Hola familia y amigos!!!
Well, this week's been great! It's been great to see a change in members since General Conference where, even though they've been very engaged and helpful in the work, they've started being even more involved with the missionaries. We had Zone Conference this week and Sis. Alba, our mission president's wife, talked about surfing. She showed a video that started off with people learning how to surf, and wiping out, and then ended with people surfing the wave and looking like they were having a LOT of fun. I don't know if it was because of being on the mission for a while or what, but I really wanted to be out there surfing! She talked about how sometimes we wipe out, sometimes a lot, but to be able to learn to "surf" we have to keep trying, we don't learn to surf from watching others do it. I really liked it and it gave me a lot of encouragement and extra desire to go "surf" and be a better missionary!
We were able to have a lesson with Walter, as well! We taught him the Restoration and he seemed to receive it well. When invited to baptism he didn't commit, but he said that he wanted to take the time to make that decision correctly, which shows a great amount of desire to actually follow through with everything. He said he'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and we're going to have a lesson with him this week, hopefully on Friday! We also were able to have a tour of the Church building with him and took the time to answer a number of his questions!
Then on Saturday we had a little bit of a disappointment. We had a less-active, Magdalena, who wanted to attend a baptism that another ward was having with her friend. We were super excited and had another "returning" less-active, Marleny, that wanted to go and was going to give them a ride. But then the day of, Marleny felt sick and couldn't go, so then began a missionaries worst nightmare: trying desperately to call all the people you know to find a ride for someone, and only a couple hours before the baptism. Finally we found someone, but she couldn't find the trailer to pick them up at, and didn't have our phone number to figure it out. By the time she got a hold of us it was too late to get them to the baptism. Our less-active is a little bit of a drama queen and she got pretty upset with that happening, saying that if she's going to make the effort to get all dressed up and invite her friend to go too, that we should be able to get her there. Now, as missionaries, we know there's not really anything else we could do, and we're not blaming ourselves or anything, but it's hard to know what to do to try and apologize and explain the situation. We did go there that night and apologized to both Magdalena and her friend, and tried explaining, and she seemed pacified, but were a little unsure how our relation with her is going to be in the future. But we know that everything happens for a reason, and we'll keep trying our best to keep encouraging her and helping her feel the love of Christ through showing her our love.
Then Sunday, Sunday was wonderful!! We had a lesson with a family that was a "potential investigator" when we came in to the area. We had stopped by before, but never had been able to set an appointment. Then this week we stopped by set an appointment for yesterday, and we went by and they were home!! All of them!!! The parents, David and Leticia, and their 4 daughters were there, Araceli, Cinthya, Jaqueline, and Josalyn. They are an amazing family and are sooo super golden. I feel so blessed to have been able to be there in the lesson with them. It was definitely a HUGE miracle. I just can't explain enough in the time I have (it's shorter today, because we're at a member's home because the library's closed) about how amazing they are, they are committed to both reading and praying, they have a number of questions that we were able to say "we don't have time right now, but we'd love to come back next week to explain more..." It was just soo awesome!
Anyways, I've gotta go, my companion's waiting for me. Love y'all!!
-Elder Whitaker
Well, this week's been great! It's been great to see a change in members since General Conference where, even though they've been very engaged and helpful in the work, they've started being even more involved with the missionaries. We had Zone Conference this week and Sis. Alba, our mission president's wife, talked about surfing. She showed a video that started off with people learning how to surf, and wiping out, and then ended with people surfing the wave and looking like they were having a LOT of fun. I don't know if it was because of being on the mission for a while or what, but I really wanted to be out there surfing! She talked about how sometimes we wipe out, sometimes a lot, but to be able to learn to "surf" we have to keep trying, we don't learn to surf from watching others do it. I really liked it and it gave me a lot of encouragement and extra desire to go "surf" and be a better missionary!
We were able to have a lesson with Walter, as well! We taught him the Restoration and he seemed to receive it well. When invited to baptism he didn't commit, but he said that he wanted to take the time to make that decision correctly, which shows a great amount of desire to actually follow through with everything. He said he'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and we're going to have a lesson with him this week, hopefully on Friday! We also were able to have a tour of the Church building with him and took the time to answer a number of his questions!
Then on Saturday we had a little bit of a disappointment. We had a less-active, Magdalena, who wanted to attend a baptism that another ward was having with her friend. We were super excited and had another "returning" less-active, Marleny, that wanted to go and was going to give them a ride. But then the day of, Marleny felt sick and couldn't go, so then began a missionaries worst nightmare: trying desperately to call all the people you know to find a ride for someone, and only a couple hours before the baptism. Finally we found someone, but she couldn't find the trailer to pick them up at, and didn't have our phone number to figure it out. By the time she got a hold of us it was too late to get them to the baptism. Our less-active is a little bit of a drama queen and she got pretty upset with that happening, saying that if she's going to make the effort to get all dressed up and invite her friend to go too, that we should be able to get her there. Now, as missionaries, we know there's not really anything else we could do, and we're not blaming ourselves or anything, but it's hard to know what to do to try and apologize and explain the situation. We did go there that night and apologized to both Magdalena and her friend, and tried explaining, and she seemed pacified, but were a little unsure how our relation with her is going to be in the future. But we know that everything happens for a reason, and we'll keep trying our best to keep encouraging her and helping her feel the love of Christ through showing her our love.
Then Sunday, Sunday was wonderful!! We had a lesson with a family that was a "potential investigator" when we came in to the area. We had stopped by before, but never had been able to set an appointment. Then this week we stopped by set an appointment for yesterday, and we went by and they were home!! All of them!!! The parents, David and Leticia, and their 4 daughters were there, Araceli, Cinthya, Jaqueline, and Josalyn. They are an amazing family and are sooo super golden. I feel so blessed to have been able to be there in the lesson with them. It was definitely a HUGE miracle. I just can't explain enough in the time I have (it's shorter today, because we're at a member's home because the library's closed) about how amazing they are, they are committed to both reading and praying, they have a number of questions that we were able to say "we don't have time right now, but we'd love to come back next week to explain more..." It was just soo awesome!
Anyways, I've gotta go, my companion's waiting for me. Love y'all!!
-Elder Whitaker