Giving 120%

January 21, 2015

         Today was one of the better days of my mission so far!  There wasn’t any one incredible thing that happened except for going to the temple.

Miracle #121:  I went to the temple and was able to understand everything in Spanish and I received the answer to my prayers.

         My thoughts about my day in the temple are that the only time that no part of our being will regret our decisions is when the choice that we make is the will of the Lord.  I learned is that ALL of me wants to return to Heavenly Father.  When I feel temptation to sin only part of me is invested in it, but when it comes to the things of the Lord, if you want it, you want it with ALL of your being.

         We also were able to teach 3 lessons today even though it was p-day.  What???!!!

January 22, 2015

         Today was pretty great.  We had a good morning planning for next week and then we had a great time taking some investigators to the temple where we had our miracle.

Miracle # 122: We asked some random people to help us in a lesson and one of them had traveled 12 hours by car to come to the temple. Our investigators were blown away that someone would do that.

         There wasn’t really a funny part of the day.  We taught 2 new people who were very confrontational and it was quite tough.  I loved teaching them because it challenges me.

January 23, 2015

         Today we started with service which was painting, again.  Seriously, every single service project that we have done in this area is painting.  At least we were lucky to have water-based paint this week so it actually washed out and we don’t have to be paint-covered for days. 

         After lunch and a shower, we went to go to a cita at the miracle condo.  Our cita fell through, but the initial referral for the condo was there.

Miracle #123: For the first time in my mission we taught a reference that is sincere and wants to learn more.

         Elder L. was really pissy to me today.  He admits openly to enjoying using sarcasm to bully people. I am sick of it. We have talked about working on the amount of sarcasm we use and he straight up blew me off.  Basically he said, “I don’t want to change because I enjoy sarcasm.”  This companionship thing is really hard!

January 24, 2015

         Today was better for sure.  Elder L and I decided to work together to cut out the sarcasm and we did really well today.  We were a lot happier and had a good time teaching.  Our miracle for today happened on our way to visit someone and I felt the need to talk to a lady who was walking behind us down the street.

Miracle #124:  This lady was the mother of someone we taught a lesson to and she invited us to come to her home to teach her and her husband!

         The funny part of the day was when I just got frustrated with contacting beautiful girls because Elder L. always gives me a hard time saying that I am flirting with them (definitely NOT.) I was telling him how sick I am of this happening and then the very next door that we knocked was a gorgeous 17 year old girl!  Are you kidding me???!!!!  So I focused really hard on NOT flirting and when we finished the contact, Elder L. told me that I still flirted with my smile….WHAT???  I give up.

January 25, 2015

         Today was interesting.  EVERY cita that we had scheduled fell through.  We had 6-7 people to visit and all of a sudden we had 0.  Wow, that meant that we had a LOT of contacting to do.  Somehow I still saw my miracle.

Miracle #125: We had 3 lessons taught today and NONE of them were planned.  It was great because one of the lessons was on the law of chastity and our investigator said that he would commit to live it.  I think that he will actually do it!

         The funny part of the day was when I fell asleep on a staircase (a new spot for me).  Where will I crash next, only time will tell.  I think that I was so dead today because I was on the toilet for an hour holding a garbage can at the same time…get my drift?  NOT FUN AT ALL!  I am going to bed.

January 26, 2015

         We had a crazy good day today.  It started with an iffy district meeting. It was good and actually applied to us, but it was basically on companionship study plus and hour walk.  We had to go and pick up lunch and for some reason I felt like contacting.  I contacted one lady and it was a flop, then I saw a lady in black crossing the road and I started to contact her.  I felt prompted to ask her if she had a reason to be dressed in black. She told me that her mom had just died 3 weeks ago, and she is still devastated.  We go her address and we are going to visit with her and try to help  her with her grief. 

         The two hours after lunch were awful and we just contacted and walked.  We then had a lesson with K. that turned out really well.  She was very interested and wants to know very badly if this is the true church.  We felt the Spirit so strongly in that lesson.  The highlight of the day was in our second lesson. 

