Weekly Email Finally‏

ANI MANI SATE!!!!!

Everyone remember what that means in Kuna? If you do I'm very proud of you, if not...well...I'm still proud of you, don't worry ;) It means that I have no money...

 

Coming off of Blas, we started a new month and a new change, which means that the missionary was to get more money to survive in this foreign country, well, I never got any money, and neither when the "quincena" came along which is the 15th of the month when you get a bit more money. Naturally I was a bit concerned, frustrated, and annoyed so I called the finances elder finally to figure it out. Apparently the mission lost a bunch of money and the elders coming off of Blas all got messed over and didn't get money. SO as of now being the 22nd of the month, still haven't gotten my monthly money, but luckily I had set enough money aside to help me live and all. Thanks to Aunt Debbie as well for her present in the MTC. (You remember that Aunt Debbie, that you told me to use on a bike?) Well, it has come in handy very much these past few weeks, so thank you very much. That is one thing I've learned on the mission more than anything; money management. Buying what is really necessary and abstaining from that which is frivilous, except for expensive delicious hamburgers, haha :)

 

As always, this week has been quite full of adventures that I will truly never forget. Ok, Warning: what you're about to read will probably make you upset, nervous, frustrated, and want to scold me, but know that I made it home safely, and on time, so all is well. Ready? Ok well on Wednesday we went off to an area nearby in our area called La Pintada which is like 40 min or so away from where we live, to teach people. Since it is still in our area, we try to teach them and get them to come to church, but obviously being far away, it's difficult for them to come to church, like I talked about in last week's email. SO we taught this older lady The Restoration and it went really well, I felt the Spirit really strongly because the lady had a lot of faith and really seems to have a hold of what we were teaching her. The problem is that we had dinner, then taught her, so when we finished it was like 7:30 pm. Buses stop passing by around like 7:00, and taxis didn't seem to be passing either, so we were trying to figure out exactly how we were going to get home. No..no..we didn't hitchhike, even though we tried a few times, no one was willing to pick up two wet strangers in white shirts and ties. We had the brilliant idea that we were going to have ourselves a real mission adventure. We borrowed two bikes from the lady that made us dinner, haha. Didn't really take into account that to get there takes 40 minutes...in a car going like 60mph; bike is a bit slower going. In our arduous journey, in pitch-black dark of the night mind you, we encountered many experiences, such as having to speak to the police, drinking water out of dirty rain puddles, my comp sliding and falling in the rain, etc. It was crazy, and stupid, and hilarious, and exhausting. We went about 3/4 of the way on bike, at which point we were both dead, soaked because it was raining as well to top it all off, and sweaty as can be. We were able to flag a truck-taxi down and he took us home the rest of the way. We got back home right on time for bed though, 10:29 pm!. So what we thought would take like two hours, ended up being three of the longest hours of my life. Loved it though, that's what I live for as a missionary, being guided by the Spirit, not by my easily mistaken physical eyes. The Lord really blessed the two of us as we rode home, with street lights, rain to give us rain puddles to quench our thirst, and the strength we needed to made the odyssey home. But like I mentioned before, Mom and family, I made it home, and wasn't knifed by a stranger hitchhiking, so all's well that ends well right? :)

 

I really learned this week about the importance of The Restoration and the Gospel we teach. I mentioned something in that lesson that I've heard many times, and from the District videos we watch as missionaries which are good, but cheesy. I said that us as missionaries are not there to tear down the faith of the person and tell them that they're wrong, but rather to support the actual truths that they've been taught, correct weird traditions that they've learned by the teachings of men rather that the teachings by the Spirit through the holy Priesthood, and add more, which is the truth of the RESTORED gospel. We add to what people believe, give them new scripture, show them that God loves ALL His children, and not just those up until Christ's mortal existence. If they can understand that this message is true, the one simple decision to open up their hearts and let the Gospel really take effect within them, they will know that God loves them and that He always has.

 

I promise you all, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that neither He nor our Father in heaven, ever abandon us as THEIR decision. They always want to help, lead and guide. It is us as imperfect mortals that choose willingly to disobey and stay away from God's teachings and commandments. We are the ones that choose to separate ourselves from God, never vice versa.

 

I've learned the importance of hymns very much on the mission. I never used to sing with my mom and family back in Sacrament meeting or any meeting for that matter when I was a teenager, just usually stared at the lyrics and listened, or was texting or something stupid. I love hymns. It amazes me how many I actually know, it's just a matter of figuring them out in Spanish, how the tune goes. We all need to practice singing, it doesn't matter if you think you have a bad voice or you can't sing. Just like D&C says, a hymn is like a prayer in song, so when we're singing, we're expressing what we want to say in a prayer , but through music. The scripture I'll give you all today talks about singing, because we all need to practice for when we sing at the Savior's Second Coming, 'cuz we'll all be part of that choir ;)

 

This week we also did quite a few service type projects, along with looking for a house. We found one, just so you all know, super small but it's cheap and it will work for just the two of us. We should be moving tomorrow, and maybe paint it up a bit because the inside looks gross. Some Canadian smoker dude used to live there before us and basically got kicked out because of drinking too much. We assured the landlord that we would keep the drinking to a minimum, hahaha. We helped a lady prepare completely and make tamales this week as service. Didn't know all that we were going to be doing, being that I had never made tamales before, but it was pretty fun. We cut down big palm platano leaves, tons of them, like hundreds, and then made the masa, killed a chicken, which you'll see in the picture, and prepared all the tamales. We were in charge (Pfister and I) in tying them all up. My arms hurt after all that tying, we did it for like three hours. I'm glad we got to help though, the goal was to make them and sell them to get enough money for this lady to have some operation on her spine. She came to church on Sunday so I think things are going well there. The day after we did a thing in Aguadulce, an area in our zone, called a "rescate" or "rescue" in English. What we did was we got together as like six missionaries and a few ward members and we had lists of inactive and less active members of the branch who hadn't been to church for a long time, and we went around trying to talk to them and make sure they still lived in the area, if they were still alive, etc, in order to reinvite them to church and make sure the ward list was up to date. I got roasted walking around in the sun that morning, but it was fun, got to see around another area too. I highly recommend it to all the wards back home, especially mine. Organize yourselves together with the missionaries and ward mission leader and plan a rescate to go reactive the less actives that we have back home, and through it all, the missionaries will find people to teach, and even new people to baptize.

 

Two scriptures for you all as always, first is in 3 Nephi 20:30-34, which talks about how at the 2nd coming ALL will know of the fullness of the restored gospel, no matter how hard they try to deny and reject such facts. Also in Alma 37:6-7 which is amazing and I'm sure I've said before, which talks about the Lord is able to realize great things by first accomplishing the small things. Small actions lead to great blessings, I promise you. It's so easy to sleep in and not go to church, not go to Seminary, not plan a lesson or talk for church. Small things people, and the Lord will bless you greatly. I know it and you know it as well :) I love you all very much, I feel your closeness to me always through your prayers and dedication to the missionary work. Keep on keepin on.