Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Update on E. Reinoso, A lot of studies, etc, etc etc
Hello Mom and Dad,
It's been a really calm week this week. Actually, it's been pretty hectic but I have felt for the most part peace and calm. There have been a few issues with Elder Reinoso and that's basically it. I'll explain about that later in the letter.
I went on a lot of splits this week. One night we went to visit a new investigator that we contacted also this week. We were going to have a first lesson with him and I was with another missionary, Elder Miranda, at this time. But the investigator wasn't there. But Elder Miranda shouted "BUENAS!" so loudly that the family, who were seated outside in the little street/sidewalk area, all flipped their heads to see us and figure out what was going on. The mom of the investigator was one of them. We went over to talk to them and teach them the gospel. I had been tired of being cooped up for hours in the house and was grateful for the time I had to leave and walk and teach and find new people. I was super nervous to talk to this biiiiiiig group of people. I don't know why I was nervous but I started to teach them and they responded well. They told us to give them the message right then and not wait for a next visit. So we taught them in this little street. I felt so free to testify that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is true. It was super special. As a result of the message, we were able to set up an appointment with two of them in their homes this coming week.
We also taught the son of a new convert. The lesson was really spiritual. He's not married and doesn't think he'll get married right now. His "wife" and her family are strong in another religion supposedly. The man, Franklin, has an Evangelist background. I was with the new convert on splits and so I talked most of the time. I laid out all the cards so that there wouldn't be any surprises for him in the future and he was really meditating on changing his life. At one time, I saw that his expression changed and I asked him if he had a question and he told me, "No, I just am thinking a lot about what you just said." I hope that he will want to make the changes necessary so that he can be happier. His dad, the recent convert, has been praying so much for this opportunity to teach his son. :D
Elder Reinoso is not super good right now. I offered to give him a blessing so that he could get better faster but he said he was alright. I'm writing so late today because we were at doctor's appointments. He has something wrong with his Achilles tendon in his heel. It wasn't that bad when he first sprained it but the doctor gave him a shot and told him he was good. Now the shot has worn off and he's bad again. So he'll have to do some shock therapy to help him for two weeks and then he can start to walk gradually again for another two weeks. President is going to send a mini missionary to work with me and Elder Reinoso will be resting. If he's not recovering soon, then President will send him home. Elder Reinoso was crying because it looks like going home is a 50% possibility right now. But I told him that if God doesn't want him to go home, then he will not go home but will get better in these next two weeks.
But I'm doing great. We haven't been able to do much with many investigators. Jaime and his family came to church (all of them). And Jaime even came in a white shirt and tie in his suit. Last week he came in a colored shirt instead of white. I think he likes church at least a little bit. We've been teaching them the Plan of Salvation again. I can see how the Holy Ghost has enlightened Lourdes and Karla. They had great questions and understood really quickly. Jaime's grandma had a little trouble understanding though.
Tomorrow we have Leadership Council (I think that's what it is called in English). It'll be great to see the new changes and to learn a lot.
Pray a lot for Elder Reinoso this week. I don't want him to go home (and he surely doesn't want to either).
Love you all! Have a wonderful week full of adventures and excitement!
Elder Tuft
PS I just got the Wedding Invite in the mail. Cute picture Kristen and Ian! :D Love you guys!
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Merry Christmas to all!!!
Merry Christmas Family,
(Written 24 December 2015)
I'm really excited for the Skype call tomorrow. Just a forewarning, I may not be able to speak English very well... But once I get going, it will all work out well. I'll talk about at what time later in the letter.
Elder Reinoso had an accident with his foot about two months ago and the doctor gave him a steroid shot to help but the pain came back after the shot wore off and he was in a lot of pain. But the doctor tested him again and told him he'd have to rest and use an ankle brace and crutches. He's not super happy about that but he's keeping up the good spirits and thinking positive always. He's a happy guy to be around. I've been learning to keep my cool when there seems to be so many problems at one time and everything has been working out. Things are a bit more difficult to work around when your companion is on crutches. We've had to run some pretty quick errands and so figuring out splits with ward members and other missionaries has been a big help in completing our goals and tasks at hand. If he continues on crutches for another month without improvement, they will send him home to get better. That is the last thing a missionary wants to happen.
I don't know when I'll be able to Skype you tomorrow but my companion is telling me that his mom won't be able to Skype until 8pm. Yes, PM. So I'm hoping the nighttime (about 6:30) will be okay. I like doing it in the morning but at night is fine, as well. We have weekly planning in the morning anyway.
