In honor of Olivia, the highs and lows of this week:
1) teenage video blogger celebrity sighting in our area — rumor has it that he was once an investigator. We have begun to formulate plans to reactivate his interest in taking the missionary discussions/perhaps make an appearance in one of his videos.
2) We got to attend the once-a-month leadership meeting, which meant we got to eat a fancy breakfast at a fancy hotel in Centro. The breakfast alone was worth the five hour meeting.
3) That moment when our investigators start calling you every Sunday morning to see if they can come get us for church. Um, isn't that what we are supposed to be asking them? Needless to say, the Familia Estudillo is golden. They are basically members without having been baptized. Hna. Celene is incredible — a single mom with two boys, attending school while working at a hospital, too. We taught them about family history on Sunday, and by the end of the lesson we had discovered that they had already created a profile on Family Search ... they have a baptism date set for next week, but have to kick their coffee habit before then in order to be baptized, so the date will probably be pushed back a bit.
4) We found two families to teach (yay!). One is a family of five, and the other consists of a single dad and his five children. Alfonzo (the single dad) is perhaps the most humble and noble soul I have ever encountered. He has been raising his five children alone for the past eight years, because his wife left him. He paints houses for a living, and his greatest joy and worry is his family. It was such a privilege being able to sit in this man's home — surrounded by four walls of color painted by his humble hands — and be able to testify that he has a God who loves him, and a God that has a promise that each of us can return to live with Him and our families for eternity. The lesson with him was the first time I've really fully felt the true love of God for another person. The feelings that swelled within my heart were not my own, but the feeling from a God that loves His son Alfonzo in a real and deep way. I think I've written about love in every email (I promise I am not obsessed with love and am learning other things, too, and will eventually write about another topic), but it is a sacred and special moment when the very presence and love of our Heavenly Father is felt in the very room where you are seated, and within the confines of your very own heart. While the heavens may be far from this mortal home of ours, I know that our Father in those heavens is actually quite near — something I know with certainty after knowing in my heart and mind that God knows Alfonzo, and thinks he is pretty great, too.
lows:
At the moment, I can't really think of any, only the fact that this is my last week of training and Hna Martinez and I probably won't be together with this coming transfer (hence the Peter Pan reference in the subject line). These past three months we have had together have been filled with greater light and knowledge, and I will always be grateful for my mom of the mission, who has taught me how to teach and how to love and how to be a dedicated missionary. I don't know if we have time on Monday to write our families, or if it will be on Tuesday instead — just a warning so that you don't panic if I don't write on Monday.
Sending all my love and more,
N
No comments:
Post a Comment