Another Week

Wow, this week flew by so fast! I honestly swear that yesterday was P-Day! Some cool news for P-Day we went to the city for the cherry blossom festival! It was pretty sweet and, as expected, there were a ton of cherry blossoms!  I'm sure someday I'll eventually send home some pictures. Other interesting events. I ate the third hottest chile in the world for the second time on Thursday, it's called the scotch bonnet pepper, surprisingly not too bad, that's what all that Mexican food does for you! Then we had Zone Leader Council on Friday which is a very interesting meeting. We received some very usual instruction that will undoubtedly help throughout my whole life. We learned about working in councils and the doctrine of councils, it was extremely interesting, and it was cool to see the principles of council working as they're applied in Zone Leader Council or Ward Council or Family Council or even just between companionships. As for our area, it's also doing relatively well, not quite as many ridiculous miracles as I had with Elder Salazar, but we still see those little miracles every day, one of which being that we were finally able to contact an investigator that lives about a 30 minute drive away and have a very good lesson with her. She's the wife of a less active man, so we're hoping that the family can be united in the gospel! Church was also super incredible! Haha Natalie miraculously came to church, she was called into work but then it rained just in time for church and she was able to come! Then our recent investigator [J] received two callings at church! He's now a teacher in the Elder's quorum and a teacher for the 12-13 year old! It was super awesome, and he already knows more than most members so hopefully it won't be too overwhelming for him! Elder Lee and I were also able to plan a workshop for an upcoming training we're doing. Haha it's super weird because as Zone Leaders we're all going to be training all the leaders of the mission on how to teach the missionaries. It's still weird for me, I don't feel at all like a Zone Leader, let alone capable of doing this training, but after some failed attempts we were able to follow the spirit and hopefully the workshop turns out well tomorrow! It's just been a super busy week of planning, preparing, and teaching! It's also been a pretty humbling time for me as I've tried to realize how to work the area since there were some days where we didn't teach even once... It's good though, it reminds me of Olney, and it's in those times that we grow the most! 

Another Week

Anyways for this week it was pretty interesting being with a different companion once again. The first week is always kind of different trying to get used to someone new, but we worked well together in the area. We found a bunch of new investigators, but unfortunately it was kind of back to the old way of finding, just talking to everyone and whatnot, so we got a lot of new investigators, a lot of which are unfortunately, as we say, cheesy, or irresponsible. Hopefully we'll be able to discern between them and sift quickly to find if they are the elect. We did have some other cool miracles though, we had a less active lady come back to the church for the first time in a very long time, and we also had some really cool contacts of people that felt the power of the spirit and were changed as we spoke to them. We also have some cool potentials coming up, once again all referrals from members! The mother and daughter we've been teaching are doing super well! We actually moved their baptismal date to the 1st because they're doing so well! Including the fact that we taught them about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity and they committed to live it! It was awesome, though it did take a little while to explain the law of chastity. It's sad that something so sacred and so clearly outlined as a grievous sin in all holy writ is now considered by almost literally everyone as something normal and expected.... Clearly the standards of the Lord and the standards of the World are nowhere even close anymore! We've also had some interesting experiences as leaders. Some of the companionships have had some issues, and we've been there to help them. It's interesting how the Lord prepares us through our past experiences to be able to help those we serve when we're placed in that position in the future. It's been a blessing to be able to serve and be able to work. Though I think I may have to balance our time a little better, I don't think I'm actually spending enough time on the responsibilities we have as zone leaders because I enjoy working too much, so I'll probably have to reign it in a bit to make sure we get everything done! It's been good though and we continue to see miracles! 

Transfer

So this week has been an interesting one for me, very interesting. Haha it's been kind of like the shift in my mission I feel like. There have been a lot of shifts, but this is probably the biggest one that has happened. This week Elder Salazar and Elder Shinost (who helped train me) finished their missions.... Man, super weird, but they were honestly the least trunky people I've ever seen, they worked hard until the end! It was really weird though, because with the death of Elder Shinost it ends the epoca where my older companions finish their missions and kind of where all my role-models have now finished their missions... Not to mention the fact that I'm now training a new Zone Leader... It's been a really weird paradime shift of the mission, haha it's actually really uncomfortable, but I guess it had to happen and it'll just keep happening. Hopefully now I can be for other missionaries what those missionaries were for me. But for some cool miracles, man, this week was incredible! Probably the highlight would be that Elder Shinost had been teaching a family about two years ago that doesn't live in our area, but we're the closest Spanish elders to them, so we get to teach them, and they are incredible. The mother has met with missionaries for over 6 years and the father is a less active member. Elder Shinost invited them to church and they loved it! Man, after that we went to an appointment with them on Monday and it was probably one of the most spiritually powerful lessons that I've had on the mission. She almost accepted a baptismal date for the 1st, not quite, but she is set on preparing herself for that day and then seeing what happens. It's super incredible, and the coolest part is that it will be another completed family! Man, there is nothing more incredible than that! We've also had some other interesting experiences where the spirit has just touched people so strongly that they have been impelled to make changes in their lives. A testigo de Jehova, this eternagator, it's just been incredible. The Lord is working with these people and we literally just stand all amazed at the work He does each day! It'll be another incredible transfer! I also have a new companion, his name is.... Elder LEE!!! Haha yep, another Elder Lee. He's a good missionary and I think we'll get along well! Man, it's just been a lot of time of thought as I think of how the mission has changed me and how it continues to change me. I love the mission so much, haha and even though Mom says it seems like it's still a long time before I come home it seems like it's a very very short time... I'm stuck with the fact that I only have [10] months. The Zone is also going to do really well. Man, it's just super miraculous, haha, I'm sorry my letters just seem to get less and less detailed, I honestly don't know what else to say, we just see miracles! [J], [V], and [J] are still probably some of my favorite people, haha man, they're so cool! [V] turned 75 this Saturday and received a triplet for his birthday and he's loving it! Man, he's just been reading and drinking it up! I've also heard that other converts from the mission are doing well. There are a few that are now less active... But many are still strong! Hopefully they continue strong and make it to the temple and to the celestial kingdom! 

Another Week

Hey family, so this week was a pretty good one! We had another baptism this week and [J] and [V] were confirmed! It was super sweet, and even though it was kind of a crazy week it was a good one! [J] and [V] are crazy and have already read some of the Pearl of Great Price and love how there are other worlds. Not to mention that they've also watched all of the work and the glory! Haha it was really cool! Man, the week honestly went by so fast that I honestly don't know what happened. We just worked really hard and saw a ton of cool miracles! The zone is doing incredibly well with every single companionship with a b-date and 18 b-dates for next transfer which is almost unheard of! It's honestly super incredible! Other things, Elder Salazar is finishing his mission and is starting to get a little trunky, but he's doing incredibly well considering he has less than a week left. It's also been a cool week to receive some personal revelation on some questions I've had about life and about myself, the Lord has really been talking to me lately and it's been an interesting experience. Other than that, I honestly can't think of anything specific. It's all just becoming more and more of a blur, the time is just flying... 

Another Week