At the beginning of this week, I was having a lot of trouble with stress, especially about talking with other people, both because it´s a different language and because if you know me at all you know I´m a man of few words. Also, I kinda feel like I´m not progressing and my companion kept skipping my time for language study so the beginning of the week was really stressful. Then we had Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was incredible! The members who offered it are so awesome, Sister R homecooked everything and it was just like at home, and I mean it! Especially desert! We had banana bread that tasted just like my Mom always makes(without chocolate chips, unfortunately), and a lemon pie. The best part was the homemade pie crust! It tasted practically the same as my Mom makes it! I gotta tell you, miracles happen. haha. They also shared how they met and started dating and it was hilarious! We had the dinner with 3 other sister missionaries also, and because these members speak English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and a little Italian the sister missionaries wanted to know which language they first spoke into each other. They shared how they met in Utah, at BYU and it was so funny. Basically, Brother R ran into her one day and tried to flirt with her (a little unsuccessfully) and decided he had to meet her again. Eventually one of her roommates invited him over because the roommate had a crush on him, and in the other room he could hear her speaking Portuguese so he tried to escape the conversation and go talk to her, and she then saw him and tried to impress him with her Spanish that she was learning (also a little unsuccessfully) she basically said her name in a Spanish accent haha. This was all in the morning, and later in the evening he returned and she had just finished work and he literally told her, "I´m dating a girl in this same apartment building downstairs but I´m going to go break up with her and come back here" Hahaha! She was pretty confused but he went and did it and then returned and was like "alright now I´m single!" and she was just like "that´s great... I´m not" Eventually they started dating but it was so funny to listen to their story though. After that, we shared what we are grateful for and had dessert. If you´re ever feeling down, remember to give thanks for what you have, it won´t solve your problems but it´ll remind you to keep moving forward.
We had exchanges again this week with Casa Blanca and I was able to meet their Ward Mission Leader... He is insane! I´m serious. We went to an appointment with some investigators, and he showed up a couple minutes later and followed up on some of the commitments he left to read the Book of Mormon, they said they hadn´t had time to read because of their kids and school and work and a lot of excuses, and he was just like "alright then I´ll leave, if I´m going to promise you to take time out of my schedule to help and teach you guys and you won´t keep your promises then I´ll leave, I too have a busy life and a family." Elder M and I just sat there really worried he was too harsh on the investigators, but he continued and straight up read in front of them a chapter of the Book of Mormon and Prayed, all with a timer on the table. It took him about 4 minutes. Sometimes we never think we have time for everything we have to do, especially in terms of things we should do to progress spiritually. Honestly though, we can take less than 10 minutes to read a little and pray every day, we can do a lot more than that, but at the very least that´s practically no time out of your day. And the rewards are endless. In my studies this week I found one of my new favorite scriptures: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." And most especially this next verse: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Wow. One of my new favorites, and very true, for me my family and friends... well I suppose that means you guys, are everything to me, and though I´m gone I think and pray for you often. I share my experiences I´ve had learning from you guys with others. My favorite part of this gospel is that it centers in love and family and in the teachings of Jesus Christ. That´s where my heart is when I bear testimony to those I meet, I can feel it. So imagine if we put more emphasis in our lives for the things of God, the things of Heaven. One of the lessons we teach as missionaries is God´s plan of happiness for us, and all revolves around returning to him. So if there´s a way to be closer to Him a little early... I think that´s incredible. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
One last thing I wanted to share this week, sorry this letter is a little long, is about the initiative that the church started for December, for this time near Christmas. It´s called Light the World, at least I think so, here it´s Ilumina el Mundo. Anyways there are 25 videos at Mormon.org or also on youtube centered on how we can be happier this Christmas season and also how we can spread that. The videos are incredibly short and I invite everyone to watch one every day and think in how you can serve others, there are some ideas at Mormon.org also. First, though I want everyone to watch the kind of explanatory video, the first one, so look up Light the World 2017 and watch the official video. I´ve only seen a couple but honestly, they make me so happy to see and to think of how I can serve others, especially the main video and the video for day 1. I think it´s like day 12 or something that has one of the piano guys in it if you´re interested in that as well. And guess what? It´s even easier to keep track of each day if you already have the church´s Gospel Library app, it´s all there too. I promise that through this we can all be a little happier this Christmas.
And that´s basically it for this week, I know it was a bit longer. Also funny story, I saw two cats reenacting the end of Star wars episode three, a black cat was hanging precariously onto a fence looking up at a grey cat on a roof, and I could just almost hear "It´s over Anakin, I have the high ground!"
Elder Blaylock
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