Hey friends and family!
Sometimes, as missionaries, we have our ups and our downs. When we are up, the world is beautiful and everything goes just swimmingly. In the downs, we learn that we must put all of our trust and faith in our Heavenly Father to get us through. If not, we end up having a ton of problems and can get depressed. It has been really rough this transfer because we have not been able to go out and work. This week, we were finally able to start working normally again Thursday.
Sometimes, as missionaries, we have our ups and our downs. When we are up, the world is beautiful and everything goes just swimmingly. In the downs, we learn that we must put all of our trust and faith in our Heavenly Father to get us through. If not, we end up having a ton of problems and can get depressed. It has been really rough this transfer because we have not been able to go out and work. This week, we were finally able to start working normally again Thursday.
In my studies, I found a quote by El. Pino that says, "The only true source of comfort is God". At first I thought, "No, I can find comfort in chocolate or whatever worldly thing that can make me happy temporarily." but as I began to think more, I realized that what El. Pino said is true. Our Heavenly Father knows us and what can make us happy (though chocolate always does help). I found this week to help me get through everything that my prayers became more sincere. I found more comfort and answers in my studies. While Hna. Padilla rested, I cleaned the house and my shoes. Our neighbor brought us potatoes and rice so that we could make a simple dinner.
I remember that when I was going home this time last year, Hna. Richardson called me and talked to me about how during our trials, we need to show even more gratitude to life our spirits because this is what they always do in the scriptures. I personally thought that she was a little crazy but then I started to look into it and it really does help! I read a talk by El. Gong where he talked about how we always need to remember Christ in every aspect of our lives. One of the ways to do that is to be grateful in every moment. Later in the evening, the owner of the house stopped by to talk to us about how the house and neighbors were. She said that her brother would pass by to fix somethings the next day and that she would talk to our crazy neighbors (since I have been here, our other neighbors have called the cops on them twice). It is so nice when the owner of the house is LDS because they usually take a lot better care of us.
There were quite a few changes again. Now we will not be having zone meetings every week. There were a few other changes too. It is crazy but they all make sense. We went to go find one of our less actives and ended up finding him at his job. He was amazed that we found him at work. I couldn't help but laugh. We visited the family Chaves and then a family Cacuango. The wife is slowly starting to progress! She read the chapter that we assigned in the Book of Mormon and felt like it really did answer her question! She said that she felt so good about what she read that when we offered to give her another chapter in the Book of Mormon to answer a question, she got so excited.
We went to visit the family Cacuango but they were a little busy with their new house that they have been building for the past few months. We helped them clean up a little bit so that we could share something quick with them. As we were getting ready to finish up the lesson, the little girl Amy, a 1 year old, picked up a screwdriver and almost stabbed Hna. Padilla in the neck. After we took away the screwdriver, I almost died of laughter. They always talk about "Chucky" here and so I said that she was mini-Chucky. Amy seemed to like the name. After family Cacuango, we visited Silvia who was super excited to update us on her husband. Ever since our first lesson and explanation of the Book of Mormon, he has been reading a ton. He is really excited to come back to talk to us more about what the gospel has to offer him. Silvia was so excited to tell us about his excitement. She is now more encouraged to come back to church.
We got a call from an hermana who asked us if her little boy was going to be baptized today. He is 8 years old and she has only ever known missionaries to do baptisms. We called the bishop and he explained that it was for the next week. We called her back and explained it to her. We found a less active that I had been looking for since the end of May. She was really excited to see us and told us how the missionary who baptized her had just come to visit her. Heavenly Father has a way of putting things in just the right place. Like it says in 1 Nephi 21: 14-16, Christ has us engraven upon his palms. He will never forget us. Sometimes things get hard but Christ knows exactly what we are going through and what He can do to help us.
We had a busy Sunday. We got more less actives to work with and the ward mission plan. Our bishop was super excited to show us that we were right on track to reach all of our goals. The other bishop gave us the assignment to work in a specific part of the sector where there is a ton of potential. We have it set up to work with several members to go there. We went walking around Gualapuro looking for a few people but they were not home. On our way down the giant hill, a lady started to talk to us and we chatted with her. She was so excited to hear what we had to talk about that she said that she wanted us to come visit her and her husband. We have an appointment for Friday with her! We had the wife of one of our less actives slam the door in our face. That was a first... We were able to enter and chat with him. You have to love the awkward situations...
Today we had a district activity where we ate, watched the life of Joseph Smith, and played a game with a basketball. It is the simple things that are the best! I hope you have a great week and keep me up to date in your lives!
Until next time,
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