Elder Carson's 3rd Week (right?) - and 4th...

Hola, mi gente! 

First of all, sorry about last week - just after I finished a few personal emails, the internet went down campus-wide and I couldn't finish. I'll include stuff from both weeks today :) Also, I have my journal, so I'll make sure to share the best stuff! 

LECCION 1: LISTEN TO THE PROMPTINGS OF THE SPIRIT. Just. Do. It. (Shia LeBouf). I've been playing lots of cage futbol, and it's been fun and all, but it seems like every time I play, I get hurt. The other day, this futbol legend Elder Farados slammed the ball right at my face, popping the lens out of my glasses, which in turn cut the eyebrow area of my face. I think the Spirit told me right about then, "let's take a break from futbol for a while". Of course, being the competitive winner that I am, I promptly forgot that little message and went back to the courts next gym time. 

Bad idea. I rolled my ankle probably worse than I ever have. I got back to mi casa and it was all swollen. My companions helped me ice it and elevate it that night.

The next morning, I couldn't even make it to the bathroom on my own feet. It was painful. I was so scared that they were gonna send me home to recover. I asked my companions for a blessing, and they agreed. It was funny - I don't think E. Chamberlain has ever given a blessing before - but he prayed that I would be able to go to the Embassy that day and walk by myself. He promised that the Lord would use this experience to teach me, and that it wouldn't inhibit my role in this work. True story - by that afternoon, I was walking PERFECTLY NORMALLY. I couldn't believe it. Blessings are legit, guys.

LECCION 2: ALWAYS WATCH THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST VIDEO. Seriously. It's a missionary address by Elder Bednar, but it is applicable to everyone. He talks about what differentiates Christ from normal people, and what we can do to be more like him. By the end of the video, my mind was blown hard-core.

LECCION 3: THE BOOK OF MORMON IS AMAZING. I was thinking about this during personal study. How many Christian lives are based off of (or at least influenced by) the teachings of Christ?? A TON. And here we are, with records of ANOTHER one of Christ's minitries! How many Christians would die to read that if it came from their own preacher?? Therefore, as we share the message of the restored Gospel with others, we should be EXCITED. The Gospel has been restored! We have more to learn!! Yay!!! As we take this approach, people willl feel the living, breathing energy of the truth in these Latter Days.

LECCION 4: IF YOU CAN GET TO THE HEART WITH INSPIRED QUESTIONS, YOU CAN CHANGE LIVES. We had been talking in class about inspired questions, so I decided to go for it in our next lesson with the fake investigator, Sara. While we were teaching about the Plan of Salvation, I asked her, "Hermana, if you could have the chance to sit down with God and Jesus Christ and ask them a question, what would you ask?" She started crying. Right there. She told us about a hard experience in her past and that she would talk to them about it. I was sincerely moved by her words. Plus, after that, she was willing to commit to every challenge we extended.

LECCION 5: YOU CAN'T TEACH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO LEARN. One of the maestras from the neighboring district asked me to come and help an Elder who is struggling with the language and with staying on task. Well, I tried. For the first half of the session. We drilled some vocab, and I think he got a few words, but I soon realized that it wasn't the most effective way to teach. So, for the next half, I asked him about himself. I asked him about what he likes, what he knows about his mission, and what kind of missionary he wants to be. That did it. I promised him that if he would be strong and obedient for his time in the CCM, he would come to be an expert in the language.

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So, just a few more tidbits about the past couple weeks!

Spanish is coming great. I had a fifteen minute conversation with a latino elder over lunch, and he praised me on my pronunciation (great feeling).

I'll tell you a bit about my teachers: Hna. Sanchez is nice, goofy, and fun. She tries to use American slang and she even dabbed in front of the class XD When we're teaching fake investigators, she's the more cooperative of the two. Typically. Hna. Zuñiga is a little more on the ball - she gets stressed when we have to time-crunch. BUT, she's a lot more helpful with answering questions, and she introduced my companion and I to a Hermana who served in our mission!

Speaking of this Hermana, she had lots of good things to say. She said it's beautiful and that there's a lake called the Lake of Seven Colors where you can baptize (you can see all the colors of the rainbow in the water). She told us she'd get back to us with some Mayan flashcards, but we're still waiting on that.

In the casa, the elders also drafted a Bro. Constitution. Nuf said.

Anyway, that's all for this week! I love you all, and wish you the best. More coming next week!

- Elder Carson

 

 

Language Study with the mission fam.

 

We did a little bit of decoration during an extra-long district meeting. Notice in the top right corner that we are creaming the maestras in a game of "Quien es el latino?"

 It looks worse (read: cooler) in person, but you get the picture. *pre-shave and pre-haircut*

The ankle set-up on the night of the event.

 My companion got a box of donuts, but not just any donuts....