I am a little upset because the new law around here is cutting down on my internet time. So... I am going to write as much as I can in the time that I have left.
We did not change our apartment this week because the Lord found something better for us! We were walking down a street and there was a woman, smiling, descending from a staircase and so we talked to her. It just so happens that she is currently constructing super awesome apartments above her house for super cheap. We'll be paying the same that we currently pay for about 4 times the space! We'll be giving up the dryer but we'll still have our washer. We're going to move in at the end of the month (pending her completion of the construction). So we'll be leaving our current building and be moving a little further into our area which will be nice since currently we aren't even living in our area of proseliting!
Wednesday we did service. There is a sister in the ward who has a lame hubsand who doesn't help too much around the house or go to church. So we showed up to clean out part of her garage. We organized a lot lot lot of wood and the horrifying thing, (Someone needs to read this outloud for Nannie) was that there were so many cockroaches that as we moved pieces of wood it sounded like wind blowing dry leaves, but it was actually cockroaches moving deeper into the garage. There were many, many cockroaches. Many. Thousands. But we were able to organize that great amount of wood and she was happy. And her daughter brought three friends to church on Sunday whom we will be teaching tonight at a Family Home Evening.
Wednesday night we visited Roberto with the Stake Presidente Torres (that guy who called). He liked Roberto. Roberto is a very difficult investigator who is very evangelical. The problem with many people who we teach, like Roberto, is that they have lots of ideas floating around in their heads but not a lot of scriptures to back it up. In other words there are many churches where the pastor will get up and talk and talk and the people take it to be scripture even though it is no where to be found in the Bible. My question to determine peoples' knowldege is, "What did Moses (or Noah, of Jesus) do?" Also Saturday night we visited Roberto with a member. They have just about the same story. Drinkers. saved by Jesus, evangelical church, investigated our church... So we thought it would be perfect. And it was for the most part. Roberto has gotten to the point where he needs to read the Book of Mormon. He has lots of questions and doubts about it but hasn't yet opened it. It isn't enough for him to come to activites (he did go to the baptism of the other Elders this week though and loved it. Also an EQ activity) but he needs to read the book or we'll have to drop him. It is so sad because we can see the need for and answer, the confusion, and the want to change that he has, but if he doesn't help himself we can't do anything! So we're praying that he reads this week. We've got a visit planned on Wednesday. We're passing everyday to reminding him to read and pray, read and pray....
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| Tour of McDonalds after Zone meeting |
Thursday was an EPIC day. We had taller de zona and I was asked to teach. It was awesome. I was given 15 minutes so I grudgingly limited my remarks. I decided to teach on murminng and obedience comparing Laman and Lemuel and the Stripling Warriors from the Book of Mormon. It was super awesome. I love teaching. The other Elder who was invited to teach with the Zone Leaders taught after me and I was mad because he took 40 minutes instead of his given 15. After each taller de zona (happens monthly after the ZL consejo with Presidente) we go out to eat. This month we went to McDonalds because Thursdays they have the Big Mac combo for only L. 75. Super awesome. As you see in the pictures we were invited to take a tour. It was the greatest thing ever. I am pretty sure that the manager just wanted to see us in those aprons and hats. We had fun. Hope you enjoy those pictures.
Saturday was the baptism of the other Elders in Miraflores and we brought Roberto and Irma to the baptism so we were pretty happy, hoping that one of them would come to church on Sunday. Neither one did. We already talked about Roberto, so here is Irma's story. We passed Sunday afternoon to talk to her and find out what was up. After teaching a lesson to her and her other cousin living in the house of Guillermo Gomez (baptized hace 14 años) she basically dropped us. It was so confusing because usually we drop the investigators. But she told us that the wasn't ready, didn't want to listen to us. She continued after Guillermo reminded her that she said that ten years ago (she is 28) and she even said the same after we promised and testifyed that she would be happier and that we could answer all of her questions if she would listen to us. She didn't even take her cousin Guillermo's plea to listen to us one more time. I think that I've commentd about how awesome Guillermo is but he is the only active member in his family and he is fighting so hard to get the rest to accept the gospel. Sometimes I feel like being a msisionary is volunarily entering into "project" relationships as Dad would say. It sucks the energy out of me and most of the time nothing changes with them.
Sunday we lost another investigator who was a part of this family. The uncle of Guillermo who lives with a cousin of Guillermo who is an inactive member. But we also received the blessing of new investigators. The familia Molina where we did the cockroach service has a daughter who brought three friends to church on Sunday. While I am not excited to teach three 20 year old girls, they are postive and seem excited about the church. I have never been able to choose the investigators that I want! Also they announced the fireside in church! Hooray!
So it has been a great week. We worked successfully with members Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday. The goal is all seven days of the week. Hopefully we can get it this week!
There are two McDonalds pictures and the other is all in a day's work. We were gifted all of that stuff in one day. The church is true.
Postcard from Schmutz this week.
Wednesday - 8 months
Thursday - one year from my call opening
Love,
Elder Clay
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