Hey guys, hope that you all had awesome weeks like we did! Things are going so good over here in the land of the Lamanites, hope that all is well in the land of the gringos in AZ. I guess i am just going to jump into the week!
So this week we went 2 times to go and visit Hector and teach him. He is doing really really well, he is full of the spirit and just wants to serve the lord!! He is reading the book of mormon every day and right now is at the end of 2nd nephi!!!!! he is rocking it!! He thought it was interesting in 2nd nephi 29, a bible a bible, we already have a bible and we need not another bible! That scripture, haha he understand pretty quickly that those are the people here in Cantel that talk badly about the book of mormon but have never really read it. He is super smart and doesn't care what people think, pilas!! The coolest part is that he now has a baptism date........... for the end of July......... it's in 2 months exactly from today, we are super excited!!!! He told us that he is going to be baptized, just as long as he can 03u2r0982u3r9qy'03r8y3ry. Oops, i guess you'll have to wait for my homecoming talk in 16 months=) He is super positive, this week we are going to take a pic with him so that you guys will know exactly who Hector is.
So normally there are 2 types of houses that I love to knock at. 1, super super super humble and poor houses, my thought is that maybe these people are humble and willing to accept the gospel of jesus christ and will be able to feel the spirit. 2. super super super nice houses, mansions. Why? because it is really hard for a super rich person to be completely happy and satisfied in life. We had an experience with this this week, we were walking down the street and I happened to look at this mansion that we always passed but never knocked at. I turned to my comp and told him that we NEEDED to knock on that door today. He laughed and told me that I just like to knock at nice houses, but then something really cool happened. We knocked at the door and a 22 year old guy answered it looking at us kinda weird. We introduced ourselves and explained that we had a message that we know he has never heard before in his life, he immediately invited us into his house! We sat down and had a super spiritual restoration lesson, and he seemed super positive throughout the whole thing. At the end he offered the prayer, and the first thing he said was, God thank you for sending me these 2 boys today, only you know the doubts that i have in my heart, help me that I will be able to find the answers to all of the doubts that I have. It was super cool!!!! I don't know if he had been praying early that day for help or what, but it sure felt good to maybe be the answer to someone's humble heartfelt prayer. He ended up not being able to come on sunday, but he is super positive, God has something incredible in store for him.
Roselia Chojolan we had to drop as an investigator, she isn't ready or willing to read the book of mormon right now in her life. But, before we dropped her, she dropped herself, she gave her copy of the book of mormon to her dad who surprisingly has read up until chapter 5 of 1st nephi!!! So we began to teach him and he is pretty positive. I asked him, Carlos what do you want to get out of our visits, what do you want to learn? His answer was simple and powerful, he said, I want to know if this book, the book of mormon is true, or not. Wow, this guy is going to receive an answer! He has begun to read and pray about it, I have faith that God works miracles and does what he sees as best, I have faith that this man will receive an answer. We only visited him once this week, but this next week we are going to visit him a bunch of times, but every day we follow up on his reading with him.
So this week my comp had to go to Guate to go and sign his visa,(wow I remember when I had to do that, seemed like it was yesterday!) so we did divisions with some elders from Totonicapan. My comp for the 2 days is named Elder Durfee and he is from American Fork Utah. He is such a stud, this guy got here 3 weeks before I did which is sweet, and he is super funny and knows how to work hard. It was super fun taking him through my area and teaching with him, we even had the chance to go to Zunil to the corte market which was such a blast for him. I love my area and I love the mission.
The craziest thing happened about 10 minutes ago, we were sitting here on the internet emailing, when all of the sudden................... an earthquake hit! It wasn't huge, but it was big enough that everyone outside in the street stopped and stood silent listening to see if it would increase in strength. The 5 story building that we are emailing in has the internet place on the 1st floor, so we stopped and felt as the 5 story building shook and trembled above under and all around us!!!!! It was crazy, I have never felt an earthquake this strong before, I hope that they don't get any stronger because I wont lie, its a little intense.
haha just a little health update, I haven't been sick in 2.5 months, it's a stinkin miracle!!!! I think that when I was in a constant state of sickness in Salcaja for 4 months, everything inside just hardened and adjusted, now it's almost impossible to get sick! My comp has been sick a little bit lately, but I know that he will be fine, if I got over it and so did the other 200 missionaries, he will too=)
All of the lessons this week went really well, a lot of people are actually reading the book of mormon and LEARNING a ton, not just reading but UNDERSTANDING and LEARNING from it. It is like christmas morning when you return to an investigators house and they tell you that they are reading and that they like and understand what they are reading!!! This week I really learned the importance of teaching with LOVE rather than teach just with the spirit, you need to teach with them BOTH, or they aren't going to feel something. We taught an investigator for the time in a couple of weeks, but instead of teaching a lesson, we just sat down and talked about how the gospel can change lives and give us peace, and that is EXACTLY what she needed to hear in that moment!! It was a 15 minute talk about the peace the gospel brings in the family, and she loved it, she even invited us back and said that she is home everyday and that we can pass by any day we want, what a little miracle! We just showed her that we wanted to teach her how she could have more peace and love in her family/ life, and that was her need, that was her key. The key is the key that they need to spiritually open themselves to accept the gospel, her key is that she wants more peace and love in her life. It was an awesome experience, Maybe she will be progressing by the end of this next week.
This week was awesome and I loved every single second of it. The mission is great, not just for us but for the people that we teach and love as well. I hope that you all can have little personal missionary experiences that boost your testimony, and if you aren't, find a way because trust me it is way worth it. Love you all and would LOVE to hear from you all through email! Can't wait to hear from you next week, love you guys
hasta ver,
Elder McLeod