Miracle #123:  I felt prompted to invite them to be baptized and they accepted.  Then I felt like we should schedule it for late in March (which is not usually what we do as missionaries.)  They accepted this date and this is a mission first for me.

         I was so happy at the end of today and I prayed to have more days like today.  The funny part about today was when I surprised a sister missionary on the street and she got a little ticked off (not really). Elder L. started to make a rude comment to me but then he remembered our companionship goal and he caught himself just in time.  He practically choked on what he was going to say.  We got a good laugh out of that.

January 27, 2015

         Today was probably on of, it not the best day of my mission so far.  We had 6 incredible lessons and contacted a couple dozen people.  This morning we taught a lesson in a park to a really interested guy and got a reference to send to other elders.  Our best lesson by far was with a man, his daughter, and his son.  It was incredible because they were so smart.

Miracle #127: As we taught about the apostasy, they would ask questions that led into our very next thought or concept.  Towards the end of the lesson the dad asked, “Well, these things need to be restored, how is that going to happen?”

         I was surprised by how hard I worked today. I wanted to give 120% and then recover on p-day tomorrow. I am super tired!

My little spot to study.

Animo

January 14, 2015

         Today was a pretty decent p-day.  The activity was awesome, but not because we got to hang out with the other missionaries in our zone.  It was awesome because of the opportunity that I had to talk to an member of the church who goes to hand out with the missionaries. He was so interesting and spent a long time talking to me.  He really motivated me to want to work to be a better missionary.  I have got to say that I got super pumped up for the work just by talking to this hermano.  The rest of the day I spent talking to everyone, smiling, and walking with a purpose.  Our absolute best lesson was also my miracle of the day.  We went to visit an investigator (former atheist) who we haven’t seen in a while.

Miracle #114: In the lesson today I felt a strong impression to ask him how is doing with his personal prayers.  He said that he hasn’t been saying any prayers but he wanted to start.  In the beginning of the lesson he looked really sad but by the time we left he was smiling and laughing.  It was one of the most spiritual lessons that I have had on my mission. 

         I am ridiculously sore today, but I have decided that a new goal for me is to walk so fast, with urgency, that it hurts at the end of the day. The only time I want to slow down is to talk with people.  I have a ton of goals to work on. One of the coolest moments of the day was when my mission president called me to give me some advice on how to handle some of the things that have happened in the past couple of weeks that have made me angry.

January 15, 2015

Today we had a zone meeting and I realized that I am at a turning point of my mission.  I understand everything and I actually loved the meeting.  I couldn’t believe it…so NOT like me to “like” meetings. In the meeting, we got to see my miracle

Miracle #115: We got to see “Meet the Mormons” in Spanish and it was so cool.

         The rest of today we worked super hard and really well. We did lots of contacts today and we have decided to keep up with it.  I need to work hard!

January 16, 2015

         We had a great day applying what we learned in the zone conference.  We got out of the house a little bit late because our planning took a while.  When we finally left, we saw some great miracles. We worked on contacting everyone and it paid off today.  Our miracle was when we went to an appointment and it fell through.  We then felt like we should visit with the people next door.

Miracle #116: The people who lived to the right of our investigators are members who recently moved into the area but hadn’t had their records transferred yet. It was a great contact and I felt like we really helped them.

         Other than that, I am having a blast with Elder Leon.  Teaching is going really well. One of our investigators that we thought was a snake, has turned out to be sincerely interested.

January 17, 2015

         I have just past the 6 months mark!!  In getting to that landmark I genuinely can tell if I am excited about the year and a half that I have left to serve, or if I feel a tiny bit of dread.  Probably both.  I am completely exhausted and I wonder how I can keep up this pace for another year and a half. 

         We did morning contacts that were quite interesting today.  I didn’t realize that people drink alcohol in the mornings.  That makes for unusual conversations.  We then had a bit of a service project where they gave us a ton of food. Then we went to lunch and got even more food.  I was stuffed ….so full….and it was ridiculously hot.  Yeah, that led to a very sleepy missionary.

