Saturday, February 3, 2018

January 1, 2018 ~ Transfer 12 Week 5

Happy New Year! 

This week was quite a long week. I'm going to share snippets of the week so bare with me:
On Christmas we ate rabbit with a member family. The texture was like a mix between chicken and frog. It was pretty good, it was a fun experience.

Then we had intercambios (exchanges) on Tuesday in Leon. A funny moment that happened is that I asked two teenage dudes about where a fake street was - "calle Martínez Gómez" and they decided to look it up on google maps and didn't find it haha. I didn't get a good transition either haha. It was an awkward but funny conversation haha.

On Wednesday, we were getting ready for Juan's lesson but we felt unsettled. We felt an uncomfortable feeling. So we got down on our knees and prayed. We prayed individually. And when we stopped we both felt the same - we felt that the whole family was there at home and that it was okay to go over but that something unexpected would happen that we couldn't control. And at this point we still didn't know if we had a member so we were just acting on the faith of those feelings. And right after leaving the apartment, the Branch President calls us and says that he is on his way - a tender mercy for sure. And sure enough we get to the home and everyone was home. The unexpected part is that only Juan and his nephew were really present, not all of the family wanted to participate this time. That was pretty sad. But it was a miracle that we both knew that everything would work out and that the whole family would be home. The lesson went really well, we talked about the Book of Mormon and we did How to Begin Teaching again but this time a lot better, helping them to understand that they need to act. And then that was the day.

Thursday: Weekly planning. It was alright. I was pretty drained after it just because it took so long. And we threw in a chicken so it would be done after we finished weekly planning. It worked out pretty good. The only issue was that when we were sitting and planning I had the odd feeling to check the chicken...and so I did. And I opened the oven and saw that the end of the plastic bag had melted because it was too close to the heating coils...so thankfully we found it before it was a big issue.

Then we did our studies and we get a message that says "hey I'm luis, can we meet today at 4:30?". (It was 3pm at the time). And we didn't know any Luis...so we were wondering who he was. And we were pretty sketched out. And we found an Antiguo investagator record of Luis and figured it was probably him. But he would text us, we would call and he wouldn't answer and then he would keep texting us. But in the end we prayed about it and felt good about it so we met up with him at 5:30. And so we met with him in the park (Plantio) and he told us about how he wants to change. And it was cool to see that he wants to change. We got to know him a little better and told him we would be happy to help him find his faith. And funny moment: we start talking and he tells us he's very awkward talking to girls and he wants us to help him find a mormon girlfriend. I told him I am bad at talking to girls too so we couldn't help him out with any more then teach him about the gospel hahaha.

Friday: We met with Luis again and then we had a lesson with Miriam. It went well. She's a great lady. We invited her to be baptized and she said she would be "encantada"/pleased/delighted to be baptized. She wants to but she can't quite get to the capilla.

Also a funny moment: while out on the street today I was talking to an old guy who asked why we were here and I told him that we are missionaries. "Somos misioneros" le dije. Y él me dijo "no, no los sois, nadie es prisionero aquí" jajaja. I had to correct him and tell him, no not prisoners, we're missionaries! Haha it was pretty funny. He thought I had said "Somos prisioneros"/ we are prisioners.

Saturday/Sunday morning: Apparently I woke up at 2:30am, turned the light on and started praying. My companion was so confused and told me that he asked me for the time and I just grunted and kept praying. And then we checked the phone and his tablet to make sure it was 2:30am and sure enough it was. So he goes to the bathroom, comes back and I'm still praying haha. And he tells me to go back to sleep and that we still have 4 hours to sleep. Apparently I just flopped back down and went right back to sleep haha. I don't quite remember all of it happening haha.

Well that's the week in a nutshell. I've learned a lot listening to the spirit this week and trying to be sensitive to even the slightest impressions or thoughts. Every week in the mission is a learning experience. A quick scripture I would like to share for this week:

1 Nephi 1:1:
"1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; having seen MANY AFFLICTIONS in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been HIGHLY FAVORED of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days." (I had to make the words BOLD the old fashioned way haha)

I just started reading the Book of Mormon again this week and I thought it was interesting that the prophet Nephi starts by writing about how he had "many afflictions" but yet he had been "highly favored of the Lord" all his days. I think that is very common in our lives. Life isn't meant to be easy. We can be very blessed by the Lord but bad things will still happen. Keeping the commandments doesn't make us immune to trials in life. Trials are helpful and help us to grow. I know that our Heavenly Father knows us personally and that He always has what's best for us in mind even if we can't see it ourselves. And He has promised that He won't give us more trials than we are able to bare.

Well have a happy first week of January! 

Love you all!
Elder Openshaw 

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