Dear Everyone,
This week has been a good week. I
feel like I learned something cool. We had exchanges with our district leader,
Elder Patterson. I love Elder Patterson, so I have no problem going on
exchanges with him. As the day went on, we had some great contacts, a lot of
opportunities that came up and people that just randomly started talking to us,
it was pretty cool.
There was this one lady, who we passed off to the English
elders who stood out to me. She had a bunch of grocery bags so we helped her
take them to her house. On the way there she was telling us about how her
sister or cousin (one of the two) had recently converted to
"Mormonism." She said she really liked the change she saw in her and
how happy she looked. She went on to explain how she really needs help and
thinks that our church is that help she is looking for. Sharon, that was her
name, told us about how she is a recovering heroine addict and has been off for
4 and a half months. She lost her kids and is now living alone because of this
addiction she is overcoming. Elder Patterson and I got her address and all that
and reassured her that the missionaries are going to help her. He also
comforted her by saying that his brothers had gone through the same thing and
are still fighting it. We went back to our house to eat and talked about it a
bit more. Elder Patterson told me a bit more about his brothers and the struggle
that they caused in his family. His parents are converts and out of the
siblings, he seems to be the only real active one and he is the only one who
went out on his mission. Some pretty hard stuff!
But we kept talking about how
every missionary has had something difficult happen to them before their
mission. There have been some who have had loved ones pass away right before
they left, some that may have been very babied until they came out here, some
may have had some obstacle to overcome themselves, etc.. The point is, every
one of these challenges that we have gone through before our missions were
meant to prepare us for these 2 years. It made a bit more sense when I thought
about President Becerra saying that we have been prepared to come out here. Now
I know how. Tough things make us grow.
Another quick example of that: My
trainer was probably one of the more challenging if not most challenging
companions I'm going to have on my mission. Not really going to go into detail
with that at the moment, but he was a tough companion to work with! But at the
end of the 10 weeks I was with him, I had learned a lot, and I guess President
thought I had too, so it wasn't too hard to begin training my new companion,
Elder Ramos. Everything happens for a reason!
Which brings me into a highlight
of the week I wanted to share. So last night was great, Lydia, Maria's friend
who is planning to get baptized in a few weeks came with us to watch a
baptismal service from another ward, which was great. Afterwards we had a set
lesson we were going to go to. But it turned out they canceled. So here we were
sitting in the projects a little unsure which of two families to visit as the
back up. We decided to go to the Mejillas. Hno. Mejilla is the Elder's quorum
president, but the rest of his family is less active. His 20 year old son
opened the door and let us in. We began teaching the Restoration to him and his
girlfriend, and it started bringin back memories for him. Then he paused and
teared up and said he wants to go back to church. That he doesn't want to feel
bad about seeing his dad walk out the door to go to church alone anymore. It
was a great talk with him. Brian, that's his name, told us that he woke up that
morning in not a very good mood, and he told his girlfriend: "I think the
Elders are coming today." And lo and behold we were there! He took that as
a sign. As he should have haha. LAter in the night he gave us a ride home and
opened up to us a bit. I am really looking forward to seeing him back at church.
As for Rosa. We haven't had any
contact with her or her son this past week. I woke up the other day with a
feeling that she has passed away. And I keep having weird dreams that involve
them. We have tried calling, texting, even passing by their house, but no
response. Which is unusual because he normally always responds back pretty
quickly. So I continue to pray for them. But for some strange reason, I feel
like she is not here on this earth anymore. But I will let you know what ends
up happening later on.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
 |
| Elders Perez & Patterson |
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