I am so glad to be in Quintero... wait, that`s a lie I`m in Viña again...
Well it`s been an interesting start to the transfer, I`ve been out of my area more time than I`ve been in it. Literally anything that could make us have to leave the area happened, we are kind of tired of not being in our area. There`s been interviews, exchanges, divisions, activities, Easter concert put together by the mission, flu shots that never showed up. It`s been a long week haha. Anyways, this next week we should be in our area more haha.
Bueno, this week has actually been pretty good though, I`ve learned and realized a lot of things, so I`m feeling pretty excited to continue working. The one experience I want to share though is about a lesson we taught to some investigators. That day was a pretty full day, all of the missionaries of the zone came to do contacting in our area, to kind of pay us back for always being in a different area working for nearly a week, and afterwards my companion and I went with some of the youth of the ward to visit some less active youth as their activity. It was a great idea, but one of the adults who showed up to help them is... difficult. We ended up visiting the person but this adult spent the whole time talking and laughing and basically being an obnoxious center of attention, we didn`t even have the opportunity to talk, let alone share anything! So it was pretty hard to invite the Spirit to help the less active youth and he ended up turning down their offer of a barbeque later that night. So we left, and I was a little frustrated at being stuck doing nothing for a good hour of the night, especially after being out of the area all week, I just wanted to work. Afterward we were invited by the youth and this adult leader to the barbeque, but I just told my companion no. There was a rumor that there`d be an investigator there at the barbeque, but I knew that if we went we wouldnt be able to do anything and we`d just be wasting time. So I asked him who we could visit instead, and we ended up finding an investigator who the missionaries stopped visiting because he never attended church, because he works sundays. This lesson was powerful. Even though I didn`t really know him, beforehand I had been praying pretty hard that the Lord would help us be able to do some work that day. I started out by trying to find out his beliefs by asking "Who is Jesus Christ to you?" After hearing his answer I could tell that he believed, he just lacked a little bit of faith to follow Christ. I ended up sharing 2 scriptures, the first in 1 Nephi 3:7 and the second in 3 Nephi (I don`t remember exactly) But these two scriptures explain that God always provides a way for people to keep His Commandments, such as keeping the Sabbath Day holy and going to church, and the other explained a little about prayer. Something I realized was that the scriptures are true, God will provide a way to obey the commandments, but only if we want to obey them. Let me explain, Everyone has Free Agency, that`s a divine gift from God. He will never go against our Free Agency, it is a central part of His plan for our happiness, so if we don`t want to obey the commandments, He won`t provide the way. But if we use our Agency to follow Him, we will be richly blessed. Many times I`ve looked at these scriptures and not understood why so many people arent able to attend church if God provides the way to obey His commandments, but now I understand that to provide the way without them wanting to, would be to go against their free agency. We have to want to obey.
I invite everyone to ponder a little bit more on this, even though I`m pretty bad at putting my experiences into words, I want everyone to try to focus a little bit more on understanding what God wants, and what we want, and then try to want the same thing. That`s when the blessings come. I also want to invite everyone to ponder on the words of the Prophet and Apostles from the last General Conference, they talked a lot about seeking and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost and seeking personal revelation, and I can testify that their words are true, I`ve seen the difference it`s made in my life, and I hope everyone can experience that happiness.
Until next week!
This letter is a mess, sorry, I`ll have to get better at storytelling.
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