Alright, so this week has been interesting, and you all know what's on my mind... Transfers.
Well as they say here, ''primero lo primero''... This last week started out with...
Us getting sick again! Haha ohhhh no. We know what it was though,
as we found out on Tuesday, the salad that accompanied our lasagna last
week included lettuce and carrots that weren't washed, and so they gave
us some stomach infection fun.
It was all good though, my companion was doing a little worse, but
we were able to go get medicine before it really set in, so the work
didn't stop a single day this week, which makes me more than happy.
It's funny, because sometimes on Monday I get anxious to get out
and work already, but I know there are lots of things I have to do in
the house and such, I just don't like what it feels like to not be
preachin' up a storm. ;P
But yeah, so we got a little sick, and then we were going on splits
almost every day because... Well, I don't know if I'd explained that
our area spans about 3 or 4 hours worth of car travel, with little
villages and cities alike, and we have two wards. Well, the assistants
to the President were telling us that we had to work there a lot and as
well find a house to rent because it was very probable that they were
going to split the area and put missionaries in Altotonga (the other
ward).
So I went and found a house that is SO nice and not too bad for
rent, got it authorized, and paid for it. It's got... A STOVE AND OVEN!
Alright, maybe for some of you that's normal in your mission, but in
mine that is some high class material for a missionary. And it's all
brand new. Oh man, how I was hoping that if they put missionaries there I
would be one!
Well, then on Thursday I called the President to fill him in on a
couple situations in our district and such, and asked him how things
were looking for Altotonga. That's when he told me, ''Yeah, we're going
to send missionaries there this transfer and the zone is going to split.
Oh, and the missionaries in Altotonga will be the Zone Leaders. Oh, and
you're going to be one of them. Congrats!''
Haha it was really funny, but I couldn't tell anyone until Saturday
night, so I was just workin' my heart out on splits in Altotonga and
the district kept on speculating on the ''information'' they were
receiving from their various ''contacts'', and making guesses on where
everyone was going and everything, and it was hard not to slip and say I
was going to Altotonga, because I was super excited!
Anyway though, I kept working hard here in San Juan as well because
I know that my companion has a lot of people to baptize this next
change and I wanted to leave everything nice and ready to go.
A cool experience I had while I was on splits has to do with
something the assistants said in the last leadership training thing.
They were talking about how we have to help our investigators to realize
that they're feeling the spirit, even when we aren't really feeling it,
because we're used to it! They talked about trusting that the spirit
was with us and just being bold and explaining what our investigators
are feeling, and then inviting them to baptism.
Well, we've been applying that, and on Friday I think it was, this
young man named Kib (look it up in Ether) and I were teaching a woman
who was having some difficult times with a nephew that has cancer. So,
we talked to here, I quoted scriptures and testified of the love God has
for her, etc., let Kib testify, and, as it was a very short lesson, we
invited her to pray and that we'd come back on Tuesday night. She was
tearing up and seemed really grateful for our visit, but I
just felt quite normal. Really happy, but normal. Then, as we left and
started walking down the street, Kib turned to me and said, ''Woah. Did
you feel that?'' and told me how good and warm he felt in there. I was a
little surprised, but calm and happy because I knew that we had been
able to teach by the spirit.
It's true that sometimes we just get used to those feelings, and we
only really notice that they were there when they're gone. If anyone is
reading this that just sometimes feels a little normal about
everything, doesn't seem to get emotional or feel strong spiritual
impressions, or something like that, just stop worrying about it. If the
Spirit isn't with us, we can DEFINITELY feel that. If it is with us,
that does not mean always getting emotional or having large testimony
building experiences, we have to remember that the Lord gives us ''line
upon line, precept (upon?) precept''. That applies to feeling the Spirit
as well. As Elder Bednar says, ''just be a good boy'', and we'll always
have the quiet peace with us.
Anyway though, I feel like my spiritual ramblings are a lot less
helpful and a lot more scatter-brained in English than anything else,
and I know I'm weak in writing, like Nefi. But I DO know that what Nefi
goes on to say is true, that when a man speaks by the Spirit, the Spirit
carries it to the hearts of the children of men. I can testify of that.
So yeah, I guess I'll move on the the transfers, right? Not a large amount of things are changing, but there are a few.
I'm going to Altotonga with Elder Peña, who is my current zone
leader, so now we'll be companions! He's really good and a hard worker,
and we're both excited. Coming here to San Juan in my place is Elder
Villegas, who I met a while back, and we'll see how that goes. Then, the
sisters in Teziutlán stay where they're at, as well Elder García and
Elder De la Rosa stay where they're at, only that Elder García will now
be a district leader again and he'll have 2 other sisters in his
district that are opening another area in Teteles. So yeah, just so you
know I'll be the only american in the whole zone. Are we seeing a
pattern here? Haha I'll be lucky to be able to give a 5 minute talk in
english when I get home!
Anyway though, so I guess that's about it. Last night we visited a
few investigators and I said goodbye to Didier and his mom, and.. That's
it! So yeah, I hope you all got something from these ramblings! Love
you all!
Elder DeFreese
1. Didier and his mom. Didier is our convert (remember him?) And
his mom was inactive since she got baptized at 8 yrs. old, but is now
starting all over again and going to church and is super happy.
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