To finish today, I just wanted to share a cool and short experience I had with Lourdes and Karla (and family) the other day. We went to their house to teach the basic lessons again to them (they actually understand more after baptism, I've realized) and Karla has been reading the BoM with her Mom. Karla was at 2 Nephi 2 and her mom had read up til 2 Nephi 10. We decided to teach the Plan of Salvation because 2 Nephi 2... that was a no-brainer for me and my comp as we looked at each other to change lesson plans. We taught the lesson first and Jaime, the dad, was not liking the lesson. But his wife posed him an interesting question that I've often asked myself, "Do you believe that God knows everything?" He couldn't say no, and if he said yes then he would also have to accept the fact that God knew Adam and Even were going to partake of the forbidden fruit. So he didn't like these questions very much but it made him think and start to accept the Plan of Salvation. After we had read the entire chapter in the Book of Mormon (we had made some pauses to explain certain doctrine), Karla says, "Can I give my opinion?" and she started to explain everything beginning from Adam and Eve until the reason we have a Savior, Jesus Christ. She then told her dad, "Dad, it's so simple. Beautifully simple and I know it's true." She was just like a missionary. I find that people understand the lessons better and the scriptures better when they have been given, and live worthily of, the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost.
Love you all and see you tomorrow night!
Elder Tuft
PS - We might be using Karla's iPhone to talk tomorrow because we haven't been able to find a single member that has a computer with webcam capability. But we'll see what happens. Just plan for after dinner tomorrow.
(Written 24 December 2015)
I'm really excited for the Skype call tomorrow. Just a forewarning, I may not be able to speak English very well... But once I get going, it will all work out well. I'll talk about at what time later in the letter.
Elder Reinoso had an accident with his foot about two months ago and the doctor gave him a steroid shot to help but the pain came back after the shot wore off and he was in a lot of pain. But the doctor tested him again and told him he'd have to rest and use an ankle brace and crutches. He's not super happy about that but he's keeping up the good spirits and thinking positive always. He's a happy guy to be around. I've been learning to keep my cool when there seems to be so many problems at one time and everything has been working out. Things are a bit more difficult to work around when your companion is on crutches. We've had to run some pretty quick errands and so figuring out splits with ward members and other missionaries has been a big help in completing our goals and tasks at hand. If he continues on crutches for another month without improvement, they will send him home to get better. That is the last thing a missionary wants to happen.
I don't know when I'll be able to Skype you tomorrow but my companion is telling me that his mom won't be able to Skype until 8pm. Yes, PM. So I'm hoping the nighttime (about 6:30) will be okay. I like doing it in the morning but at night is fine, as well. We have weekly planning in the morning anyway.
To finish today, I just wanted to share a cool and short experience I had with Lourdes and Karla (and family) the other day. We went to their house to teach the basic lessons again to them (they actually understand more after baptism, I've realized) and Karla has been reading the BoM with her Mom. Karla was at 2 Nephi 2 and her mom had read up til 2 Nephi 10. We decided to teach the Plan of Salvation because 2 Nephi 2... that was a no-brainer for me and my comp as we looked at each other to change lesson plans. We taught the lesson first and Jaime, the dad, was not liking the lesson. But his wife posed him an interesting question that I've often asked myself, "Do you believe that God knows everything?" He couldn't say no, and if he said yes then he would also have to accept the fact that God knew Adam and Even were going to partake of the forbidden fruit. So he didn't like these questions very much but it made him think and start to accept the Plan of Salvation. After we had read the entire chapter in the Book of Mormon (we had made some pauses to explain certain doctrine), Karla says, "Can I give my opinion?" and she started to explain everything beginning from Adam and Eve until the reason we have a Savior, Jesus Christ. She then told her dad, "Dad, it's so simple. Beautifully simple and I know it's true." She was just like a missionary. I find that people understand the lessons better and the scriptures better when they have been given, and live worthily of, the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost.
Love you all and see you tomorrow night!
Elder Tuft
PS - We might be using Karla's iPhone to talk tomorrow because we haven't been able to find a single member that has a computer with webcam capability. But we'll see what happens. Just plan for after dinner tomorrow.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Lourdes and Family, Surprise! More Baptisms, Christmas Devotional and the Ward
Hello Family,
I'm really excited to talk to you this Christmas. I was thinking last year at Mother's Day time that it would be forever until I talked to you again but that's a lie. The time has flown. Maybe that's because I've been dreaming tons and tons about finding, teaching, and baptizing in these past months. And we've been working really hard.
