04/30:
Darn it. Just deleted my whole email. I'll try this again.
I'm way unhappy about this weekend. We were going to have a booth at the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta (attendance 100,000 according to the local paper) staffed with tons of missionaries and members. An interior designer from Plymouth helped us put together an awesome exhibit complete with custom-made 4 ft. picture of Christ which we have to pick up tonight. We were going to pass out food and talk to a couple thousand people and burn red like lobsters and start a ton of people on the road to baptism...and President called this morning and said to cancel it all because of swine flu. I'm really, really not happy. I'm going to write him a two-part letter. Part 1 will be if he made the decision by revelation and priesthood keys. Part 2 will be if he made the decision because he's just worried. They'll be very different. This last bit is definitely the cheekiest part of my mission.
I had my last zone conference yesterday and it wasn't very emotional or noteworthy, surprisingly. There was one nice goodbye. There's an elder from my MTC district with whom I didn't get along most of the time there. I thought he was a jock and he thought I was a know-it-all. We made our peace there and have kind of kept an eye on each other since, but he passed me a note thanking me for being an example of "might". : )
joint teachers.
Sister Williams was a rock star last night. We had an appointment with Pompilio, and we recommitted him to quitting weed so he can keep the commandments and get baptized. He was being really shifty about it, so she had an all-out smack-down. She yelled at him for about an hour, and the Spirit was really strong : ) There were a few times when he hung his head in humility, then he'd try to get up and defend himself and she'd beat him right back down. We ended on a good note and this morning he called and told her, "Thank you for beating me up last night." Sometimes the Spirit whispers, and sometimes it hits you with a 2x4. I just sat and smiled most the time, EVERYONE in the room knowing that Pompilio was getting exactly what he deserved. Turns out we had the perfect joint teacher, an opinionated nurse who didn't hesitate for a moment to point out just how addicted and out-of-control Pompilio is. It was a blast! Unfortunately, it went on until about 9:40 and we got home at 9:55pm. Eeks!
I love Oscar. At our weekly Tuesday 2pm appointment, he told our joint teacher about some of the specific spiritual experiences that led him to his testimony, including feeling a profound peace while driving home from baptism-attempt #1. He also said he recognizes that he feels different and wants to keep that feeling. It goes down when he listens to the radio or does other regular stuff he wouldn't think twice about, and it grows stronger when he reads the scriptures, prays and goes to church. I LOVE IT!!! We're trying hard to get the ward to give him the priesthood, get him to the temple for baptisms and give him a calling and home teachers. There's not much sign they're going to do it any time soon. Here's a shout out for keeping your eyes out for the new people. Would everyone who reads this please ask someone in the ward who all the new members are? As a long-time member, you should at least know who they are.
Oscar and Geovanni went joint teaching with us last Saturday, and it was a blast! We'd park the cars and foot race everywhere we went, including the hospital to visit Filipe Laureano who's recovering from TB. They all shared their conversion stories and bonded. It was sweet : )
We taught an amazing 8 lessons on Monday...without even realizing we were teaching so much. The shortest lesson consisted of a rousing rendition of "Popcorn popping on the apricot tree" for a less-active who's adopted us as her daughters. It definitely invited the Spirit : )
I'm trying hard to learn how to not always be in control of what's happening around me. It makes it impossible to work in unity with your companion, and has been my biggest issue my whole mission. I'm sure I'll be a much happier person if I can really figure out how to chill out.
I'm way unhappy about this weekend. We were going to have a booth at the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta (attendance 100,000 according to the local paper) staffed with tons of missionaries and members. An interior designer from Plymouth helped us put together an awesome exhibit complete with custom-made 4 ft. picture of Christ which we have to pick up tonight. We were going to pass out food and talk to a couple thousand people and burn red like lobsters and start a ton of people on the road to baptism...and President called this morning and said to cancel it all because of swine flu. I'm really, really not happy. I'm going to write him a two-part letter. Part 1 will be if he made the decision by revelation and priesthood keys. Part 2 will be if he made the decision because he's just worried. They'll be very different. This last bit is definitely the cheekiest part of my mission.
I had my last zone conference yesterday and it wasn't very emotional or noteworthy, surprisingly. There was one nice goodbye. There's an elder from my MTC district with whom I didn't get along most of the time there. I thought he was a jock and he thought I was a know-it-all. We made our peace there and have kind of kept an eye on each other since, but he passed me a note thanking me for being an example of "might". : )
joint teachers.
Sister Williams was a rock star last night. We had an appointment with Pompilio, and we recommitted him to quitting weed so he can keep the commandments and get baptized. He was being really shifty about it, so she had an all-out smack-down. She yelled at him for about an hour, and the Spirit was really strong : ) There were a few times when he hung his head in humility, then he'd try to get up and defend himself and she'd beat him right back down. We ended on a good note and this morning he called and told her, "Thank you for beating me up last night." Sometimes the Spirit whispers, and sometimes it hits you with a 2x4. I just sat and smiled most the time, EVERYONE in the room knowing that Pompilio was getting exactly what he deserved. Turns out we had the perfect joint teacher, an opinionated nurse who didn't hesitate for a moment to point out just how addicted and out-of-control Pompilio is. It was a blast! Unfortunately, it went on until about 9:40 and we got home at 9:55pm. Eeks!
I love Oscar. At our weekly Tuesday 2pm appointment, he told our joint teacher about some of the specific spiritual experiences that led him to his testimony, including feeling a profound peace while driving home from baptism-attempt #1. He also said he recognizes that he feels different and wants to keep that feeling. It goes down when he listens to the radio or does other regular stuff he wouldn't think twice about, and it grows stronger when he reads the scriptures, prays and goes to church. I LOVE IT!!! We're trying hard to get the ward to give him the priesthood, get him to the temple for baptisms and give him a calling and home teachers. There's not much sign they're going to do it any time soon. Here's a shout out for keeping your eyes out for the new people. Would everyone who reads this please ask someone in the ward who all the new members are? As a long-time member, you should at least know who they are.
Oscar and Geovanni went joint teaching with us last Saturday, and it was a blast! We'd park the cars and foot race everywhere we went, including the hospital to visit Filipe Laureano who's recovering from TB. They all shared their conversion stories and bonded. It was sweet : )
We taught an amazing 8 lessons on Monday...without even realizing we were teaching so much. The shortest lesson consisted of a rousing rendition of "Popcorn popping on the apricot tree" for a less-active who's adopted us as her daughters. It definitely invited the Spirit : )
I'm trying hard to learn how to not always be in control of what's happening around me. It makes it impossible to work in unity with your companion, and has been my biggest issue my whole mission. I'm sure I'll be a much happier person if I can really figure out how to chill out.