February 16, 2015
Hey everyone, another week has flown by!!! I hope that everyone had a great Valentines week, up here in the mountains we certainly did!! No but this week was really awesome, a lot of good things are happening up here in Salcaja.รง
I guess I will start with Kevin. We went to go and teach him again this week and set a baptism date with him. But one question led to another, and soon he was contradicting the bible! We tried to explain things the best that we could, but he ended up with his answer that it is Christs fault that bad things happen to us and that he wants us to sin, how crazy is that!? We actually ended up having to leave him for a little bit, he needs some time to study and pray, and develop a testimony, us fighting with him and trying to teach him is not going to do anyone any good. So in 2 weeks we are going to check back with him, of course we will continue to invite him to church, but we are going to wait 2 weeks before we visit him again.
This week we had cambios!!!! I was super nervous because I had a 50% chance of switching areas, but I didn't get the call!!=) I am so excited because I get to stay a little bit longer here in my first area, Salcaja! My comp is awesome and things are starting to get rolling here, I am really excited because with the next 6 weeks we might have a couple of baptisms! Elder Flores, the last of the original family of missionaries here in Salcaja leaves tomorrow, I am so lucky that I have the chance to stay here and progress the work. Like my comp said, I didn't have cambios for a reason, there is a reason that I am still here in Salcaja. I know that there are still things that I need to do here in this place, everything happens for a reason.
This week we had stake conference in Las Rosas, the biggest chapel in our mission!! it is incredibly big, we fit 750 members comfortable, with room to spare!!!! It was a really powerful meeting too, the temple president spoke, and so did our mission president and his wife. The topic was temples, how we have them, but we don't use them. The temple president started off his talk by saying this, ``If you are not attending the temple as often as possibly, you are literally wasting away potential blessings for you and your family.`` When he said this it struck me just how important going to the temple is, not just for the people that we are helping, but for ourselves too. Obviously missionaries don't go to the temple, only once every 6 months, but it was good for the members of our branch to hear and understand. Here in Salcaja, we are the only branch in the whole stake, a branch is smaller than a ward for those who don't know. Our members here are mostly converts and their testimonies aren't very strong, it was good for them to learn more about the temple and how one day they will be able to go through it if they stick to the path. We even had 2 investigators there which was awesome!!! This family of 2 has been assisting pretty regularly, I feel that they could be baptised in the end of February or the beginning of March!!
This week as we were walking home one night, we decided to walk a different way to our house. As we did, we ended up seeing an old friend of ours who we talked with for a while. After we did, we continued on our way, when something incredible happened, A man named Willy was leaving a random tienda on the side of the road! This man was a reference that we received from the hermanas in a different city, but we could never contact him, he never answered his phone and we didn't know where he lives!! He was super super nice and excited to see us, he told us that he has been waiting for us to come and visit him! He had switched phone numbers we found out,and that he lives kind of far away but still in our boundaries. We had walked by just in time in order to catch him as he was making his way back home, he had come to buy funeral clothing for a friend of his who had recently passed, and apparently the best stuff is right down the road from our house! It was honestly such a miracle that we happened to walk right into him, if we hadn't gone that way we probably would have never found him!! THis was just a little miracle that we had happen to us this week.
This week we had dinner again with Hermana Irvine and Claudia, the evangelic family of the Figeroas. We made Papusas, haha they were soooooooooo good!!!! We were able to teach a little bit of the restoration, but we didn't have a ton of time so it was only a little bit. The good thing though is that we are gaining some mad confidence with their family, we are the first missionaries ever that they have invited over for dinner, and they invite us over like 2 times a week!!=) They will probably need a while before they are baptised, maybe even after my comp and I leave the area, but what's important is that the seed is definitely planted, and that the work within their family can now progress.
Valentines day was kind of weird here in Salcaja. The people here celebrate it, but it is way bigger in the states. So since I couldn't go on a date or anything, I took my comp out to dinner=) Haha we went out to a good restaurant and got some real authentic mexican food, horchata with tacos and enchiladas mexican style!!! It was a ton of fun, the other elders ended up joining us towards the end and we made a double date out of it. There weren't any heart shaped pancakes or anything in the morning, just the regular stuff, our day was pretty regular too, nothing out of the ordinary.
This week we were able to visit a ton of member families and leave with them the future investigator sheets. This next week we will have almost 70 new references!!!! This is more than I have received in the past 4 months combined!! This plan from president Smith really was inspired from on high, a lot of awesome things are going to happen soon, I can feel it. I have a feeling that the work here in Salcaja is getting ready to explode!!
This week my understanding of the bible and the book of mormon working together has increased a ton! I love studying and learning more about the bible and its stories, I can't believe that I didn't really study it that much before the mission, it truly testifies of our church being the true church of Christ!!! This week I have been studying Hebrews a lot, Wow the things that can be found in that book! If anyone is looking for a good book to read this week, choose Hebrews, or 1 Corinthians, there is some cool stuff in there, and I promise you that you will not be disappointed!
This week was a great week for learning and personal growth. Things are happening up here, slowly but surely, but I know that by the end of this month big things are going to change here in Salcaja=) I love you guys, thanks for everything and I hope that you all have great weeks!!
Love,
Elder McLeod