Elder Reinoso is doing good but he got a little sick yesterday and we had to go home early. He had a huge migraine that hasn't gone away completely still.
Lourdes and Karla are doing really well. We watched the Restoration movie with them and also with Jaime and Ana. Afterward, Jaime made the comment that he thought that our message and how we present it is very impressive. Lourdes looked at him and said, "Admit it! You want to be a Mormon!" and we all started laughing because she said it so perfectly. But then Karla shared her testimony with us. She told us that while she was praying/thinking in the bus, she asked God if this was the true church and she remembered a scripture that said that when the gospel is taught in all the world, then cometh the end. And she thought about it for a minute and said she felt something in her heart as she realized that only the Mormons preach the gospel in all of the world. Her Dad is just too prideful to kneel and pray. Next time, I'm going to ask him if he's prayed about the Book of Mormon.
We had two more baptisms this week: Steven and Anderson. The bishop interviewed them and was going to baptize them but we caught wind of everything and talked to Steven and he's gone to the Primary with his family since he's been little but he's 9 years old now so we did another interview and baptized him. Anderson is preparing for the mission and for some reason his membership record number doesn't show up now in the church system and we checked in the church office here in Honduras and he doesn't have a membership anymore. He also doesn't have pictures or any paper or certificate that shows that he actually did get baptized. So we did an interview and baptized him... the second time... but does he need to be ordained a priest again??? I have no idea how that works.
I loved the songs in the Christmas Devotional last week. I don't think I mentioned that. I loved hearing and singing along. All the Hondurans loved the way MoTab sang, "Hark how the bells all seem to say throw cares away. Christmas is here singing good cheer to young and old, meek and the bold." They basically loved that whole song.
The ward is on Red-alert now because this past Sunday there were only 78 people in the chapel and they're used to 180 or 200. So they are finally waking up to reality. I just wish that someone would listen to me and do their home teaching assignments. In Elders quorum, the leaders asked what ideas we all had to fix this problem. I suggested that they get new home teaching assignments and that they actually do them this time and they told me, "No. That never has worked." I'd imagine that Home Teaching is an inspired program that God has revealed to the Prophets and they are telling me that it doesn't work??? hmmmm I just smile and do my best. I can't do much though because I'm just a missionary. They need to receive the message from someone they will actually listen to. That's my only complaint for right now. But we're happy and working hard.
Got the packages this week. I'm guessing I should open the one from Kristen BLAKE (when I saw that name on the box, the reality really hit me that she'd be married when I got home) that says "Tie", from what I've read in your letters. So I'll wear that on Thursday and Friday. :D I'll take pictures too!
Love you all!
Keep up the cool work Lindsay! You're awesome! :D
Bye
Elder Tuft
PS Really Cool photography in the Temple last FHE :D Loving it! And that Milo! I love that meme!
I'm really excited to talk to you this Christmas. I was thinking last year at Mother's Day time that it would be forever until I talked to you again but that's a lie. The time has flown. Maybe that's because I've been dreaming tons and tons about finding, teaching, and baptizing in these past months. And we've been working really hard.
Elder Reinoso is doing good but he got a little sick yesterday and we had to go home early. He had a huge migraine that hasn't gone away completely still.
Lourdes and Karla are doing really well. We watched the Restoration movie with them and also with Jaime and Ana. Afterward, Jaime made the comment that he thought that our message and how we present it is very impressive. Lourdes looked at him and said, "Admit it! You want to be a Mormon!" and we all started laughing because she said it so perfectly. But then Karla shared her testimony with us. She told us that while she was praying/thinking in the bus, she asked God if this was the true church and she remembered a scripture that said that when the gospel is taught in all the world, then cometh the end. And she thought about it for a minute and said she felt something in her heart as she realized that only the Mormons preach the gospel in all of the world. Her Dad is just too prideful to kneel and pray. Next time, I'm going to ask him if he's prayed about the Book of Mormon.
We had two more baptisms this week: Steven and Anderson. The bishop interviewed them and was going to baptize them but we caught wind of everything and talked to Steven and he's gone to the Primary with his family since he's been little but he's 9 years old now so we did another interview and baptized him. Anderson is preparing for the mission and for some reason his membership record number doesn't show up now in the church system and we checked in the church office here in Honduras and he doesn't have a membership anymore. He also doesn't have pictures or any paper or certificate that shows that he actually did get baptized. So we did an interview and baptized him... the second time... but does he need to be ordained a priest again??? I have no idea how that works.
