How´s it going, everyone?
I´m coming to all yall from CANCÚN, the real Sin City of the
world, where we, as missionaries, are fighting the battle for righteousness!!!
WOOHOO! Yeah, cheesy.
LECCIÓN
DE LA SEMANA: Spiritual power is real, and its effects are very observable. To
obtain it requires time, effort, and something we all know as faith.
We
had intercambios (exchanges) on Tuesday, and it was great, because I got to be
with my friend Elder Salas for a whole day, learning from his good example.
He´s actually heading home this next week because he´s already served his two
years and learned what he came to learn. I could sense spiritual power in
almost everything he did. He was confident with those we taught. He extended
bold invitations, listened well, and adapted the teaching to the needs he
perceived. He jumped on unexpected opportunities to teach while walking down
the street. I would have felt inadequate serving even one day with him, but he
treated me with the same love he showed for others. In the morning, we had the
best training session of my entire mission, where he taught me what it means to
listen and ask questions with the Spirit.
The point is not to pay tribute to an elder, but to explain
what spiritual power LOOKS like in the context of missionary service. The truth
is, all of us can have spiritual power, regardless of our current calling in
life. It comes little by little as we strive to be worthy (keep the
commandments), have a relationship with our Heavenly Father (read the
scriptures and pray regularly), and have our hearts constantly attentive to the
influence of the Spirit.
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While with Elder Salas, we passed a woman filling a bucket
of water outside her house. He offered to help her carry it, even though she
refused about a thousand times. He ultimately helped her, despite her fussing,
and as a result, we went into her house and found a big family that was eager
to listen to us! It was so cool!! Later, E. Salas told me that you can tell the
difference in the face of the person if they´re annoyed by your offers to help
or if they´re simply embarrassed.
Elder Melena and I were using the lists of members in the
ward to find inactive families to visit, and we arrived to the house of one
family miraculously in time to help them move out! They were literally just
starting to carry their things out of the apartment! That was a cool experience
because I felt guided by the Spirit to a SPECIFIC place at a SPECIFIC time.
It´s not always like that, I know, but this time it WAS. AWESOME. :D
There were a bunch of kids in the street who wanted to
talk to us. They were super enthusiastic and all of them wanted us to stay and
talk, but we had an appointment and had to go. We gave them all our pamphlets
and even a couple Books of Mormon and hurriedly tried to jot notes of where
they all came from so that we could pass by later. It was fun - I don´t know if
their families will have quite as much enthusiasm, though! We´ll see.
Yesterday, before Coordination Meeting with the Ward Mission Leader, we had an
activity, courtesy of Elder Salas, where he taught the Relief Society how to
make ties as gifts. We sat in because that, there, is an invaluable skill in
the mission. It´s actually a simple process. With these extended PDays, we´ll
probably have the time to make at least a few!
Today before lunch, Elder Melena and I went out to explore
a sinote that we´d heard about in the area. We hadn´t heard about it before
because the majority of the people don´t know it exists, but our Zone Leaders
pointed us to it as something to do. It was really cool! We walked for a while
on this jungle trail and came upon a swampy pond with a big-ole cave next to
it! Peering in, we found a bunch of bats dangling from the roof of the cave.
TRANSFER NEWS: I´m staying in Palmas!! WOOHOO! I actually
love it here, so I´m happy :) E. Melena, on the other hand, is off to
Valladolid, and I´ll be receiving an Elder Gallegos - fresh from Isla Mujeres.
I´ll update you on him next time!
That´s all for this week, friends! Next time you hear
from me will be the Monday AFTER this coming Monday. Between now and then (and
afterwards, I suppose) I wish you all the "interminable felicidad"
that we read about in Mosiah 2:41 :) -------------------
Cheeses with Elder Salas XD
When you´re the only one looking at your
camera..........
Relief Society needs some relief cuz they be
workin´ so hard with those ties.
With two hours more of PDay, I decided to make a
chess set. Yes, those are Goku Dolls accompanying the baby Jesus. I bought them
for 2 pesos.
Who´s that cave-explorer extraordinaire???
Make that TWO extraordinaires!
We found Fer and Juan at the Bishop´s house
having music practice!
Elder Melena showin off his rad skills.
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