Hello Again Beautiful Family and Fun Friends,
This
week went by sooo fast... let me just take a minute to breathe and slow
down. There has just been so much to do. I wanted to comment about a few
things with investigators but first, I want everyone to know that if
they send me a message, I do read every single word while I am writing
or before I write. I read everything. Sometimes I don't have time to
respond to everything because I'm an obedient missionary. Just like the
All-Seeing-Eye from Lord of the Rings, my eyes are All-Reading-Eyes!
I
love reading all the letters from everyone and it's a challenge to read
it all and remember everything when I have a time restraint. But I will
always try my best.
This week I had the
opportunity to bare my testimony to a young adult who has been searching
for the right church to join. We've taught him before and he's already
been baptized but it was when he was really young and he doesn't
remember anything. My faith in Christ is stronger now because of the
doubts that I've had. I have learned from experience that having doubts
does not mean that we are bad people or that God will withhold heavenly
help. What it means is that we have a question. Just like all questions,
they need answers. The Book of Mormon is the answer. If you have a
doubt, read The Book of Mormon. I promise that you will feel the Spirit
testifying of it's truthfulness. The Book of Mormon was written to be
tool to lead us to Christ in these, The Latter-days. Just like Elder
Scott counseled to those who haven't read the Book of Mormon, "If that
is the case, then do It!"
We went back this
week later and he had a Catholic girlfriend of his visiting, and we had
the opportunity to share our testimonies again with her. This time, the
young adult dude (Dairin), was helping to explain that Joseph Smith was a
prophet called of God.
I'm still teaching English to the loud children at the school. The teacher invited us to
eat at her house and we got to know her a little more now. She has a
friend that is a member, and her daughter that passed away two years ago
was a member. Her son is a member but has left the church too. She told
us that she didn't believe Joseph Smith was called of God and we left it
at that with her. We'll keep teaching as long as I'm here or as long as
she needs to be baptized. She's a great person and can make Baleadas
like I've never tasted before... I don't know if I've told you about
Baleadas or Catrachos or the Mexican Tacos they make here. Love the food
but I love Mommy's food more! We ate hamburgers today and I'll send
pictures.
A miracle just happened too! We had
our dinner appt call and cancel for tonight and that made me sad but 5
minutes later we had a member call and tell us she needed a blessing
before she left for Tegucigalpa. So now we have time to help with that
blessing. :D
The interview went well. Pres.
Bowler asked me why we have many people progressing but not many
baptisms. I told him that the progress of the people here is slow and
filled with bumps in the road but they progress. Many people can't or
don't want to get married because of laws they have here in Honduras.
It's a real struggle. The other thing I told him is that my goal is not
to baptize my goal is to have lasting conversions in the lives of all
the people I talk to. It may be a small conversion or a big one like
baptism but I don't want any more less-actives here in Honduras. I will
not add to the pool of less-actives.
Talking
about baptisms, Angel and Helen from El Sitio got married and baptized
finally and they are doing great. And I also heard that Familia Barrera
will be getting married and baptized soon too (at least that's the
goal). And this week, little Alexander is getting baptized and his mom
is going back to church now. Alex let his mom know that working on Sunday
is bad and is a sin and so she finally listened and chose to come to
the Sacrament Meeting. Then the members dragged her into Relief
Society and she loved it! So we have another family in the church... The
dad is the next stop for us because we've never seen him and she is
still living in fornication if she doesn't marry him or separate herself
from him.
I would just like to tag Elder
Kleiner in the Epic picture that looks like I edited it but I didn't!
That was just a perfect moment... The others are from eating at
Buffeteros today as Elders in the zone.
We also
have an investigator family that is progressing a lot right now. We
need to teach them the Law of Chastity still and that's the next lesson
we have planned with them. Pray for that lesson. They are such an
awesome family. The Dad, Vicente, is such a great guy and needs to find a
good, stable job. The mom, Sandra, goes to a Evangelico church and
still thinks that she can go to the Evangelico church and listen to us
and progress. Next stop for her is the Book of Mormon but she can't
read... She won't go to church either... So she's not progressing so
much. The daughter, Yilda, just follows the example of her mom because
it requires the least amount of change and effort. So, that's the family
story for y'all.
We also taught an investigator
again that we dropped previously, named Maria, and she's been going to
Catholic Bible classes to learn more about the Bible. She says, I will
never worship the Virgin Mary or the Saints and she knows that the LDS Church is the true church. She started crying when we bore our
testimonies and said she would pray about the baptismal date that we set
for her. She will be baptized. It's just a matter of the members
befriending her and going to church from now on and para siempre!
We
also had a powerful testimony meeting at the house of a member family.
The dad hasn't gone to church in a while but when we came, we saw a
spark light up in his eyes and he came to church again this week. This next Sunday,
we are going to be visiting people with him to help him remember his temple covenants and to help him feel the value of the Gospel more in
his life.
This Sunday, I felt like the meeting was all mine because the night before, Saturday,
Mario Carcamo (2nd counselor) called me and said they needed me to
speak because some complications arose. So I accepted and spoke on Sunday
about Missionary Work. Then, 5 minutes before the meeting, they asked
me to direct the music too because the lady that does it normally didn't
show up. But it was a good meeting. We sang, "I Stand All-Amazed" and I
started singing the first verse during the second verse and everyone
looked at me funny and stopped singing, so I had a solo there for a
little bit until I corrected myself and everyone joined in again. ;D
hahaha that was really nerve-wracking. Vicente came and Alex came and
another investigator, Benigna came (she's a member, not baptized cause
she CANT be married because her other husband took off and no one can
find him so she can't divorce him now...). So that's this week in a
nut-shell.
Just for the record, I haven't been
assaulted, stabbed at, or robbed except for my watch. I'm clean from
all harm too. I haven't tripped or fallen or received any big cuts or
scrapes either. Honduras is kind of safe after-all! So, Mom, don't
worry... I only have 15 months left to avoid all harm and danger... ;D
Tell
Connor I miss him too! I miss everyone at home but I think everyone
receives blessings for letting me go rather than keeping me at home.
Got to go! Everyone wear green on Tuesday then! Everyone eat green apples too so that they can be healthy and not need to go to the doctor!
Love you,
Elder Tuft
¡Hurrah por Israel!
No comments:
Post a Comment