I loved the songs in the Christmas Devotional last week. I don't think I mentioned that. I loved hearing and singing along. All the Hondurans loved the way MoTab sang, "Hark how the bells all seem to say throw cares away. Christmas is here singing good cheer to young and old, meek and the bold." They basically loved that whole song.
The ward is on Red-alert now because this past Sunday there were only 78 people in the chapel and they're used to 180 or 200. So they are finally waking up to reality. I just wish that someone would listen to me and do their home teaching assignments. In Elders quorum, the leaders asked what ideas we all had to fix this problem. I suggested that they get new home teaching assignments and that they actually do them this time and they told me, "No. That never has worked." I'd imagine that Home Teaching is an inspired program that God has revealed to the Prophets and they are telling me that it doesn't work??? hmmmm I just smile and do my best. I can't do much though because I'm just a missionary. They need to receive the message from someone they will actually listen to. That's my only complaint for right now. But we're happy and working hard.
Got the packages this week. I'm guessing I should open the one from Kristen BLAKE (when I saw that name on the box, the reality really hit me that she'd be married when I got home) that says "Tie", from what I've read in your letters. So I'll wear that on Thursday and Friday. :D I'll take pictures too!
Love you all!
Keep up the cool work Lindsay! You're awesome! :D
Bye
Elder Tuft
PS Really Cool photography in the Temple last FHE :D Loving it! And that Milo! I love that meme!
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Christmas Devotional, Baptisms, Visiting the Members
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| Spencer Tuft with zone at Lourdes and Karla's baptism Dec 2015 |
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| Elder Spencer Tuft with a yummy pineapple he LOVES. |
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| Elder Tuft's wall in his bedroom with the new City Center temple snow capped mountains, and the Tuft family Thanksgiving table. November 2015 (missing is Livvy blocked by Grandpa's head.) :( |
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| Elder Spencer Tuft with his Christmas tree in the background. |
This week was a good week. I felt like we've overcome some major obstacles, like the lack of planning and following-through that the members have in our ward. It was really stressful to plan for all the members because they didn't do their part but they love us I suppose because they have been giving us good references.
The ward did cancel the Ward Council the day of (Sunday) and so we had a bunch of time just to visit members and figure out the Christmas Devotional bus plans. The ward had told us that there would be a bus at 6 pm at the chapel and so we went about inviting certain people to the Devotional. We got to the chapel on Sunday and they told us, "whooops, we didn't contract a bus because of...." and they just started pointing fingers. So Elder Reinoso and I sat down and figured out plans for a bus for the investigators and less-actives. In the end, it all worked out fine and a member offered to help us with a mini-van that they have. Lourdes didn't go to the Devotional but the rest of her family went, Jaime, Karla, and Ana. Jaime loved it and he's the Evangelist of their house.
I sent a few pictures of us making baleadas (like a breakfast burrito) from scratch. After we ate the baleadas, we had a great discussion about the commandments that they needed to review and commit to before baptism and I saw a few changes made in the daughters Karla and Ana this week. They are dressing a little more modestly now and that's great. We gave them the assignment to read about the Law of Chastity specifically before baptism and I've seen a change in their physical and spiritual appearance. Ana still doesn't want to be baptized because of something but we don't know exactly why yet. They are reading the Book of Mormon as a family and a lot of times Jaime leans over Lourdes' shoulders to read, as well.
After the discussion with them, the (another church) showed up at the door knocking, and Karla and Ana looked at each other and walked out of the room quickly. We had just planned to show the Restoration movie to them on Tuesday at 6 pm. When the (another church) showed up, they planned to do a cult (yes they call it a cult, or "culto" in Spanish) with Jaime at the same time on the same day. Oh how clever is the diabolical one!!! But we planned to watch the movie on Friday. And for the record, I'm not a big fan of (another church) cults... Just imagine everyone praying all at the same time out loud and saying, "Lord, Lord!" tons of times in their prayers. I just feel yucky as I have crossed paths with those kinds of experiences. They are great people... most of the time.
We also had the miracle of contacting a less-active that we didn't know and she has a son that has been praying to know which church is true for the past week or so. Her name is Adilia, and her son is Antonio. We took Antonio to the baptism on Saturday and he told my companion as we were walking home that He got an answer from God that this is the true church. But the only bad thing is that he works on a few Sundays and hasn't been able to go to church. He is an official county grass-cutter! or in other words, he and his little group walk around to certain parts in Teguc and cut the grass on public property with machetes! It's a work out... I've done it many times and it's not super fun. I love our old lawn mower a lot more now!
