It's Justin Bieber's fault that my leaving date has now been changed to Halloween day on October 31st; way to go you little fool!
Haha, it doesn't really have anything to do with him, I just feel like blaming him for that. He's coming here on the 24th of October which was my original date to head back home, but now it's been changed to the 31st for some mission reason, not exactly sure why. He's coming to do a concert and I wanted to leave the country before he got here! It's all good though, I get an extra week of being a missionary and having people tell me all kinds of crazy stories of things that have happened to them in their lives...
Oh? your husband was levitating one night because he had reached zen and could control all of his body and release all stress that he had? Wow that is incredibly interesting, please tell me more. Oh? You saw what in your dream? The Virgin Mary told you that all is well and opened her arms to you and said everything would be ok? Wow, I don't know what that could possibly mean. Just some quick examples of some fun experiences I've had recently, I'll be sure to include you in on the full stories back home Mom and Dad because they're pretty great.
Another thing that the mission has taught me is to be a great listener. When someone goes off on one of their rants like always talking about visions and spirits and this and that as they were sleeping and talk for literally hours, I just sit and listen, waiting till I can chime in and give doctrinal input on their stories. Most of the time it seems crazy what they're saying, but I listen patiently, and not just zone out because these stories are obviously important for these people and I don't want to be rude and interrupt them. What's the best is when they tell us how appreciative they are to have us in their home to teach them "la palabra" and then they never stop talking and in the end we barely end up teaching them anything of what we want to. But, that's really ok.
What I've learned is that Latin people really like to talk, and they like to be heard when they talk. So, what they need a lot of the time is a listener, someone that will sit and hear their problems and wait for solutions from two tall skinny white Mormon dudes from the USA. I love that part about my calling, that people trust so much in us to solve their problems or to help them in any little thing that they're struggling with.
I want to talk a bit about crosses right now, and hope to not offend anyone, because this has been the theme of the last few days. There is a recent convert here that is a Catholic priest of over 20 years, and he has some weird habits now as a new member of the Church, naturally. Like, when he takes the sacrament, he says "que el cuerpo de Cristo me guarde para la vida eterna, amen", a little weird but ok. But he wears a big gold cross with his white shirt. Almost everyone in the country wears crosses here, but it is more a fashion statement than in remembrance of the Savior's Atonement. All kinds of thug kids wear them, even guys while they shoot people over little arguments. So its purpose to remind you of Christ is kind of nullified. This guy on the other hand wears it more as a tradition, and because he TRULY wants to follow Jesus Christ. So it got me thinking, is it really ok to wear crosses? Yes it is, but not recommended. Why? Because if you are a real disciple of Christ, then you shouldn't need a cross around your neck so that everyone sees you. They don't treat you any different for wearing a cross here, like they should if it was a real symbol of Christianity, but rather like I said, it has become just an article of clothing. The bishop suggested for us to tell him to put it inside his shirt at church, which we did, but in the next visit with him he told us that he wouldn't do so. He said that he "would not deny Christ", so for him he felt as if he put his cross away, it would be as if he were denying Christ. I testified to him that it wasn't necessary, and that we are taught that to participate in the Sacrament is how we remember Christ's Atonement, but Sunday came and he was still the same. I think it's just a matter of time though, because those old habits are replaced with new understanding. The guy was an actual "Father" for 20 years, I can't imagine how difficult it must be to change all that and leave it behind.
Today for pday we went off with a friend of mine that I've known since the beginning of the mission, Elder Hawks, who's an AP now, and we went to an area here in Panama called Colón, la tierra de los chombos, haha. There's a place called "Zona Libre" where there are tons of really nice stores that sell name brand stuff like Ray Ban, Gucci, Nike, etc, at WAY lower prices. It may be that all of it's stolen, but the stores look legitimate. :) All I really wanted to do was look around to see if anything jumped out at me. I bought a nice new long sleeve white shirt to come home in so I look handsome, we'll see how that goes, slimmer fit. Elder Meyer on the other hand bought tons of stuff, Citizen and Fossil watches for way cheap (actually real, not fakes), and other stuff. Great pday and great week.
I'm going to end this email with 2 things, my scriptures and a riddle for you all to solve and send me the answer if you get it right. Ok here's the riddle, heard it this week from a member: You go to a lemon tree and you pick off a certain number of lemons. Of the quantity that you pick, you give half of them plus one more to your mom, then of what you have left of that, you give half plus one to your best friend, then of what's left after that, you give half plus one to your neighbor, and you are left with only 1 lemon. How many lemons did you pick from the tree to start? :) Good Luck!
Scrips this week are the following, 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 which talks about how we can't be fooled nor can we fool God, because He will not be mocked, and Alma 46:15, which tells us what it really means to be a Christian. We don't need to wear a cross to be Christians, I assure you. I love you all very much, thank you for your prayers, because they're answers to MY prayers.
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