Miracle #117: I stayed awake for all of my lessons today!

         Later in the day I felt pretty crappy from eating so much.  It was awful.  Overall, it was a hard day today.

January 18, 2015

         I don’t know why it is so hard to look for a daily miracle lately.  I have to think a lot harder.  Today was a really refreshing day.  It wasn’t hot at all so even sitting all day in Church wasn’t too bad.  I king of am bummed out that I only get 20 minutes a week to play the piano.  It is a really sad thing for me.

Miracle #118: The abuelita who hadn’t been to church in 8 years, came back to church today and was super happy!

         We have 2 new people who we are teaching now and they are both absolutely awesome.  Our best lesson was with F. and his wife.  In the end of the lesson we invited them to visit the temple with us and we get to go on Thursday of this week.  I really have a lot more to write about today, but I am out of time.  I really want to answer some of the questions that my mom asked me in her last email so maybe I can make time to do that tomorrow.

January 19, 2015

         Today was hard!  I was really animated the first half of the day and Elder Leon had energy for the second half.  It worked out well.  The miracle of the day was really interesting because it happened in a condominium complex, which is usually a place that we can’t enter.

Miracle #119: We got into the condo by doing a contact and usuing one of our references.  That person wasn’t there, but we did 2 other contact and both of them want us to come back to teach them tomorrow.

         Today I don’t have much time, but I do want to answer my mom’s questions. 

What have I learned about myself?

         First and foremost I have learned that I really have a strong desire to serve the Lord.  I really didn’t know that about myself before I came.

What has changed and what do I still want to change about myself?

         Well I have learned how to speak another language and spend a whole lot less time thinking about girls. I would like to bet able to control my temper a little bit more (at times, a lot more.)

What is the hardest thing for me to change?

         Oh by far the hardest thing for me is to leave my pride behind and become a humble servant.

What has been my greatest strength or asset?

         My friendliness and the fact that I am not scared to talk to people.  I also have a lot of energy for the work.

What would I do differently to prepare for my mission?

         I would spend more time with my family trying to learn how to work out our difference rather that simply leaving to climb/work/play.

January 20, 2015

         Today was great!  Our first miracle (not the miracle of the day) was when we went to the condo and contacted a tiny bit because our appointments fell through.  The FIRST door that we knocked on just let us in to talk to them.  It was so weird because we are used to being rejected.  He was so cool!  Our miracle was odd because it had to do with a member of the Jehovah’s Witness church.  They are notoriously rude to Mormon missionaries but, not this guy.

Miracle #120: We met a kind and respectful Jehovah’s Witness who talked to us and said that he would like to read more about our beliefs. 

         We had a decent rest of the day. I had fun contacting and had animo all day.  My prayer to receive help to have energy for the day was answered.  I really liked that! Now we are fasting for our temple day tomorrow.  I am really hoping to receive some personal guidance.   

          

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

January 7, 2015

         I’ll be honest, today was rough.  I woke up early in a great mood and was that way until it came time to clean.  Part of the reason why the other elders didn’t want me cleaning the other day was that it wasn’t p-day and they said that it wasn’t “time” to do it.  Well, today was the “time” to do it and I cleaned for almost 2 hours before bothering the other missionaries about joining me.  They didn’t, so I ended up cleaning for another 2 hours.  Towards the end of my cleaning day, they pitched in for about 20 minutes.  I got unreasonably (well maybe it was reasonable) mad at their laziness.  It really ticked me off to work for 6 hours in one week cleaning this house.  I never cleaned this much at home…(sorry Mom, I am repenting for the slob that I used to be.) Anyway, I was ticked all day long.  ALL DAY.  There was one point today where I was so fed up that I am pretty sure that for the first time in my living memory, I didn’t talk for more than 60 minutes.  I couldn’t let it go and it was eating me up. So at the end of the day I texted my zone leaders to get their advice on how to control my anger and handle the situation in our house.

