Hey My Family! What’s goin’ on?
So this week has been good, a little bit harder as far as
the work goes. We did find a lot of new people to teach, but notwithstanding we
didn’t get too many new baptismal dates with people. But we are going to
continue to press forward for a better week. Try to control things better. We
did have a multi-zone conference on Tuesday which really inspired me. It was
funny because the assistants, one of which was Elder Blair, a good friend of
mine, they gave a training where they got up and they started looking for their
scriptures, started looking for their folders, started trying to get a visual
presentation ready, and we were all like “man, these guys are really
disorganized!” and we were all kind of judging them. Then Elder Vieja, said
“How do you guys feel right now?” and we were like “what?” and he said: “how do
you guys feel that we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off
trying to look for things?” and we were like: “we were judging you guys like
you guys were really disorganized.” And he said: “THAT is the importance of
organization. People won’t trust you if you ‘re not organized.” WHOA. That was
crazy. I didn’t realize how disorganized I am being. I really have to work with
Chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel. But really as I have tried to get better at
organizing myself this week, I have really seen how it helps. It’s kinda funny
because when missionaries get going and we are just like “man, we have so many
appointments all the time!” that we forget to do weekly planning, or we forget
to do companionship study, all those things to get organized and we throw
ourselves down a hole, so to speak. Cuz we have so many things to keep track
of. You have to do everything in order; I have learned that this week. Even if
you have to cancel an appointment to do planning. You gotta do it. If not, all
of our work is for nothing. That, I think, would be the main lesson that I
learned this week.
Well, my companion has had a few struggles with his family,
we are in the balance right now of knowing whether he is going to go home or
not. We will see here in the next hour if he is going home or not. If so, that
means that I will stay here for longer than I thought and I might start over
with the training. That’s something that I really hope I don’t have to do,
because I have really grown to love Elder Arcos, and It has really been a lot
of fun being able to train him. I have seen a lot of progress with him and a
lot of progress with me. I think the other lesson that I learned this week is
that in the program for trainers, it’s called “the first 12 weeks” it’s a nice
little booklet that the trainers have to go through to train the new
missionary. Part of it is how to teach the trainee how to teach people not just
with the lesson, but how to teach with their needs. I really noticed in a
really powerful companionship study how Aaron in the Book of Mormon in Chapter
22 of Alma really was able to do that.
He was a great model of how to teach. He understood the needs the king had and
he built upon that. I have been trying to understand that more and trying to
help people instead of just teaching them, you know? Instead of just shoving
information down their throat. I know the Gospel changes lives that way. The
Gospel has become something that I am very passionate about. I know how it
changes lives, how it enriches lives, and how it brightens lives. That, like it
says in Alma 32, that faith, if you let it grow, will sprout forth into eternal
life. I have just had so many experiences testifying from my heart that we are
teaching people and not lessons. It has just been immensely fulfilling.
Besides all of the poorness that you see here in Cucúta,
because we are right by the border, you look out over the hill and you see
Venezuela and the border right down there about 5 minutes away in car, and you
see so many people suffering, but then you see how the Gospel helps them. I
LOVE IT! I wish I could do it forever. You know? I will.
I am off my soapbox, I am done ranting I promise. I am just
happy. I hope you enjoyed the photos that I sent and I hope to be talking to
you soon. Talk to you next week. Have a great week and remember to let the Lord
bless your life by reading, praying, going to church, and really looking for
him in your lives. Looking to have a spiritual experience, even if it is a
little one every day. I know it’s possible, and I know it will bless your
lives. I feel the spirit as I am talking right now. I know it’s true. I hope
you guys feel it too. I guess that’s my invitation though. I love you guys,
have a good week, talk to you next week. Thank you so much, Chao!
-Elder Lewis
They don't have running water, so you have to grab water from a tank to wash dishes.
we ate lunch at a member's house on Sunday. It's an example of how people can have very little and still be very happy. (The lunch was amazing.)
"La Embajada" This is the house of our awesome pensionista, (a person that the mission pays to make lunch for the missionaries.) He has been to Utah before, and he will be going again in July-September. We should invite him. He cooks AMAZINGLY. Seriously, Let's invite him.
we saw a falcon eating a lizard... it was cool because another falcon was diving, almost hitting off the power line, just to mess with the other falcon haha!
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