Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Email 4-17-12

Hello all,
This week has been quite the week.  So to start it all out on Saturday or Sunday or somewhere along there our phone broke and so this whole week we have been living without a phone.  Ya I am pretty sure that a lot of you are asking why do I have a phone anyway, but to really tell you the truth without a phone it was actually pretty hard to function and have success as a missionary.  We wanted to try and get some members to come to our lessons but we had no way to get in contact with them so it was a little hard this week to get some good lessons in.  Another joy is that we found out today that still we won´t have our phone yet another week. ahhhhhhhh Office elders.  We make jokes that office elders were less valiant in the pre earth life and so that’s why they are in the mission office.  It good for a laugh once in a while but its ok.  I know that they have their own stuff going on so I will just have to learn to be patient and have success without the phone. ahhhhhhh

Anyway, so this last week we really have been focusing on finding some new people to teach.  Its crazy because we found this Italian guy who is as big as Coach Cullimore.  He is huge!!!!!!!! But he is sooo funny and so cool.  We will have to see how he turns out.  

We also found this family that just moved back from Argentina and they are members.  The DAD actually used to be the Branch president here in this area when it was smaller.  And so we talked with him and he has 2 kids that are 12 and 14 that he wants to get baptized and so we have been talking with them.  They are so nice and love the church.  They were sad when they went to Argentina because they couldn´t find the church there and so they couldn´t get baptized.  But now they are here and want to be baptized.  I think we can help them with that hahaha.  The hard thing is the mom.  She is a member and she went through the temple, but she is having a ton of doubts as far as her testimony and that spiritual things are important in this life.  She is the one that doesn´t want her kids to listen.  I think it’s mostly because she has fallen away from the church and doesn´t want to waste the energy to change her life from the ways that she has gained (drinking, smoking, going to church)  Ya who said that the gospel was easy to live but really it is what sets us free and gives us the true happiness.  So we are going to be working with that family a lot this next week.  

This last week during our hardcore search of amazingly awesome people who are going to progress; we were bombarded with lots of trials and stuff.  We got a TON of mandarins thrown at us.  It was a group of maybe 12 or 15 kids who were playing soccer and they saw us coming and so they ran away and so we kept walking and we passed the point where they were at and then they all just started throwing mandarins at us.  Well at first I just would pick them up and throw them back, but then they started picking up rocks and so we just bounced right out of there.  It was crazy.  My comp wanted to tear them apart but I had to help him just let it go.  So that was a little funny. We had a bunch of people just really yelling at us this week and I don´t know why.  Usually people here are really non aggressive even in a vocal way.  But this week everyone just decided to pick on us and make sure that we knew that we didn´t belong here.  

We ran in a SUPER racist guy.  He was soooo pissed that we were here in his country.  It was super hard because he said that he wanted us to teach him but he wouldn´t stop baggin on the Americans.  He said that Paraguayans were the best because they loved everyone and that Americans are selfish because they won´t let anyone in their country.  It was pretty interesting because in the end he kept saying that he was super humble and loved everybody but he most definitely didn´t love us hahaha 

We had interviews this week as well with President Callan.  It was crazy when he told me that I was coming up on a year in the mission.  It truly has been amazing to see the growth and experiences that I have had.  He asked me a lot about where I see myself going as a missionary.  I told him a few of the goals that I have and he said that there are two types of missionaries that he has seen.  The missionaries that really just turn on the gas the second part of the mission or those that just turn on the cruise control and just ride out the rest of the mission.  After seeing a few of the older guys that are in the district I can tell that it is totally true.  I want to be the missionary that really just takes off and starts having a ton of success.  I guess it will just be a result of the desire that I have.  I’ve just got to keep moving forward and keep looking and teaching with power.

This last Sunday we had a Hermana speak in church.  She got back from her mission in Ecuador this last week and she gave her homecoming.  Really it wasn’t sad or exciting or anything it just made me think about all these experiences that I’m having in the mission.  Will I let these experiences change me forever or will I just forget and return to being the person I was before.  We all have been giving the chance to change.  Not only here in the mission do we progress and become better, not only when we become adults do we have to start being responsible and gaining knowledge from our errors and faults.  Now is the time to see what we can improve.  There were a lot of lessons that I could have learned about life if I would have just taken a little time in the moment to make myself better.  We sometimes think that life is fast that we don´t have time to learn, relax and ponder on the miracles of God.  But really that is WHY we are here.  We are here in our mortal life to help us learn and progress to become to the nature that God wants us to be, but if we don´t look around us, learn from the Lord´s miracles, and become better then there is no purpose.  We need to become humble and learn.  Become as a child.  When we can see this world around us with the eyes of a child, and with the vision of God, we gain so much more hope, peace, and love.  But it all starts with us, and our desire.  No one can make us change, no one can tell us to do anything.  The decision lies with us in the end.  We need to decide why we do the things we do.  
I love you all so much and hope that have a super awesome fantastic sunny bright and happy week.  The Lord is my light.  I LOVE THE MISSION!!!!!
ROHYHU FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
--
Elder Beatty

No comments:

Post a Comment