Miracle #107: Our amazing zone leaders, Elder Gomez and Elder Turley showed their concern for us by walking over a mile to come and see us/me to help me out.

January 8, 2015

         Today was really really long.  It started with a four hour service project in the morning.  I forgot to put sunscreen on so I kindof fried in places usually covered by missionary attire.  The sun also sapped up all of my energy for the rest of the day.  After lunch, and a shower, it was already 4:00 pm so we got right to work.  I was all right except I have been plagued by a phlegmy cough for all of this week and it was worse today.  The miracle today was pretty cool though.

Miracle #108: Santiago (our investigator) went with us to an appointment with another investigator and he loved it.

         I wasn’t feeling to hot so when our 9:00 cita fell through, we came home 30 minutes early so that I could get to bed early.  The best part of the day was when someone thought that I was from Colombia because of my accent.  It was funny because Elder Leon’s jaw dropped and his face was shocked. He has been working hard to get me to have a Colombian accent.  It was a sweet moment.

January 9, 2015

         Today was a division and Elder Ware and I felt like crap after morning divisions, so we just stayed in the house and rested with the recommendation from the zone leaders.  I was coughing up my lungs and he was hurting too.  We got to talk a lot when we weren’t sleeping and it was really nice. He gave me some advice as a district leader and it really helped me.  I feel so much better now that I rested today.  I think that it was way worth it.

Miracle #109 I got to do personal study for more than 2 hours today.

January 10, 2015

         Today was crazy. We only had 3 lessons but is was still good.  We visited a great new investigator and she told us about her crazy story of drug addiction and her desire to change her life.  We basically did contacts of apartment buildings for about 3 hours until we taught English class.  My comp and I taught the class and I thought it turned out really well.  My miracle happened in our last lesson.

Miracle #110: Our new investigator gave me a hunting knife.  I don’t know why, but it is cool and my zone leaders said that I could have it as long as I didn’t take it outside of the house. 

         We found out that one of the people we are going to visit tomorrow had an exorcism last night…this should be interesting.

January 11, 2015

         Today was pretty good.  It was HOT and I had a headache all day not to mention that my companion was grumpy for some unknown reason.  But I am really happy today so I just ignored all his rude and insensitive comments.

Miracle #111: We had 2 divisions with members which is a miracle that rarely happens down here.  It is very hard to arrange any divisions and today we had 2!

         I can’t think of any specific funny things that happened today.  I remember laughing a lot while Elder Leon did not. There is nothing I could do to help him other than stay upbeat and hope that it is contagious.

 

January 12, 2015

         Today was great.  In contrast to yesterday, elder Leon was in a great mood and we has a great time.  We had a painting service project today in the morning and we got to talk to some Chileans who spoke English practically perfectly and it was a blast.  We had 3 average lessons which were only meh because for some reason we were both exhausted today.  We actually went to a store to get a bit of sugar to wake us up and our miracle happened.

Miracle #112:  I put on my gringo charm with the lady in the Almacen and she gave us juice and a chocolate bare for free!  We needed that boost!

         I am finally not irritated with the elder’s in my house anymore and it is WAY more fun.  We were joking all day today and it was one of the better days in this mission. 

January 13, 2015

         Today was a pretty good day!  We had some decent lessons today but is was odd.  The worst lesson was in a house with no circulation so essentially we taught this kid in a sauna for 30 minute.  I just about suffocated.  Our miracle of the day was with a less active grandmother of one of the youth in our ward.  She has not accepted the missionaries in 8 years or so.  Today we had a division planned with her grandson.

Miracle #113:  When we called the grandson, the grandmother answered and was very happy.  She said that something had happened in her life that made her want to talk to the elders.  We went over right away and she told us all about her experience.  It was a great experience for me!

         This afternoon, Elder Diaz taught a self defense class and it was a blast.  I was the dummy and LOVED doing a bit of that stuff again. 

A few Missionary Terms for you:

·      Investigator: Someone who is learning about the church

·      Cambio/change: A 6 week period of time where you are with a companion that you are assigned to.  The companionship can last more than one cambio.