The devotional was awesome. Tons of people were laughing at the sopranos in the choir singing, "Ha! ha! ha! etc" in the high tones really really fast. I hope you know what part I'm talking about... But it was awesome. I would have loved to watch it in English but we couldn't this time. It's just not the same for me in Spanish but everyone else loved it. I liked the second talk by the-woman-that-I-don't-remember-her-name (Linda K. Burton). When she quoted the scripture about Jesus being our Advocate before the Father.
I have visited tons of the leader's houses these past weeks. The horrible thing is that we share our area with another companionship and all the leaders (like the bishop and his counselors) live in their area and we don't have many leaders in our area because we are farther away from the chapel. But we did visit with the first counselor in the stake presidency because he's in our area. He told us that we need to trust our plans (confirm everything with God in prayer), not be scared to open the mouth, be a united companionship and love one another unconditionally, and endure to the end with patience.
Love you all!
Elder Tuft
PS we talk soon. :D please send username and password again because I don't remember them.
PSS I loved the pictures from last week so much that I put them on my wall.
PSSS GO BYU!
Monday, November 30, 2015
Lourdes, Working with Members, Baptism... please pray
Hello Family,
I'm doing great this week. We are continually working and striving to thrust forward with all our might. So this week we shared a message with an investigator and her family about the Priesthood and the dad, Jaime, was a little against accepting our message but little by little he's been finding things and reading the Book of Mormon over the shoulder of his wife, Lourdes. So we talked about the Priesthood and one of the daughters asked about Polygamy in the church and we explained the best we could. It turns out the Lourdes was so startled by the topic that she didn't sleep that night. She studied thoroughly the topic until 4 am when she received an answer reading about Jacob and his wives. But Jaime was a little shocked too, and my companion thought that we had ruined chances to baptize them but we went back and Jaime was super happy and invited us in and we celebrated his daughter's and mom's b-day with them and had a small "devotional" after, which was great. Two days later, he came to the family history night that we had to explain genealogy and he loved it. After the meeting, he found his pastor in the street and his pastor started telling him that we are diabolical and other things... to keep the story short, he told his pastor off and his pastor told him that he could feel the darkness coming from Jaime, and so Jaime told him that he's never felt so full of light in his life. Well, we heard this story from his wife, Lourdes, and she was so happy and told us that she thinks that Jaime might get baptized too. So we have them all reading the Book of Mormon and I'm super excited for them!!! :D Pray for them because Lourdes and Karla (a daughter) have their baptismal date for this Saturday at 6 pm, but we haven't confirmed anything still. :D Fingers crossed!
Thanksgiving, we had chicken nuggets and I got a Minion sticker from inside the box of chicken nuggets! Super awesome sticker!!! It's of Stuart, the shorter of the three main minions. That was Turkey day here for us. We got our Christmas tree up but I can't get the pictures up today, so maybe next week. Last Christmas in Honduras, just saying... ;D
We always go out with all the Priests and Elders on Sunday to visit the WHOLE ward (it's a huge ward boundary. Like 2 times the size of our stake boundary) and it's a pretty swift operation. This week, I went with Besner to a part called the Mololoa and we talked to a few less-actives there. Our attendance this week was 191 members and investigators. We also had the Primary Program this week and so a lot of people came.
Yesterday, we were teaching a family of a recent convert. The recent convert is called Diego, and he's nine years old. He's a huge example to me, and to his family especially. He helps his dad pray at night and he prays with his mom in the morning. He showed his parents the Book of Mormon introduction to answer their question about the relationship of the BoM with the Bible and they read the first paragraph and felt the Spirit testify that it's true. Then we read the story of Enos with them and after reading it, the wife, Elizabeth, turns to her husband, Cesar, and says, "I think I want to be a Mormon!" So we encouraged them to read the Book of Mormon and follow the example that Diego has set for them. The next visit I think we'll read the Book of Mormon and invite them to be baptized. The good thing is that they're already married! No marriage paperwork or lawyers needed there! Super happy to be able to teach that family. :D Pray for them as well and for us to be able to put the right date for their baptism. We've been teaching this family with members always and I think that's contributed to their progress.
This week we've learned that to be better and have more wisdom, as missionaries, we need to work almost 100% of the time with members, if possible. The lessons are super great when we are with members.
Look at the new Christmas video by the Church! lds.org! Also, I'm hoping to be able to see the Christmas Devotional this weekend! Last year they didn't let us see it but I'm hoping we can get a few investigators to see it with us.
Love you family! You guys are the bestest!
