March 27, 2017

Transfer Day with Elder De Los Santos

Another week passed like a whirlwind. Carson had practice Monday 7-830 and Tues. 8-10. I took him on Monday and made dad take him on Tues because I didn't want to drive the canyon that late at night. He is loving his new team. The coaches and kids have welcomed him and he's learned a lot. They are a fun group of kids and coaches.
Wednesday he has young men's with the Miamaids. He and Brother Mortensen planned it at 5pm 😕. They said it was fun. They watched the face to face with elder Holland and had treats. It pretty much rained the rest of the week. It was nice on Sunday but it's crappy and cold again today.
I was reading this morning about Amalickiah and Lehonti and just thinking about how we can all be poisoned by degree against things that are good. And how we don't even realize it is happening.
I read an article yesterday that a couple people had posted on Facebook about the church and how there is going to be a revolution of sorts. What I got out of it is That the members of the church need to be -I don't think tolerant is the right word, because the commandments are cut and dried no grey area- but forgiving and accepting of people that are trying to be better and do better and are repenting and need encouragement and acceptance and not judgmental because they look different or maybe don't do things exactly how WE might think they should. (Just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong).
I guess I'm getting old. I feel like I'm a lot less judgmental and will give people the benefit of the doubt much quicker that I used to. I'm sure I still jump to conclusions and say things I shouldn't, but it is definitely something that I have been working on or I guess more noticed that I have evolved over the years.
I like the thought that I've heard that we should see people as they can be and not as they are. I really like that.
We need to be able to allow people to repent. We talk about it and profess to believe in it but do we actually allow people to repent and be someone different or do we judge them by the things hey have done in the past?  And make them feel like they can't actually be forgiven.   I now to some degree the latter is more the case. That people return to church but feel like they are still being judged or talked about because they had some kind of problem in their life or made some bad choices.  It shouldn't be like that. We should welcome them and show them that we can be their friend and help them through whatever it might be that they are struggling with.  As a missionary you have to have that quote as your mantra I would guess. Otherwise what is the point?  If you don't truly believe in the Atonement and repentance what is the point of any of it?
Just rambling. Sorry😉
I listened to the general women's session. The talks were good but I honestly don't remember what they said. I'll have to listen to them again through the week and see if I can actually learn something that I remember. Old age is creeping in. 😂
So tell us about your new companion. How long has he been out, where's he from?  What other changes were made in your zone and district?

Hope you had a better week than last and that you are working hard and learning a lot.
Love you
Mom

So this week I got my new comp. He is Elder Giron from Guatemala. He is an okay guy. I don't think he has ever worked in his life because he wants to work so much right now and doesn't understand some of the things that happen here. He only has 3 months in the mission and the president put him as DL over me. I am a little upset about that, but whatever right. Then he only thinks about the freaking numbers. He is super dry.. With the investigators he is only a missionary like he tries to be their friend but doesn't know how. He wants to change our dinner time because we don't work enough in the day and all that crap. But hey this week we have been working really good we have been finding really good people to teach and some people just need to go to church and we can baptize them. I hope that these people go to church. I also found these sweet Napoleon Dynamite sticky notes wow am I happy for those!!!! Hahah so anyways We are working hard. I am frustrated with the comp but I guess I need to learn patience. Well I will continue to work hard and do my best. I love you :)

Mom:  Well-- I'm sorry you aren't loving your new comp.  but you need to have a good attitude and all will be good.  I think the Lord is trying to teach you humility.  Just because you can handle the leadership position doesn't have anything to do with whether or not it is your calling at a certain time. All the Elders you have served with have been called for a purpose that you don't know anything about.  It isn't something that you need at this time.  It doesn't mean that your mission is less important or that they are doing a better job or are more spiritual than you are, just that it is their calling at this time.  I think that there are usually multiple choices for qualified people to be put in different callings and the Lord puts the person that is needed at that time for a certain purpose.

Jackson:  I know but this kid has never worked in his life. He only bowled.... Like bowling with pins. But he is like we have to work 8 hours in the day and I just want to smack him. Like he has no Idea... But whatever right.

Mom:  That seems kind of strange. I guess the stereotypes of poor people that have to work 23 hours a day so they don't starve to death aren't applying to this guy. But maybe that's why he has the calling-- to teach him how to work. You can help him with that and remind him that they are people not numbers. Whether or not they join the church or what their issues may be, they deserve to be treated with respect.

Jackson:  He only wants to work. Like never take a break.... He is so weird.. I hate it... But I will rip on him with scriptures if he starts to change my groove

Mom:  So I'm confused. You don't want to work??

Jackson:  Yes I do. From 1-7 like normal. Not 1030 (when we should study the language) -12 and then 1-7 I just want to work my hours and rest. Like he doesn't understand that the people don't receive us during that time. and he will learn that he is wrong. I will just say the D&C 10 that says don't work more than you can but diligently.


Voice Recording:
We had another week pass by.  We are honestly killing it.  We are putting fire to this place. That's all I know.   What did we do this week??
This week we had changes, a little saddening.  My Dominican Negro left me, but I got a new kid se llama - his name is Elder Giron, he has 3 months in the mission and they put him as district leader over me heh heh :( get you huh?!  .  Really cool huh?  I'm a little upset for that.  Alejandro and todo -all the people  here are a little upset for it too, but it's alright- it doesn't matter.
This week we found a lot of really good people.  Like they're really good, and we found out why Alex doesn't want to be baptized too. So that's really good too.  He doesn't want to be baptized because the Bible doesn't say that Joseph Smith is a prophet and all this and that, so we kind of explained to him and he feels a lot better about it now but still we need to keep working with him so he can feel that.   We still don't know Sabrina's problem, so we're going to find that out this week. And   What else did we do?  That's about it.  We just worked a lot a lot a lot.  We worked a lot.  We found 18 new people to teach this week, so I was pretty happy about that. We're honestly killing it.   We're doing really good.  I'm excited for this change cause I feel like we're going to baptized a lot; because the people that we've found have been really really good.  The only problem is General Conference is this week and Stake Conference is next week.  And they always do it in Apopa which is 30 minutes by bus 20 minutes by car but nobody has a car here.  So it's a little harder to go.  But we'll get some people there.
I'm actually excited for General Conference.  I'm going to try and watch it in English so I can--like I understand all of what they're saying and everything, but I'd just rather watch it in English, because it's just a 100 times better in English.
That's all I've got to say for this week.  Hope you all had a great week!
Love you!