Well, hello there family and friends,
I'm going to be honest here, my feelings are mixed this week.
I'll explain that in a bit. =)
Firstly
I must speak of the first things. So, on Monday night we had to go to
Xalapa for our ZL conference thingy and stay the night at the
secretaries' house, which was fun. We didn't sleep super well but it's
all good. Then, on Tuesday we woke up early and got stuff ready for the
President to whip us into gear. Haha it was cool, we had our conference
thingy (I've given up on saying counsel/council because I don't remember
which one it is...) and President took out a special scripture on us
from Hebrews. Remember the one that talks about milk before meat? Yeah,
he said, ''this one is for my Zone Leaders''. Haha so we all got a
little ''planched'' if you remember that word.
Anyway, he re-taught us the basics and had us do some practices,
among other things, so it was good. Then from there we ate food and I
had to say some goodbyes to some good ZL buddies, because it'll be the
last time I see them.
From there we went to ADO and took a bus home. We got back around 7
or 7:30, dropped the matierals and our suits off at the house and ran
to av very far away appointment which fell through. So we checked a
couple other people, went home and planned and prayed, etc.
The next day, we started out with Zone Class which went well. We
did some practices there which turned out well, and after class were on
our way to go eat. We had a little time before the food appointment, so
we decided to drop by an inactive member's house. We taught her the
restoration, and finishing it up these furniture people got there with a
GIANT dresser. So we helped them get it in the house, but they had to
get it into a tiny room in the back of the house. I will never be able
to explain in words just how IMPOSSIBLE that looked to us with the tiny
spaces and many things packed into the house already, but we offered our
help, because the furniture guys had to go. The sister of course knew
that we had a food appointment, so she just told us to come back after.
So, we went and out, went back, and faced the test. To make a long
story (that I'll tell you all soon enough anyway) short, it took us two
hours, lots of thinking and the breaking of a few items (luckily not
valuable items), the exhaustion of body and mind, and a miracle to get
that giant dresser in the tiny back room, but we did it. I think that
sister was pretty appreciative of that. =)
After that, late but commited, we went to San Juan to help out the
Elders there. They've been having some trouble in their area, and I
don't know if I mentioned this last week, but we agreed to leave our
area behind and go help them out on some splits with the 4 of us working
in their area. So that's what we did. We found a few cool people, got
some referrals, and taught some lessons on both sides, so it went really
well. Anyway, the point is though that when the night ended, we
realized that the next day was Thursday already and we still hadn't done
anything in our area that week!
So we put some good plans and goals and got going the next day. We
knew that we had to help somebody to baptism that week, but we didn't
really know who in that moment. So we ran around with everyone possible
on Thursday and found ourselves visiting Iris' dad, because she wasn't
home. Remember her? She's been to church about a month now and her dad
wouldn't give her permission to be baptized. We'd tried lots of things,
but he wouldn't budge. So in that moment, as my companion talked to him,
I said a little prayer and felt prompted to simply share a scripture or
two with him, be direct, and commit him to talk with his daughter about
HER desires to be baptized and to ask her why. He commited to do so.
The next day, we went with her again and lo and behold, she told us
that her dad gave her permission! So, we got her interview done, her
form signed, and kept working with other investigators until Sunday.
On Sunday we were blessed again with investigators that went to church,
and Iris was baptized afterward by her member friend, Erik.
This
week we have lots of possible people to baptize, and I want to sprint
to the end working my hardest to help all those that I can to take that
important step. I know that I'm not the one who makes the change, it's
in between God and the individual, but I hope and pray to be guided to
simply show them the path that they should take and that God can touch
their heart.
I know this work is true and I've seen miracles every day. I love
these people here and THAT is why I feel weird this week. I'm going to
miss these people very very much, and I don't think they know or
understand how much I love and appreciate them, but the only way I can
show it to them is through service. I hope that this last week of my
mission will be the best week I can give.
I love you all and I'll see most of you soon. Don't know if I'll
have a chance to write next Monday, but I'll try to send a few lines
your way anyway.
Until next time,
Elder DeFreese
1. Baptism of Iris. =)
2. Hangin' out P-Day style with the Teziutecos.
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