctrine while we are talking but a lot of times it is better to keep on the course of the focus of the lesson rather than stop to correct everything they say. For example, in one point of the lesson during the point when we were explaining the story of Joseph Smith they started talking about why God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one and we could have explained how they are three distinct personages but we felt like there was another time for that. We focused on the theme of the lesson, (not to be confused with teaching a lesson instead of teaching a person because we felt like the spirit was leading us to explain the restoration instead of the random points of doctrine) and I felt like it went well. We are going to return with them Wednesday to talk about where we came from, why we're here, and where we're going.
In the conference President Munive also explained how he feels strongly that we will have success as we talk with 10 people every day. The past few days I have tried to reach out a bit more in the street, the bus, houses that are close to appointments, etc. and we have found a lot of new people. I am excited to take on this new challenge.
We had a great Sunday and I was able to play the piano. I played a special version of "I Stand All Amazed" and it went well.
Some bad news, I am getting chubbier and the food continues to be delicious... hmmm... there may not be a solution to this one. The main problem is that there is almost no time at night or in the morning to write in my journal so I end up doing it a lot during excercise time. I need to change that this week.
We are doing well here and we hope to have a week full of lessons, fulfilled commitments, and a lot of work. I am grateful for the chance to stay in Centro for a bit longer and I know that the Lord wants me here. I want to be an instrument in His hands more than anything here in Mexico. Thank you for your support and love. I know that this church is true and that Jesus Christ leads it in these the latter days. I know that we have been called to a marvelous work and a wonder and that it will fill the earth until everyone has heard the restored gospepl of Jesus Christ. And I know that He works through us.
Elder Clement
No comments:
Post a Comment