I still speak English?
Hola todos!
Well, for one of the first times in my mission I feel like a lot happened this week! jajaja I'm just kidding.
This week we experienced a large amount of success in an area that usually doesn't have a whole lot of it. The first half of the week was rough. We had a hard time contacting, finding new people to teach and well, all of the other aspects of missionary work. When Thursday ended, I decided I wasn't gonna let our week continue like it was. Friday morning, my companion went to a leadership meeting along with a couple other sister training leaders so I got to bring two other sister's to my area for the morning. Before leaving the house, I set myself a goal. We were going to come back with five lessons before lunch. We worked hard and looked for a lot of people. I'm very happy to say, we did it!! Since that morning, we kicked ourselves into gear and we're able to raise our numbers to the highest they've been in a while. We are now just working hard to retain those that we've taught and put good baptismal dates with them. We seem to have a couple good prospects of people that could be ready to accept and complete. We are exicted for the week to come and hope to have a few baptismal pictures to report to y'all real soon! :)
In other, um strange, news, we taught a lesson in English this week! The fact that it was in English and just the whole lesson was interesting in itself. We were walking to look for another house and passed a fence. I didn't pay much attention to the house at first as it seemed dark and as if nobody was home. Quickly, I noted the smell of a cigarette and a dark outline behind the fence. Immediately, it came to my mind. 'Speak' and I obeyed. I greeted the man I couldn't see very well, introducing ourselves as missionaries. Without recieving a response, my companion jumped in. Slowly, the man said 'I don't speak Spanish.' We carried on a long conversation and lesson, my companion and I. We learned theat he was an orphan and had studied to be a priest but never became one. The Spirit was so strong and we are excited to return this Thursday and teach the Restoration.
I feel good and at home here in Cd. Juarez even though I may still miss home. I know that the Lord sent me here for a reason and every other day I spend here is proof. I feel as though I have grown so much and truly changed for the better. I wouldn't and will not trade this experiences for anything else. One thing that has been sticking with me the last couple of weeks has been that when we die and pass on to the Spirit World and eventually to a Kingdom of Glory, we don't take anything temporal with us. (and your all saying, well duh, but heres the point...)
What we take with us are memories, knowledge, feelings. So why not make them good ones. The good ones always come from the gospel, from living in the moment and taking the best of it with you. It's not about being worried about pictures or Facebook or what outfit we're going to wear. It's about living each moment in the way God wants us to. I've learned that the only thing I'll take to my Celesital home from my mission are the memories and knowldege I gain here. The feelings of pure joy as I watch someone I love step into the font or talking to someone for the first time and seeing their true divine potential and the contentment it gives me to share such a message of happiness with them. I've learned that now is the time. God sent us here to learn, grow and be happy. There's reason to follow His advice. I'm not great with words but I hope the message I meant to convey came across well. I just hope that this week you can all live as God wants you and experience this true joy that I have the privelge to feel every day here in the mission field. I really do feel privleged. Dios nos ha prestado sus ojos y tenemos el privilegio de ver las cosas como él puede verlas. Es un oportunidad tan especial. Podemos sentir lo que él se siente, ese amor tan grande que tiene por sus hijos y ese motivacion que tiene para que ellos pueden regresar a su presencia. estoy muy muy agradecida y espero lo mejor de todos los que enseñamos.
I invite you all to re-read or listen to this talk again. It's a good one. :)
Unfortuantely, I don't have very cool pictures this week but I'll get some soon :) I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember to say your prayers!!
Atte: Hermana Thompson
Comments
Post a Comment