benjamin got baptized this week! woo! and confirmed! woo!
but anyways, it was a pretty swell week. on tuesday we had divisions, and i went to republicano. it was an awesome experience that made me even more sure that God knows what he's doing in sending missionaries to their missions and areas, and even in doing divisions he has a plan. we didnt really have a super productive day, we were just contacting a lot, but we got to talk to mariana (ex girlfriend of guillermo who used to live in my area but is now living in republicano with her family) and afterwards we went to talk with a recent convert, which was the cool part. he was inactive for a time as his wife was pregnant and couldnt walk much, but their baby was born and they went to church. the only thing is that he didnt want to receive the priesthood cus he was a bit afraid of responsibility, and the bishop asked us to help him with that. we went and had a super spiritual lesson, and i shared the story about when i had a cyst and it went away after a blessing, and he said he wanted to prepare himself and receive the priesthood, so that he could be ready when God needed his help. it was awesome.
we were teaching benjamin all week and then had his interview on thursday. Elder Huntsman had to do another interview too and one of the investigators of the zone leaders was gonna be interviewed, so we did divisions for a few hours - i went with Elder Ponce, one of the zone leaders, to their interview, Elder Huntsman went with one of the other elders in our branch, and his companion went with the other zone leader. everything went pretty swimmingly.
we had the baptism on friday, cus the investigator of the other elders that was gonna get baptized was gonna have her birthday party on saturday. that was a bit abnormal, but everything went well. there wasnt quite as many members as usual because a lot were working but the youth from the US all came and they did a special musical number that was cool. benjamins dad gave a talk and talked about how benjamin was being a great example for him, as he's been inactive for years and now because benjamin has always wanted to get baptized he's pushing his dad to be a good example too.
on sunday we got to church, and benjamin wasnt there and hadnt gotten there by the time church started. they did the confirmation of the girl that got baptized, and Elder Huntsman and I were a bit disappointed as that wouldve been two weeks in a row where we baptized and didnt confirm. then about halfway through the sacrament meeting we saw him and his little sister walk by the door and come in, and a bit later their mom got their too. we did the confirmation after the talks, and afterwards talked a bit with them - turns out they were a bit behind in getting ready so the mom had told them that they should start walking and that she was gonna come on the motorcycle to pick them up on the way. they ran the whole way there, crossing a fairly major street too, and got there well before their mom and she was a bit worried when she didnt find them on the way but then found them already in church. his dad got there after sacrament meeting, and we visited them that night and he said that he knew he had a great gift from God to be able to teach by the Spirit, which he had noticed when he was helping us teach benjamin, and that he wanted to be active again in the church and be more righteous to be a good example for his son and to be able to make better use of that gift which was pretty sweet too.
we've also been teaching edgar and kevin and their family. edgar is the teenager that just showed up in church last week. him and his brother came again yesterday, and theyve been going to all the church activities. their mom was sick yesterday but says she wants to come too and their dad is currently playing soccer every sunday, but the tournament ends soon so he'll also be able to come. edgar and kevin are super excited to keep learning and to get baptized. its pretty amazing how God works - even through things that seem bad God can work miracles. they used to live lower and a lot further from the church, but their house got flooded and now they live two blocks away, and we were able to find and teach them.
another crazy story - the other missionaries in the branch gave us a reference of a guy that had contacted them, and asked for me. turns out he had seen us walking in the street and thought that i looked a lot like his son, who died five years ago, so then he saw elder blackett and elder fonseca and asked them for me. we visited them and taught about eternal families and the plan of salvation and baptism, and they said they couldnt come yesterday, cus every sunday all their kids come for lunch, but that they were gonna tell their kids not to come this sunday so that they can go to church.
on saturday we went and painted the room of a convert of Elder Huntsman as a baby shower/going away present from him, as he might get transferred this week. first we sanded off all the old paint and there was a ton of dust everywhere. then we filled all the holes in the walls and painted it all. the converts brother helped us too and we taught him a bit. he's cool and says he wants to go to church and get baptized, but that he's not gonna get baptized until after his birthday (august 31) because he wants to go party on his birthday.
also changes are gonna be this week. until now i've always stayed two transfers with my first companion in each area, but this week president Agazzani wrote me and asked if i'm ready for new challenges, so on wednesday we'll see what's gonna happen, and i'll let you know next week. it'll be a shame to see Elder Huntsman go, cus we got along pretty well, but i guess thats life.
but anyways i know that this is the church and the work of God, and that he really is directing every part of it by revelation to his chosen servants, and that if we take part, we will be extremely blessed. i also invite everybody to follow the counsel that Elder Ballard gave in his conference talk (which is super awesome by the way), and get a hold of a copy of preach my gospel and begin to study it (there's one in my room thats up for grabs), and then share what you're learning with the missionaries assigned to your ward and with me, so that we can all better learn how to do missionary work.
i forgot my camera this week so theres no pictures sorry.
No comments:
Post a Comment