First off, sorry Dad, I forgot the
notes from Elder Nelson. The good news is that I have my journal here to
highlight the good things from this week. I have to type fast, so my
apologies if it's a bit scrambled.
The APs came
to our house to sleep the night before the Interviews and Zone
Conference. The interviews went really well and President said, "Elder
Tuft, keep doing what you did before. Keep doing it because it works.
Keep doing what you are doing as well. Don't forget the principles you
have learned in order to learn new things from God." I also told him a
little about the people that I've seen go astray and how it shocked me a
lot that some people in the Gospel can lose themselves in the world. He
shared with me that it can happen to anyone and that we often will be
shocked by what people do and say, "But that's not like them!" We often
will find, as well, that bad people will shockingly turn to the light
and become really refined servants of God.
I
thought a lot about Saul and about the Prodigal Son this week. They have
similarities in their stories. And the words hit me really hard when I
read, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" I just had a good moment to
reflect and imagine those words and imagine God's love for us.
23 For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—
24 That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.
Carmen Sarabia is the one that will be baptized. She set her date for the 25th at 10am
to be baptized. This week she came to church on her own! She walked out
her house and called a taxi. I can just imagine her saying something
like, "Take me to the Mormon Church... I'm going to be baptized there!"
We challenged her to read the BoM in 3 months and she's a month into
that challenge and she's already past Enos! :D She was a miracle that we
found. She told us, "Joseph Smith is a Prophet because the BoM is true.
When is my baptismal date?" She's a super humble woman and she stopped
drinking coffee immediately after listening to us. She and her family
don't drink now.
We taught a family this week.
It's actually Misael's family. We went to a house to teach Vicente and
Lilian (other family) and her daughter came two minutes after we arrived
(and Misael is her cousin on her Dad's side) so Misael came, as well.
Then the Lilian's Mom came and so we ended up teaching the WHOLE FOUR
generations from the Grandma to her great-grand daughter. They were all
beaming as we taught them. They were going to come to church but then
Misael got a fever (Dengue) and they went to the hospital and he's doing
better now.
I know God answers prayers. I have
been asking him why the mission is so hard and why I don't feel the
same spirit like I did in my ward at home. And this week I received my
answer when a member from Choluteca came to our ward to visit and talked
about making San Lorenzo into a ward. He said that the same spirit that
you have in a Stake will not be found in a District because the Mantel
and the Keys of the Stake President are not given to the District
President and that goes with Bishops and Branch Presidents as well. I
don't know if that makes sense but it opened up my eyes and now I'm not
so hard on myself. I felt like this whole time I was doing something
wrong or that I wasn't doing something about changing the branch. I
learned that the change will come but it takes patience and love and
leadership.
Love you,
Elder Tuft
Sorry
if I didn't respond to your questions but I read your letters! Thanks
for letting me know about Miss Erlene! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!
"Just Keep Swimming. What'chu gonna do? You just keep swimming!" - Dory, from Finding Nemo
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