Hola!
Sorry that it has been so long
since I have really written, We switched P day to today, because we went to the
temple this morning :)
Like I said in my last letter, our
ward that had 2 areas now has been divided into three. I am still in the same
area, we just lost a good chunk to the new area and moved to a different house.
Even though the new house is bigger and two story, I liked the other one
better, which was basically one big living room and kitchen with a small
bedroom. We picked up some things from the mission offices to furnish our new
house, but the house still seems empty. We have two folding tables and 2
folding chairs to study, and our beds, and pretty much nothing else. We use one
of the chairs whenever we want to use our portable electric stove, because
there is no counter space :) The doors don’t shut very well, and I am getting
accustomed to showering with cold water, but other than that, the house is
great :) no, I really shouldn't complain :) I get to learn how to wash all my
clothes by hand now! We used to live next to some members who let us borrow
their washing machine, but now we wash with washing board behind our house
:)
And the house is creamsicle orange
on the outside, and orange, brown, and lime sherbet green on the inside, I
think Makaila would like the colors.
And I lost our cell phone... left
it in a taxi. I am glad that we have a new one. It is hard to coordinate with
the members without a phone!
It was hard this past week with a
smaller area, meaning less people, and we ´lost´ some of our investigator’s (the
other area). We are still having success though. We are really focusing on
Victorino, and Sofia, who is a member of a less active family who is 15 and has
not been baptized yet.
We have been able to help
reactivate the family, and are preparing Sofia for baptism. We were able to
invite them to a Family Home Evening with a really awesome family (Familia
Duque), and it went really well. In a lesson about the Book of Mormon, I shared
the example of how my sister Shaylynn is so dedicated to scripture study, which
I know has helped her in her life tremendously. I hope that it will help her to
read the Book of Mormon and follow her example :)
And this Victorino! Totally someone
prepared and ready for this Gospel! We met him in the street and gave him a
Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and after a long tome finally were able to visit
his home. We taught him the entire Plan of Salvation in one lesson, because he
said he had read the pamphlet. The next visit we realized that his ability to
read isn’t very good, and that he didn’t understand hardly anything we taught.
Thankfully, this made him want to learn more, because he realized he didn’t
know anything about God, and we have been teaching him slowly and steadily
since. He is a perfect example of a man of great faith. He doesn’t understand
everything, and hardly understands his readings of the Book of Mormon, but
feels something when he does, and knows it’s true. He is 62 with bad knees, and
we have to almost force him to accept a ride to church. He is the only Investigator
that we have had that has attended church for 5 weeks in a row without fault.
We have his baptism scheduled for the 12 of April, and it will be a great
birthday present :). It was going to be the 5th, but we changed it because of
General Conference. We had a Family Home Evening with him too, with the Bishop
of our ward and his family, and were able to give him a blessing of health for
his knees. Slowly, the door is opening up for his wife to feel the desire to be
taught. She says that she is very happy for him and has seen a change in him,
but isn´t yet open to being taught. I hope we can help her out too one day
:).
On Thursday we had conference with
the Apostle Elder Quinten L. Cook! Before the meeting started, we all lined up
and were able to shake the hand of an Apostle of the Lord, along with the Area
Authority Elder Johnson and Elder Tad Callister. I was able to participate in
the choir, and we sung All Creations of our God and King' in Spanish. Since the
moment he entered the room, the Spirit was super strong. During his talk, I had
the thought that if an angel or even the Savior appeared behind him at the
pulpit, I wouldn't even be surprised.
He talked about the hastening of
the work, and how it is a great time to be serving a mission, and how important
it is to love the people you serve - those who accept you and those who don’t.
Also the power of Faith and Testimony He also taught that the Atonement covers
all weaknesses, inabilities, and unjustness, and assured us that we have the
capacity that we need to to do what we need to. He ended the Conference by invoking
a blessing upon us. He blessed us with the knowledge that there is nothing more
important for us to be doing than to be serving a mission right now, despite
any problems that might arise at home in our families. That we will bless our
parents, siblings, spouses, children, and grandchildren by serving our missions
than by anything else we could be doing. He promised us the capacity to do what
we needed to do here on our missions, and invited us to put all cares aside and
all burdens on the Lord, and focus on serving in love for the people, and for
the Lord.
At the end of the meeting, I ended
up being in the perfect seat. He came down the aisle, and pointed the door
right next to me and asked, ´is this the door I go out of?´ That was my queue.
I got to open the door for an Apostle! On their way out, Tad Callister also
tapped me in the stomach and said ¨take care of that red hair!¨
It was a really great experience.
Well, yup, I'd better wrap up Thank
you so much for your support! I appreciate very much your letters, and am
extremely grateful for the contributions of Grandpa and Grandma.
I send my Love,
Elder Redford
P.S. I hope the spelling isn't too
bad. The compute is set for Spanish, and I don’t have time to proof read.
No comments:
Post a Comment