Magical Ironing Board

'Design for the children all are fangle and in the high quality welcome you use our products'

That was the product description of this Magical Ironing Board toy I found. Very convincing hahaha. Don't ask what is fangle, it's definitely not Spanish, let alone English haha. 

This week we had exchanges with the zone leaders! I was originally supposed to go with Elder Merrill to his area, but they prayed about it before and felt like Elder Nava should come here with me instead. This is probably his last transfer here, so I was really glad they did. This is the only time I've had the opportunity to serve with him, and he is such a stupendous missionary. He talks to literally everybody that passes by, he listens to the Spirit constantly, he is bold but not overbearing. I learned so much from him this past week and we also traded ties. Boom. 

Yesterday, we had the Christmas devotional, a meeting in which we get to hear from the leaders of the church talk about Christmas! I really loved it this year, it was a very different experience for me. Normally, I watch it in English (duh), but they didn't have an English translation, so I had to watch in Spanish! Don't get me wrong, my Spanish has definitely improved in these past 4 months (as of two days ago, four months old!), but there was still so much I didn't understand. As a result, I spent most of the devotional listening to the Spirit and writing down whatever promptings I received as I struggled to understand the messages of the speakers, and boy was it an edifying meeting! I would listen to the words coming out of the mouths of the translators, and then listen a little harder and feel like there was something I could do better, so I would write it down. It was awesome, I want to be able to do that at all of these meetings (but in English would be nice...) 

I want to talk about one of our investigators. His name is Santos Mejía, and he is GOLDEN. He's a little tough to teach, we'll be talking about Faith and then he'll ask us if he wants to go see the 50 baby chicks he just bought, but he's reading, praying, coming to church, etc. Some of my favorite quotes by him:

'WE are the Church of Jesus Christ'
'Is what they're teaching bad? No. Is what they're saying bad? No. Is what they're doing bad? No, it's all really good, so why would you reject it?' (to his mom who doesn't want to listen to the lessons.)
We had our first lesson with him 2 sundays ago, before church, and invited him to attend with us in an hour and a half. Didn't think he was gonna come, but he did, in CHURCH DRESS. Blew my mind, that never happens here, even with some of the members. He even participated in class these past two sundays, and the things he said were totally correct, not even a little false doctrine. He could totally already be a member, it's awesome teaching him.

Saturday, we had our youth activity where we did splits with the youth throughout the stake. My son's name is Juan, he's a really cool kid, good hard worker. He hasn't finished high school yet, but he's planning on doing that this next year so he can serve as soon as possible. He also told me he wants to be a professional rapper...haha ok. 

This morning, we had our zone Christmas party. Traded more ties, beat some piñatas (I'll send pictures), and played soccer and frisbee. Boooom, Merry Christmas haha. We're also gonna start an English class! The ward got together a group of people that want to learn, and President gave us a teaching book and the go ahead, so we're probably gonna start that pretty soon. Transfers are next tuesday though, so we'll see where I end up....

I love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Connor
Ok actually, it's not letting me attach any pictures, so I'll have to send them next week. Sorry!

Scrambled Pancakes

Not a ton of eventful stuff happened this week, just a couple big things...

First off, Me and my companion now make up the smallest district in the entire mission! The other two elders in our district are gone now, one left for sickness, and the other leaves in about 3 weeks, so he got transferred into another area for the rest of his mission, and they closed our other area for now. I really wish we could take on both areas, but that's a lot of work and we didn't get permission. 

On Tuesday, I went on splits with my zone leader, Elder Merrill! He's really a great missionary, 20 years old, 13 months into the mission, super humble, loves contacting. At at least half of the appointments we had with people, they started crying, the Spirit was really strong. Early in the split, we were walking to an appointment, only to find the sister wasn't there. We started walking to our back up appointment, when I felt impressed to turn around and go visit another family, the Bobadilla's. I wasn't perfectly sure how to get there, but I knew the general direction. 

As we walked, we bumped into some old ladies dragging a heavy stove down the street, so we stopped them and helped them the rest of the way. We asked if we could meet with them another day, and they declined, which is a bummer. But that's ok, planting seeds! We headed back only to bump into our original appointment! We got to meet with her and had a really nice lesson. 

We never actually got to go visit the Bobadilla's, but I think I know why I was impressed to head back. If I had just been told, 'walk the other way,' I would've ignored the prompting and kept going. But with a specific target in mind, I find I am more willing to go for it. I know God was aware of those ladies and their needs, as well as my thought process and what I needed to be pushed in the right direction. 

And now for a commercial break: Elder Merrill apparently had a band before his mission that had some pretty successful shows, so he asked me to advertise it back home. If you go to bandcamp.com and look up 'Sonsapapa,' you can listen and tell me if they're any good. He writes the songs, sings, and plays guitar. 

Later in the day, we had a guided tour with Maribel, Ana, and Angel from last week. It was crazy, here's what happened: 

We went to pick them up, and one of them was in the shower, so we ended up waiting for about 20 more minutes. We got to know more about them though, and their needs, so it wasn't a waste. When we finally got to the chapel, we realized that the other ward was having their youth activities that night, which was kidn of annoying. The youth were being kind of rowdy too, at one point, there was a group of deacons and teachers WRESTLING in the hallway. Elder Merrill sorted that out quick (Do you realize you're in the house of the Lord!? There are investigators over there and you just made a TERRIBLE impression of the Church on them!). They were also having an Institute class in the actual chapel, which is like, the crowning moment of every guided tour. Despite all the upsets, we still got into the Chapel and they were able to feel the Spirit. It turned out to be a very nice tour. 

Other than that, I don't have much else to report, other than I made scrambled pancakes this morning! I couldn't flip them in the pan we have, so I just scrambled the batter, and it turned out fine haha. 

This week, I want to share Mosiah 4:10; 

'And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.'

I really like the wording in this verse; not only should we repent, it says we MUST. There is no way we will feel comfortable in the presence of God, who is perfect, if we are unwilling to repent of our sins. Part of that repentance is forsaking that wrong thing we have been doing. Repentance is never a one moment occurance, it is an ongoing process that takes time, so you can heal from the Spiritual harm and be able to overcome the temptations as they arise. Repentance is in reality an act of faith and humility. When we truly repent, we also believe we can be forgiven and we realize that we cannot return to His presence without His forgiveness, a gift received only by those who truly seek Him. It is given to all, but we must accept it and forgive ourselves as well. My favorite part is the end. As we come to truly believe in things, we are not finished with just faith. We must DO them. We must act on that faith and do those things we're commanded to do, including repent and forsake. 

I love you all! 

Elder Connor

1. Sometimes, people don't want to listen to our message...
2. But then they can feel the truth! :)