·      Snake: a flirtatious girl ages 14-30ish.

·      Dragon: a flirtatious woman ages 30-dead usually has kids of her own.

·      Worm: a flirtatious girl ages 1-14

·      Dead: A missionary who just straight up wants to go home.

·      Cuadrado: A ridiculously strict missionary who tried to follow the rules almost to a fault, meaning they follow the letter but forget the spirit of the law.

·      Chueco: A missionary who no esta ni alli with the rules. (couldn’t care less about the rules.)

·      Machine: kindof applies everywhere but someone who just gets the work done!

The reformation of a slob, and other miracles

December 31, 2014

         Today was hours and hours of contacting people.  We had a ton of great contacts but only 1 miracle. To preface this miracle I need to tell you about what I am reading in my personal studies.  I am working on getting through the Old Testament and it’s killing me!  Today, I was reading from the Psalms 90, which I happen to love.  When we were contacting I saw a sign that said, “Let God bless this business.”  Out of curiosity, I looked inside and saw a Bible and out of further curiosity I looked and saw that the Bible was open to the same Psalm that I was studying.  Then I contacted the owner of the store:

Miracle #100: The owner of the store said that he has faith but is on a bad path.  I remembered a Psalm that I read about that situation, Psalm #37 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now I am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.  He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.  Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.”  Then the man gave us soda and cookies for free!

         Tonight a member of the church gave us some meat to cook for ourselves.  Unfortunately, we do not have a grill, but fear not, we are missionaries!  We fabricated a grill out of an oven rack, sticks of wood, the cover to a fan, and some tin foil.  It worked great.

January 1, 2015

         Today was our P-day so we has a zone activity.  It was so dumb to just mess around playing sports (probably because I hate organized sports.) Other than that it was tranquilo.  Then in the afternoon we just contacted all day.  Our miracle happened when we were in a building complex coming down the stairs and I recognized someone.

Miracle #101: We saw one of our random street contacts.  He is an 18 year old kid who wants to change his life and accepted our offer to help him.

         Tonight I decided to cook some of the cookies that mom sent me.  The only problem is that I didn’t know that our oven apparently has a direct line to the fires of hell.  Most ovens burn at 350 degrees here, but this devil oven burns at like 700.  It’s ridiculous.

January 2, 2015

         Today was a terrible day. It started in the morning when it came time to do weekly planning and I wanted to sew my ripped shirt.  Elder L. flipped out about that.  Then I decided that I was done living in a disgusting pigsty (yeah, that’s right mom – I am truly sorry for being so slovenly as a kid, cause now it is coming back to haunt me.)  All the other elders kept saying that we have to wait until p-day and I just said….screw that!  I am done treating this house that we have been given to live in like crap. I organized, swept, scrubbed, and washed literally a mountain of dishes.  It was so bad that just doing that took me over 2 ½ hours.  Throughout that entire time, the other elders didn’t lift a finger to help me.  That got me irritated for the rest of the day, which made working really hard.  The only good part of the day was when my miracle happened.

Miracle #102: I was able to still teach a lesson by myself when my comp fell asleep. 

         The funny part of the day stems off of another Elder’s funny experience.  Elder Whitmore is a blond haired blue eyed gringo and apparently that makes him pretty hot stuff down here.  A couple of days ago there were 2 girls who literally chased him down the street trying to get his name and talk to him.  Elder W. somehow avoided them but today Elder Leon and I ran into the girls.  They begged us to know Elder W. name and finally Elder Leon told them, and we invited them to come to English class taught by Elder W. They were so excited and we sorta felt bad, but it was totally worth calling Elder W. to tell him about his two new students.  He was so ticked…haha.

January 3, 2015

         A very meh day today.  We started with service doing construction for our second counselor in the bishopric and that was a little strange.  One of the highlights of the day was when I surpassed myself on the insanity fitness test!  I also did better than the fitness professional on the training video.  Month 2 is going to kill me though.  Besides the awesome workout, there were two good things today.  First was my miracle.

