February 9, 2015
Holy cow is it already February?? Dang the time has flown, it really has. I remember day one and now its already like day 130 or something like that. I hope that everyone had an awesome week!! And happy early valentines day!! Well here was my week,
So this week we did divisions with Elder Bolivar, Elder Amaya, an Elder from Honduras who has like 23.9999 months came down and was my comp. for a day, haha I hope that when I have 23.9999 months that I will be as awesome as him!! It was great, even though it seems like every time we do divisions all of our appointments fall, we ended up contacting a lot of random people and we set a lot of sweet appointments with new people! We even taught some lessons to some member families that are way active, here in Salcaja something that we are recently starting to do is really strengthen the testimonies of the active member families. Here there are some great member families, but most all of the members are converts recently and are struggling with their testimonies. This makes the work kind of difficult, so, we need to strengthen the members testimonies, and that is what we did. It was a good day, we did a lot of good.
Ok this week a miracle happened................ it wasn't really work related, we now actually have reliable running shower water........ and it is hot!! Honestly though, through the winter showering everyday in freezing cold water practically straight from the river was not fun, it really is such a blessing now to have reliable running water that is warmed up. Since I've been here I have really begun to realize the unnoticed and unappreciated blessings that I have had in my life. Just to not be sick and to not be in pain is such a HUGE blessing. Clean water, running water, and hot water, 3 things that I really took for granted. Having accessible food within reach all day, food that is clean and not contaminated, I could go on and on. This mission has really opened my eyes, it is preparing me hard core for the life ahead, but oh what a blessing it is. I am so thankful that I am out here right now, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!
This week we taught JuanFran and his wife. They are hard core catholics (like practically everyone else here in Salcaja), but they are super awesome. Before we started the lesson, the wife straight up told us that she respects us, but that she knows her religion is true and that she WILL not change, haha challenge accepted!! The lesson went really awesome and the spirit was super strong, I could tell that Juanfran was feeling it, his wife was super quiet, I hope that she actually felt something too. At the end she shot a ton of things at us like, the catholic church was started by Pedro, the catholics bless babies 40 days after birth like they do in the bible, and something about Mary Magdalene. But, we were able to defend and testify against all of her attacks........ using her own bible!!=) It went really well and the spirit was way strong, I feel that if the wife will open up her heart that she will feel it too.
My comp is awesome. End of story. He knows how to make better doughnuts than krispy kreme from scratch, ya this week we made stinkin doughnuts!!! Haha on Thursday we made doughnuts with the Figueroa's and the wifes super evangelical family, it actually went really well and we definitely have the love of the family now! We have been trying to teach them for some weeks now, but now after Thursday, we have a lesson with them tonight actually! They had so much fun with us that they invited us back Sunday night to do it again with them!=) Haha what a great way to get the love of your investigators, make doughnuts with them!!!=) They are a family of about 4 and the youngest is 18, this family I would love to be able to share the gospel with, and tonight thankfully we will have that chance.
This week my testimony was strengthened concerning the church of Jesus Christ. This week I learned for me personally that there is only one church on the earth right now that is structured the same, and that does all of the same ordinances in the same way that the church of christ did them in the bible. I honestly know without a doubt that this church is true!!! The evidence is there in the scriptures, and everytime I testify about it I feel the spirit so strongly, I KNOW it is true!! This week I really noticed how different, but correct, our beliefs are in our church. Many people tell us every day that it doesnt matter what church they are a part of, all that matters is that they believe and follow christ. The people here are very confused, but that is why we are here, because we know the truth, and we want to share this truth with as many people as we can. It is like Lehis vision, the tree of life. After he discovered and tasted of the fruit and knew of its truth, he immediately shared it with other people. Or like Enos, after gaining a testimony of Jesus Christ and the power of the atonement, he immediately began to pray for his brotheren, and even his enemies the lamanites. I love that my job right now for the next 20 months is to find those that are ready for this ``fruit`` that I have discovered, and then share it with them=) Of course there is opposition, there is opposition in everything, but only because we need it. When Juanfrans wife began to testify to us of what she thought was docrtine, I had the greatest opportunity to bear my testimony to her of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes I used some scriptures because the scriptures will teach better than me every time, but I was able to testify to her of my perfect knowledge that without a doubt, I know that the church of Jesus Christ is true. The spirit was there, and it testified, to everyone in the room. Even if she doesn't accept what she felt, it was such an awesome testimony building experience for me.
This week we were able to be a part of a different step in the corte making process! We went and were able to dye the huge ``labors`` or bundles of corte strands, and then hang them up to dry! It was actually pretty cool, we took pictures, but I don't have them yet so I will probably send them next week. It was way cool though, all of the different colors, probably more than 20, all hanging up on crisscrossing wires up on the roof of a house in order to dry, it was a really cool experience, and it was a good way to get more comfortable with another family of investigators. If you haven't noticed by now, we are teaching a lot more to find families in Salcaja, this is something that the President told us to do in our last conference with him.
This week was another tough week, since the college started up and the people here continue to work all day everyday, a ton of our appointments fell through. But, we pray everyday that we will be able to find the people who are ready, and also in order to find the lost sheep. The work is continuing up here in Salcaja Guatemala. We are working hard and are staying busy, things are starting to change. I love all of you, thank you so much for all of your support, love you all, have a great Valentines week!!
With Love,
Elder McLeod
