Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Email 1-16-11

HOLY COW...I´M TRAINING!!!!!!!!!
Yes; it is true, that Elder Beatty in Paraguay is training.  My trainee is Elder Bingham from Queen Creek Arizona.  He didn´t know a lick of Spanish before his mission and now he is my ¨child¨.  We got to work on Wednesday afternoon and haven´t stopped working till now.  It was sweet because we found 4 families and 15 people all together.  YES!!!  He doesn´t really have good Spanish but wow he really has no fear in talking to people.  It’s great to see that the MTC has come such a long way; even since I was there, in preparing young men to serve missions.

A little of what happened to me before Elder Bingham got here.  We had an FHE on Monday night and we gave a sweet lesson on how and what it means to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ.  The Spirit was super strong and the family was even more committed to come to church.  Which they did.  But the best part is yet to come.  We had to eat the food they gave us.  I thought mundungo was bad............  We ate.............. Cow brains and Horse head............ Yuck....... At first I was lucky and when they said ¨Seso¨ in Spanish I didn´t know what it meant and so I was just starting to eat it.  It definitely wasn´t the most favorite thing I have eaten here but I could at least get it down.  And then the son of the family knew a little bit of English and was laughing at us and told us that we just ate Cow brain..... ugh..... I felt so sick when he told us.  Then what do they do to us..... They pull out the Horse head.  I couldn´t really tell tooo well what piece that I had gotten because I’m not really an expert on the subject of horse anatomy.  But, from what I could tell they had given me the throat section with the trachea and everything.  I think it would have been ok if they would have cooked it with fire but they just boiled the meat in a big pot and then just give it to us and we are expected to eat.  When I told this story to my new comp he was pretty happy because he got here after that awful experience.  (What he doesn’t know is that I’m planning to go back there the next week for FHE hehehe)  

Everything has been pretty good so far…  I felt really bad when he got here because we really don´t have anyone that is really close to baptism but I thought about it for a sec and decided that it doesn´t matter because I´m gonna teach this kid to work even if we don´t have anyone close.  We worked hard.... we found 15 people..... that’s a good amount.... and we had the most lessons in our district..... This is impressive from 2 young guys like us.......  

We had a big meeting on Wednesday with all the trainers who went to Asuncion to pick up their new people and the President gave us an orientation.  I met some of the other elders who came in my group who are training as well and so that was awesome.  But the president started talking to us about the new people we will be training and said that they truly will be like little kids.  Willing to learn, and always watching for your example.  

He said some other things that I will have to share later and then came the part where we were waiting for the new elders to come in.  I had a ton of butterflies in my stomach..... I was scared but excited at the same time.  I didn´t know if I was going to training a Latin or an American.  They came in and sat down and then the president called out Elder Bingham’s name and then said that I would be training him.  AHAHAHAHA I was sooooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We sat down and listened more to the president and then we left the office in the taxi to our area.  hahaha I made my newby sit in the front seat and talk to the driver.  (not my idea)  He actually did fairly well.  

We have already gone through so much and learned so much from each other.  That was one thing that the President told us.  That in the end of the time that we are with our new missionaries we will have learned as much or even more than they have.  It’s been true thus far.  I have learned a ton from this experience.  I can´t wait to see what the next 2 months hold in store for us and all the adventures we will have.  

The one thing that has touched me the most is that even though Elder Bingham can´t speak much Spanish, every single time he bears his testimony the spirit comes in like a rocket.  I can feel the power in his words.  So can the people that we are teaching.  It helps me to remember that it’s not us that converts people.  It’s the power of the Holy Ghost.

We had a sweet lesson with a man named Marcos.  This was the first time that I have ever taught him but Elder Van said they taught him 3 times before but he would never accept a fecha for his baptism.  We found him outside his house and decided to share with him.  We talked about the 3 things that we need to do to know the truth of the message we have.  
1. Pray asking God a specific question, having faith to receive an answer.
2. Read from the Book of Mormon.
3. Come to church.  
We explained and he understood these 3 things and we invited him to come to church and be baptized and he said YES..... I was so pumped because my comp gave the invite and everything and it went sooo well.  

Well I gotta go; but before I go, I just wanna testify that I know this work is the most important thing that I could be doing right now.  And I’m grateful for the opportunity that I have to help another missionary become the best that he can possibly be through the help of the Lord.

I love you all and wish you the best
Rohyhu familia
--
Elder Beatty


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