Miracle #103: A man called us and asked us to come over that day to teach him.  This may seem like a weak miracle, but compared to the rest of my day it was the highlight.

January 4, 2015

         We had a good day for a fast Sunday.  I woke up with a dehydration induced headache which rampaged me throughout the 3 hours of church.  I finally was able to break my fast and get a drink of water and within a few minutes I felt better. We did some good work today. 

Miracle #104: We were let into two different houses today of random contacts which is miraculous enough.  The real miracle is that both families want us to come back and teach them again.

         After those lessons, it was about 8:00 and I wasn’t feeling well. We were close to home so I asked if we could stop by and get a drink and some motrin.  Elder Ware was home resting with a sick Elder Whitmore.  So then Elder Ware and Elder Leon decided that they would go out and finish the day while I stayed home with sick Elder Whitmore.  It was a little odd, and guilt inducing but what are you going to do?  I have also decided that Chileans don’t understand the word agua (water).  Literally, every time we ask for water, they give us disgustingly sugary juice or soda (also disgustingly sugary). 

January 5, 2015

         Today was a fun division with my zone leader.  After the zone meeting (where the leaders reprimanded us for having dirty houses,) we went back to the house that I had just cleaned.  I was sooooo glad that it was clean because if it had been as dirty as it was before, we would have been in big trouble.  Yeah, my point was made. ( Not to say that I won or anything, but I won.) 

         Today we had a solid 4 lessons and 1 division.  That’s really good considering that I have not been feeling well.  Our miracle was a really weird bus stop contact:

Miracle #105: We contacted a slightly drunk man who ended up telling us that the elders came by his place once, but never came back.  He described Elder Ware so we told the man that we would send the elder back if he wanted to talk to them and he did.

         Funny experience, actually the whole day was fun for me with Elder Gomez (our zone leader.)  I had some really funny moments in great lessons

January 6, 2015

         Today was good because, it just was!  My miracle happened in the beginning of the work day. I walked out the door and was headed down the street when a sweet thing happened. I felt a strong prompting to talk to this woman on the side of the road. Being really stubborn, I ignored the prompting and kept walking. Then for the second time in my mission, I was spiritually slapped for not following a prompting.  Then, I followed it:

Miracle #106: The woman who I contacted ended up being an investigator who moved recently and never got in tough with the new missionaries.  We had a good conversation and I invited her to accept the missionaries again. 

         Funny experience of the day was when we were confronted by a WASTED man who really loved us.  He loved us so much that when we shook his hand, he kissed our hands.  By kiss, I mean he rather sloppily drooled on the back of my hand.

        

Praying in my sleep

These two are like identical twins... hilarious!

Happy Elder Colvin

December 25, 2014

          Today was a pretty good Christmas. In the morning we has a district breakfast in our house and it was incredible!  Buttermilk, syrup, and French toast.  I felt sooo fat and sooo happy!.  We kind of just hung out until Elder Leon made his skype call at 11:00.  We basically only had time to run by the house for some stuff, go to lunch, and then it was my turn to Skype!!!   I personally thought I was just going to break down when I saw my family, but it was exactly the opposite.  I just felt happy and strengthened by seeing them and talking to them.  We talked and had a great time waiting for Garrison to call in, but he didn’t call at the arranged time, so we decided to end the call early in hopes that I would have enough time when he finally called that I could get back on and talk to him for a few minutes.  It worked out that I was able to talk to him for 15 minutes and it was amazing to see my best friend/role model/big brother for the first time in 7 ½ months (since his last Skype call home).  I was so happy and excited until it came time to say goodbye and then I just wanted to tell him what he means to me and I just couldn’t communicate how I felt.  I was just overwhelmed with emotion.  After the call I was surprised by how trunky I WASN’T!  I was just so excited to work! 

We went to meet with our deaf lady and learned a little bit of sign language.  She is very nice and wants us to teach her more so we were excited for that great visit.  After that we just went contacting by singing Christmas hymns.

Miracle #94: We got invited into 2 houses by singing hymns and they wanted to hear our message. 