Kristen, Ummm I thought I was looking at the mirror or something when I saw, well... myself, in the picture of the ancestor that you sent me. Really freaking me out here. I guess I'm like a cat and I'm on my "second of nine lives" now.
Loved the pictures this week Mom and Kristen. Thanks for the pictures and great stories. Dad, I'll read the story you sent me this week. Thank you for always giving me something to think about in the week.
We also have changes this next week (I've only been here 4 weeks) because the church doesn't like doing changes really close to Christmas. So next change will be eight weeks long instead of the normal six. I've seen tons of people from El Sitio these past few weeks. Turns out that when I was in El Sitio, I started teaching someone outside of our boundaries and so we're starting to teach her again with the help of the Elders in El Sitio and La Trinidad. So that's fun as well.
Got to go now,
Love,
Elder Tuft
PS: OTM (Open The Mouth) story of the week: we found a member that stopped going to church because her husband died recently and so we are visiting her, and her son isn't a member and is 17 years old, so he's a potential baptism, as well. We're helping them by starting with reading the scriptures, praying and attending church activities especially during the Christmas season. You never know who you'll find just opening the mouth with everyone.
I'm doing great this week. We are continually working and striving to thrust forward with all our might. So this week we shared a message with an investigator and her family about the Priesthood and the dad, Jaime, was a little against accepting our message but little by little he's been finding things and reading the Book of Mormon over the shoulder of his wife, Lourdes. So we talked about the Priesthood and one of the daughters asked about Polygamy in the church and we explained the best we could. It turns out the Lourdes was so startled by the topic that she didn't sleep that night. She studied thoroughly the topic until 4 am when she received an answer reading about Jacob and his wives. But Jaime was a little shocked too, and my companion thought that we had ruined chances to baptize them but we went back and Jaime was super happy and invited us in and we celebrated his daughter's and mom's b-day with them and had a small "devotional" after, which was great. Two days later, he came to the family history night that we had to explain genealogy and he loved it. After the meeting, he found his pastor in the street and his pastor started telling him that we are diabolical and other things... to keep the story short, he told his pastor off and his pastor told him that he could feel the darkness coming from Jaime, and so Jaime told him that he's never felt so full of light in his life. Well, we heard this story from his wife, Lourdes, and she was so happy and told us that she thinks that Jaime might get baptized too. So we have them all reading the Book of Mormon and I'm super excited for them!!! :D Pray for them because Lourdes and Karla (a daughter) have their baptismal date for this Saturday at 6 pm, but we haven't confirmed anything still. :D Fingers crossed!
Thanksgiving, we had chicken nuggets and I got a Minion sticker from inside the box of chicken nuggets! Super awesome sticker!!! It's of Stuart, the shorter of the three main minions. That was Turkey day here for us. We got our Christmas tree up but I can't get the pictures up today, so maybe next week. Last Christmas in Honduras, just saying... ;D
We always go out with all the Priests and Elders on Sunday to visit the WHOLE ward (it's a huge ward boundary. Like 2 times the size of our stake boundary) and it's a pretty swift operation. This week, I went with Besner to a part called the Mololoa and we talked to a few less-actives there. Our attendance this week was 191 members and investigators. We also had the Primary Program this week and so a lot of people came.
Yesterday, we were teaching a family of a recent convert. The recent convert is called Diego, and he's nine years old. He's a huge example to me, and to his family especially. He helps his dad pray at night and he prays with his mom in the morning. He showed his parents the Book of Mormon introduction to answer their question about the relationship of the BoM with the Bible and they read the first paragraph and felt the Spirit testify that it's true. Then we read the story of Enos with them and after reading it, the wife, Elizabeth, turns to her husband, Cesar, and says, "I think I want to be a Mormon!" So we encouraged them to read the Book of Mormon and follow the example that Diego has set for them. The next visit I think we'll read the Book of Mormon and invite them to be baptized. The good thing is that they're already married! No marriage paperwork or lawyers needed there! Super happy to be able to teach that family. :D Pray for them as well and for us to be able to put the right date for their baptism. We've been teaching this family with members always and I think that's contributed to their progress.
This week we've learned that to be better and have more wisdom, as missionaries, we need to work almost 100% of the time with members, if possible. The lessons are super great when we are with members.
Look at the new Christmas video by the Church! lds.org! Also, I'm hoping to be able to see the Christmas Devotional this weekend! Last year they didn't let us see it but I'm hoping we can get a few investigators to see it with us.
Love you family! You guys are the bestest!
