August 16, 2010
So, I turn eleven months old on the mission today. Does that blow your mind or what? I can hardly even remember what America is like.
This week was something of an endurance test. We had zone conference on Saturday, so my companion and I spent this entire week just trying to survive until then. Most of our time was spent trying to teach people who don't really care about what we have to offer, but we did make some progress with that girl who I mentioned last week. We taught her the third lesson, and everything is going well with her. I mean, she reads the Book of Mormon and has a testimony of it, and she understands what we teach her, and she has friends in the Church, and she really gets it, you know? Anyway, we still need to get her to go to church every Sunday and we need to convince her mom to let her be baptized. Mas faz parte, né?
Zone conference was pretty good. It was actually a special conference called Mission Tour, which is when a general authority comes to speak. This time it was Elder Tobias, a Brazilian Seventy who I had never heard of. I barely got any sleep the night before because my zone had to catch a bus to Ribeirão Preto at 3:30 AM, so I was pretty zombified throughout the whole thing. And conference lasted f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Other than that, it was great. Elder Tobias talked a lot about practical teaching techniques like making eye contact and showing interest in what people have to say and stuff like that. He had a lot of helpful counsel that I'm going to start applying to how I teach.
I got a letter from Ximmer at the end of conference. So he's really going on that mission, huh? I can't believe it. Speaking of which, has Adam Sayer gotten back yet? Anyone else leave or come back from their missions or get married or anything?
We had a pretty cool experience yesterday. My companion and I slept in a little bit (I'm so sorry it was because I had hardly slept at all in almost two days and I was so tired I'm so sorry), so we didn't have any time to go pick up any of the investigators that we don't have. As we started walking to church, we passed a guy on the street. We said good morning to him and kept going on our way. My companion hesitated for a moment, turned around, and invited the guy to church. He introduced us to him and asked if he'd like to make a visit to the church with us right now. And he said he would! And he did! He only stayed for sacrament meeting, but he actually was pretty good (meaning he isn't completely poisoned by all the apostate churches out here). We're going to go teach him tomorrow. It was crazy, though, because we talk to hundreds of people every week and teach them and invite them to church and bear our testimonies and EVERYTHING and people always just shrug everything off. But a simple invitation to go to church to this guy worked. I swear, I will never understand missionary work.
I'm going through a crazy time in my mission where the high ups and suuuuuuuuper low downs are coming at a daily pace. I'm trying to find a good emotional stability in here somewhere. Things are weird. I always feel better when I study the scriptures, pray, and teach, and I love hearing from you guys. I love all of you! The Church is true! Have a great week
luv
booga
So, I turn eleven months old on the mission today. Does that blow your mind or what? I can hardly even remember what America is like.
This week was something of an endurance test. We had zone conference on Saturday, so my companion and I spent this entire week just trying to survive until then. Most of our time was spent trying to teach people who don't really care about what we have to offer, but we did make some progress with that girl who I mentioned last week. We taught her the third lesson, and everything is going well with her. I mean, she reads the Book of Mormon and has a testimony of it, and she understands what we teach her, and she has friends in the Church, and she really gets it, you know? Anyway, we still need to get her to go to church every Sunday and we need to convince her mom to let her be baptized. Mas faz parte, né?
Zone conference was pretty good. It was actually a special conference called Mission Tour, which is when a general authority comes to speak. This time it was Elder Tobias, a Brazilian Seventy who I had never heard of. I barely got any sleep the night before because my zone had to catch a bus to Ribeirão Preto at 3:30 AM, so I was pretty zombified throughout the whole thing. And conference lasted f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Other than that, it was great. Elder Tobias talked a lot about practical teaching techniques like making eye contact and showing interest in what people have to say and stuff like that. He had a lot of helpful counsel that I'm going to start applying to how I teach.
I got a letter from Ximmer at the end of conference. So he's really going on that mission, huh? I can't believe it. Speaking of which, has Adam Sayer gotten back yet? Anyone else leave or come back from their missions or get married or anything?
We had a pretty cool experience yesterday. My companion and I slept in a little bit (I'm so sorry it was because I had hardly slept at all in almost two days and I was so tired I'm so sorry), so we didn't have any time to go pick up any of the investigators that we don't have. As we started walking to church, we passed a guy on the street. We said good morning to him and kept going on our way. My companion hesitated for a moment, turned around, and invited the guy to church. He introduced us to him and asked if he'd like to make a visit to the church with us right now. And he said he would! And he did! He only stayed for sacrament meeting, but he actually was pretty good (meaning he isn't completely poisoned by all the apostate churches out here). We're going to go teach him tomorrow. It was crazy, though, because we talk to hundreds of people every week and teach them and invite them to church and bear our testimonies and EVERYTHING and people always just shrug everything off. But a simple invitation to go to church to this guy worked. I swear, I will never understand missionary work.
I'm going through a crazy time in my mission where the high ups and suuuuuuuuper low downs are coming at a daily pace. I'm trying to find a good emotional stability in here somewhere. Things are weird. I always feel better when I study the scriptures, pray, and teach, and I love hearing from you guys. I love all of you! The Church is true! Have a great week
luv
booga
No comments:
Post a Comment