Wow this week went super fast!! Things are happening over here, it just takes faith!! And if we know what faith is, we know that it is action. This week has been a lot of setting new goals and taking action.
THis week something crazy happened, we one night were buying bread in this random tiny bakery that we found and we contacted the people inside buying bread. One of the ladies was super nice to us, and after we introduced ourselves and talked for a little bit, she invited us over to her house to talk the next day!! So we went to her house up on the mountain.......... and she is the owner of the biggest peach farm in Guatemala!!!=) Haha no literally, we got there and she gave us an hour and a half long tour of her whole farm, i'm talking 20,000 peach trees all up and down and on top of a huge mountain!! It was the most beautiful thing, all of the trees have hundreds of bright pink flowers, so it looks like trillions of little pink blooming flowers all over the mountain, one day I will come back with my family=) We taught them the restoration and it went really well. They are a family of 5, and they are all farmers, and kinda pioneerish. The oldest son is 14 and he is pretty tall and strong, he wears an old pioneer hat, and also a plaid shirt that goes halfway down his forearms, He is the nicest kid ever, super smart, and loves God. Haha we found Joseph Smith here in Salcaja!!=) The lesson went really well and they invited us back later in the week, I really felt the spirit during our lesson with them and I hope they did too! They had tons of questions like, what type of fruit did Eve eat in the garden of eden that got her in trouble, stuff like that. Haha I don't think we can answer that question, but we will try our best with this family.
We have been teaching english to the brother of one of the priests in our branch for a couple of weeks now, his name is Heime. This week we had another lesson with him, but this time we changed it up, we taught the restoration and english at the same time! We wrote stuff out on a whiteboard in english, then explained it in spanish, and that was how we did it! He responded really well to the restoration part, he even accepted a book of mormon to read and study. This week he even came to church with us!! He stayed 2 of the 3 hours, and he seemed like he liked it! My comp and I feel that he is going to progress pretty quickly now that he is going to church and everything, I just pray that he continues to pray and read every night!
This week we went and visited this 80 year old evangelic lady that lives in El Tigre, she has family members who are members, but she has never been interested in the church in her life, she is one of those people who is in one religion from birth to death, so we went to go teach her. We started teaching the restoration to her and quickly learned that she can barely hear, so we started over and taught everything like we were teaching an 8 year old kid, haha i felt kind of silly but it worked!! She said that it made sense, and even agreed to come to church this week!! The came and everything, and stayed for all 3 hours!=) Afterwards she told us that she wants to come back next week, I really think that good things could happen with her, especially is she is feeling the spirit.
This week we did some service for that 80 year old lady, we came early in the morning and chopped some firewood for her, it actually was pretty cool! The sad part is that it was kind of tricky at first, and even afterwards we weren't that good, below our house is another smaller house where this 96 year old lady lives, every morning she is out back chopping firewood like it is no big deal!!! Haha she shows us up, that lady is literally a super human. She can't walk up the stairs to our front door, but she sure can beat us in chopping firewood no joke!
Earlier in the week we were going around and looking for less actives that live in our area. We found out that one of the members who is super active in our branch has a 22 year old son that has been inactive for 6 years or so, so we decided to go and visit with him. We went and talked for 30 minutes, about sports, and life, and school, etc. We then taught him a quick lesson, we taught him the pool at bethesda. In this story, the sick people wait by the pool until the angel disturbed the water, then the first person who gets into it will be healed. In the story, there is a man who had been sitting at the side of the pool for 38 years because there was never anyone that would drop him into the pool first. The miracle is that christ came and healed him, but what we were trying to hit on was that that guy literally sat there and waited 38 years, he endured to the end if you ask me. We talked some more about enduring to the end, this whole time the son seemed to be in deep thought. After we had left we weren't sure if our words had really sunk in, but apparently they had because he showed up on sunday!!! Honestly it felt soooooo good to see him there in his dirty old jacket and jeans!!!! We are going to visit him a ton, I hope that he felt the spirit during our little lesson and that he has a desire to endure to the end.
This week went really well, my comp and I set a personal companionship goal that we would have 10 lessons with members present this week. I am glad to report that our changes are paying off because this week we had 11! Slowly but surely things here are starting to change, it just takes some good faith, which also means action. A lot of investigators are progressing fairly well, the problem is that a lot of them just can't go to church. This stinks because I can literally see it in their eyes that they feel something and that they want to pursue it, it just seems like they always have to work or have other promises that they need to keep. It can get a little frustrating, but the people in this area are known for always working on sundays, nevertheless i do feel like things are improving.
Well this week was a great week, things are always improving up here, including my health. This week was the first time in my whole mission that I have been sick with the flu, it is passing through our area, but already I feel almost better. Soon we will be going through the temple, I think in like a week or so, and I can't wait! We only get to go through once every 6 months in the mission, haha wow I cant believe its already been such a long time!! I can't wait for that spiritual enrichment that I will get from going through the temple. If you haven't gone to the temple recently, I encourage you to go, it is such a soothing and enriching place! One of the things that I can't wait to do is find and teach and baptize that family here in salcaja that is ready, so that one day they can be sealed together here in the Xela temple! Well this week was great, I love you all! Have an awesome week!
Elder McLeod