Kristen, Ummm I thought I was looking at the mirror or something when I saw, well... myself, in the picture of the ancestor that you sent me. Really freaking me out here. I guess I'm like a cat and I'm on my "second of nine lives" now.
Loved the pictures this week Mom and Kristen. Thanks for the pictures and great stories. Dad, I'll read the story you sent me this week. Thank you for always giving me something to think about in the week.
We also have changes this next week (I've only been here 4 weeks) because the church doesn't like doing changes really close to Christmas. So next change will be eight weeks long instead of the normal six. I've seen tons of people from El Sitio these past few weeks. Turns out that when I was in El Sitio, I started teaching someone outside of our boundaries and so we're starting to teach her again with the help of the Elders in El Sitio and La Trinidad. So that's fun as well.
Got to go now,
Love,
Elder Tuft
PS: OTM (Open The Mouth) story of the week: we found a member that stopped going to church because her husband died recently and so we are visiting her, and her son isn't a member and is 17 years old, so he's a potential baptism, as well. We're helping them by starting with reading the scriptures, praying and attending church activities especially during the Christmas season. You never know who you'll find just opening the mouth with everyone.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Elder Reinoso, OTM (Open The Mouth), Thanksgiving, fun
Hello Fantastic Family,
Have a great Thanksgiving this year. They have turkey here but they don't eat it. I don't know why they have turkey here if they don't eat it though. It's like a pet, I think. They're super cool here and they open up their feathers huge and they get super fat but when they stop acting buff, then they are skinny.
Elder Reinoso is super awesome. He's different and doesn't always share what he's thinking with me and there have been times where I just look at him like, "Why didn't you tell me what you were planning???" So we're working on that. But he doesn't fear anybody. He'll talk to anyone. He's teaching me to have courage and we're talking to a lot of people.
Elder Reinoso's younger brother got baptized first in his family. Then his younger brother told the missionaries, "Hey my brother's hiding in the back. Go and teach him." So he started listening to the lessons. He wouldn't get baptized because of soccer on Sundays. He got paid to play soccer. He decided to go to church one Sunday and not play soccer. His coach found out and told him he was off the team. Then he told the missionaries that he wasn't playing soccer anymore and could get baptized. Two weeks later, the National Guatemala Soccer Club Team called him up and offered him a place on the team and he accepted and wasn't playing on Sundays. Two years later, they found out he was planning on serving a mission and kicked him off the team again. So know he's here in Honduras and is a member of just 2 years and 11 months. He baptized three friends that are now serving missions in various parts of Central America and he also baptized his Mom. As far as his Dad, I don't know when or how he got baptized but he's also a member of the church and it sounds like he is a really active member in the ward. So that's Elder Reinoso in a nutshell.
We had a lot of fun contacting this week. One night we were trying to get in a few more Open the Mouth before retiring for the night and we found a man at 9:15 pm that was really evangelist. He was super happy and cheerful to see us and we started talking about Family History. I told him that my g.g.g.grandpa came from Europe to the US and I told him about Peter Shirts meeting the Indians when they stole his cows and then begged for food from him. I was surprised but he started arguing with us that my g.g.g.grandpa couldn't have lived in the 1800s because he would have been born in the 1700s and not the 1800s. I just let that one go because he can't argue with me about my ancestry (like he would know who my g.g.g.grandpa was). And so we asked if we could show him how he could search for his ancestors in FamilySearch. He told us NO of course and then continued to tell us to study more about Joseph Smith. He called us "Idol-worshippers, fornicators, adulturers" and many other things about Joseph Smith and his "10 wives"... My companion wanted to talk about how Abraham had multiple wives, as well but I cut him off because that wouldn't end well. And then I asked him, "Have you attended one of our church meetings?" He hadn't. "Have you read the Book of Mormon?" And he responded that the Book of Mormon is far from spiritual... blahblahblah. Obviously, he hadn't. So I invited him to do those things and bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and that anyone and everyone was, is, and forever will be invited to read from it's pages and will know that it is true if they meditate on what they read and pray to God asking Him if it's true. Then I shared with him 2 Nephi 25:26 and Moroni 10:4-5. By that point he was wavering in his resolve to tell us we were wrong. By the time we left he gave us a hug and told us thanks for sharing that with him. I just felt good as we left and spiritually uplifted. It was a short, spiritual moment that we had in the cold night with an unexpected encounter. :D Fun moments of the mission :D
Love you family!!! You guys are the greatest! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! They don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here but we'll do something fun.