         We also stopped by two of the less active members of our ward and they were both  there and they both invited us in to share a message with them.  I wasn’t expecting to be able to have a successful teaching day on Christmas because many missionaries told me that it is a day that families are very busy and don’t usually want to talk to missionaries.

         My funny experience of the day technically happened last night in my sleep.  This afternoon, my companion told me that I woke him up last night by talking in my sleep.  I was speaking in Spanish and said, “Can we kneel for this?”  Then Elder Leon said that the best part was, I actually got out of bed and knelt on the floor and said a whole prayer…..in Spanish!  That would explain why I woke up upside down in my bed.  This means that I am dreaming in Spanish now!  So cool. Yeah, but it also means that I am such a missionary now that I even pray in my sleep.  Haha!

December 26, 2014

         Today was just kind of a routine day.  We taught 5 lessons and during one of the lessons our miracle happened. We were with R. and S. when R. said that she doesn’t feel motivated at all to co to church.  We were teaching with a recently converted sister who bore her testimony.

Miracle # 95:  Hermana Lopez expressed a super spiritual testimony about the importance of the Sabbath and it brought back the spirit into our lesson. 

December 27, 2014

         Today was so lame.  We had 9 appointments planned and every single one fell through.  We decided to go to the chapel so Elder Leon could do some computer work.  It was insanely hot so I laid on the cool floor of the chapel and completely zonked out for about an hour. It felt great!  Our miracle happened later during out very first English class.

Miracle #96:  We had 5 people come to our English class and it went really well.

December 28, 2014

         Another Sunday!  All of our citas fell through again today.  It is really annoying.  We were on eternal divisions, actually only 3 hours long, but it felt much longer.  Our  miracle happened about half way into the division.

Miracle #97: A family called us and asked us to come and teach them a lesson….they ended up being our only lesson of the day.

         Elder Leon and I are an awesome team.  We teach well together and we get along well, or at least I really like him.  We have a deal with each other to keep us from eating too much juice or bread (people offer us juice instead of water and it can really add up to way too many calories.)  So we worked out a deal that we get to hit each other for every time that we drink soda, juice, or eat a lot of bread.  We have to wait until we are home.  We owed each other 2 hits so I got to go first.  I hit just right, not too hard, but definitely not too soft either.  Then Elder Leon hit once pretty hard before winding up and just nailing me HARD.  Yeah it left a mark…haha!  It’s all good fun.

December 29, 2014

         Today was pretty good.  I put in a strong effort to break in some free shoes that were left in our house by another elder.  They fit really well except for the right heel which KILLS!  We had a good day with 4 lessons and a great miracle!  Our miracle was in the very first lesson that we taught to our new investigators.

Miracle #98: Our new investigators are 100% committed to reading and praying and are excited to learn more.  It is such a great feeling to teach people who want to learn.

December 30, 2014

         We had a long and hard day today.  But, it was also a good day.  We contacted for around 5 ½ hours (which was really tough) and by the second hour I was just wiped out.  I was just draggin’ my self through the third hour until I had a weird second wind hit me.  I have never has a second wind in athletics, but I got one in missionary work today!  It was a great feeling.

         We taught R. and S. today.  They are a very young couple and S’s father is an ex-pastor.  His dad was there and just wanted to argue with us.  It was rough, but we managed to teach a good lesson on the plan of salvation. 

Miracle #99: Despite his father’s argumentative and contentious attitude, our investigator told us that the felt the spirit and he even had the guts to defend  his faith to his dad.  He helped me maintain my composure so that I did not lose my temper.

         I find it interesting how I am developing a love for my investigators far beyond that which I thought I was capable of.  I had a similar love for my swim lessons kids this summer as I taught them.  I had such a strong desire to help them to learn and develop and when they did, it just made me ridiculously proud of them and happy for them.  I feel the same type of thing when I teach the gospel, except the joy that I get from seeing people grow and change is so much greater.  Now that I think about it, I really learned so much from teaching my swim kids.  I miss them and I love them.