On Monday night, we had planned to stop by a family's house and teach a lesson, but when we arrived, there were tons of people there. We soon found out that a member of the family, the dad's dad, had passed away the night before. We stayed for the Mormon funeral service, and I soon realized that they weren't gonna open up the floor for others to speak. I feel like it's very important that missionaries speak in funeral services to let people know who we are and what we do. It's the perfect opportunity to open the door for someone to hear our message about eternal families and the Plan of Salvation. I leaned over before it was over and asked the bishop's counselor who was conducting the service if I could say a few words. He paused, thought about it, and then nodded his head. Since my first week here (maybe it was my second) when I spoke at a funeral, my Spanish has grown to the point where I am now able to convey my ideas, generally. It was by no means perfect, far from it, but I felt the Spirit, and I think so did the others in the room. I feel so blessed to have been able to be God's mouthpiece on that night.
On Tuesday, we were walking home for the night and this guy stopped us in the street. He asked us if we were the missionaries for the LDS Church and we told him we were. He then proceeded to tell us his name is Robert, that he is a member, and that he had moved here a month ago from California, where he'd lived his entire life, so he needed to transfer his records. When he found out I'm from the states (I mean, it's not that hard, I'm still pretty white...), he wouldn't stop speaking English to me haha. We told him we'd come pick him up for church that Sunday and left. A couple days later, he saw us again in the street and totally remembered my name! We got his records transferred, and he came to church for the first time in about 3 years. He stopped attending when he was 13 (9 years ago) except for random Sundays throughout the years. It appears he really wants to make a much better, more spiritual life for himself down here, which is awesome to see.
Thursday, I went on splits with a YSA, Rafael, who's 20 years old. He was baptized in January, without his parents' knowledge, and when they found out, they shoved tons of anti mormon literature in his direction. He remembered he'd felt right about joining, and when he prayed again, he felt the same way. He knew the church was true, and when he wouldn't back down, his family completely rejected him. In these past few months, they've allowed him to come back, but they will not hear anything about the church and get very upset whenever he attends. Through all this, he still wants to serve a mission. He knows it's true and he wants to share it. It was a wonderful experience to serve those few hours with him, I learned a lot.
Friday was Halloween here, but it's not seriously celebrated. The real party came on the 1st and 2nd, saturday and sunday, Los Días de los Muertos. Saturday is Día de los Niños, when they celebrate the lives of the children that have passed on. Everyone dressed up, and went asking for candy, like on Halloween. It was really cool to see, there were some crazy costumes. I wanted to take pictures, but I'd really rather not have my camera get stolen. Sunday, they celebrated the lives of the older people who had died. Almost everyone has an altar to their family members who've passed on with their favorite foods. As a result of the festivities, work was kinda slow and not super productive, which was a bummer.
Another bummer was that we stopped by Maribel and Angel's place on Sunday to go to church, only to find out that they no longer live there. This hit hard for me. I had really loved teaching them, I really thought they were going to accept the message, and now I can't teach them anymore. I've been praying for the missionaries to find them again, wherever they may be.
I want to share a scripture in Mosiah 5:13; 'For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served,and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?'
God knows us and we knew him, but when we came here to live on this Earth, we forgot our premortal life. The purpose of this life is to repent of our sins and do the will of the Father. But how can we do that if we do not serve Him? How can we know what He wants for us if we do not work to build His Kingdom on this earth, if we do not work to bring others unto Him? The truth is, without doing what He commands us to do, we cannot truly come to know Him ourselves. So go to work!
I love you all!
Elder Connor
I didn't take any fun pictures this week, so here's my apartment! Sorry I'm lame...
- Entryway/kitchen from the door
- our little study room
- bedroom
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