Congratulations with the progress of the wedding. I hope everyone gets better from being sick and being operated on. S.M.I.L.E. (Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal)
Elder Spencer Tuft
Have a great Thanksgiving this year. They have turkey here but they don't eat it. I don't know why they have turkey here if they don't eat it though. It's like a pet, I think. They're super cool here and they open up their feathers huge and they get super fat but when they stop acting buff, then they are skinny.
Elder Reinoso is super awesome. He's different and doesn't always share what he's thinking with me and there have been times where I just look at him like, "Why didn't you tell me what you were planning???" So we're working on that. But he doesn't fear anybody. He'll talk to anyone. He's teaching me to have courage and we're talking to a lot of people.
Elder Reinoso's younger brother got baptized first in his family. Then his younger brother told the missionaries, "Hey my brother's hiding in the back. Go and teach him." So he started listening to the lessons. He wouldn't get baptized because of soccer on Sundays. He got paid to play soccer. He decided to go to church one Sunday and not play soccer. His coach found out and told him he was off the team. Then he told the missionaries that he wasn't playing soccer anymore and could get baptized. Two weeks later, the National Guatemala Soccer Club Team called him up and offered him a place on the team and he accepted and wasn't playing on Sundays. Two years later, they found out he was planning on serving a mission and kicked him off the team again. So know he's here in Honduras and is a member of just 2 years and 11 months. He baptized three friends that are now serving missions in various parts of Central America and he also baptized his Mom. As far as his Dad, I don't know when or how he got baptized but he's also a member of the church and it sounds like he is a really active member in the ward. So that's Elder Reinoso in a nutshell.
We had a lot of fun contacting this week. One night we were trying to get in a few more Open the Mouth before retiring for the night and we found a man at 9:15 pm that was really evangelist. He was super happy and cheerful to see us and we started talking about Family History. I told him that my g.g.g.grandpa came from Europe to the US and I told him about Peter Shirts meeting the Indians when they stole his cows and then begged for food from him. I was surprised but he started arguing with us that my g.g.g.grandpa couldn't have lived in the 1800s because he would have been born in the 1700s and not the 1800s. I just let that one go because he can't argue with me about my ancestry (like he would know who my g.g.g.grandpa was). And so we asked if we could show him how he could search for his ancestors in FamilySearch. He told us NO of course and then continued to tell us to study more about Joseph Smith. He called us "Idol-worshippers, fornicators, adulturers" and many other things about Joseph Smith and his "10 wives"... My companion wanted to talk about how Abraham had multiple wives, as well but I cut him off because that wouldn't end well. And then I asked him, "Have you attended one of our church meetings?" He hadn't. "Have you read the Book of Mormon?" And he responded that the Book of Mormon is far from spiritual... blahblahblah. Obviously, he hadn't. So I invited him to do those things and bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and that anyone and everyone was, is, and forever will be invited to read from it's pages and will know that it is true if they meditate on what they read and pray to God asking Him if it's true. Then I shared with him 2 Nephi 25:26 and Moroni 10:4-5. By that point he was wavering in his resolve to tell us we were wrong. By the time we left he gave us a hug and told us thanks for sharing that with him. I just felt good as we left and spiritually uplifted. It was a short, spiritual moment that we had in the cold night with an unexpected encounter. :D Fun moments of the mission :D
Love you family!!! You guys are the greatest! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! They don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here but we'll do something fun.
Congratulations with the progress of the wedding. I hope everyone gets better from being sick and being operated on. S.M.I.L.E. (Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal)
Elder Spencer Tuft
Monday, November 16, 2015
La Travesia, Elder Reinoso, Yesterday's experience
Hello Mom, Dad and Family,
I have been doing fantastic. Actually today, I started off mad at my companion because he didn't tell me we would be playing soccer and he brought his sport clothes and we got to the field and I realized that he was taking me to play soccer and I told him, "But why didn't you tell me so I could have brought my clothes?" It just escaped his mind completely because of all the busy things we've been doing. I forgave him though. So while they played soccer today, I played Sudoku on the phone and beat Level 100... yeah no biggy, just a Utah Sudoku player in Tegucigalpa. ;D
Well, I'm in Teguc if you didn't catch that. My new companion is Elder Reinoso from Guate. He's a super fanatic about soccer, or was a super fanatic. He played in the national cup in Guatemala before he became a member of the church. Then his coach told him that he was kicked off the team for being Mormon (yay for Mormones!). But he loves it here in Honduras. He's been in the mission for 11 months and he still has a little bit of a newbie attitude towards the mission. But that's helping me to have more energy.
I have started to do diligent exercises every single morning and motivating my companion to do it as well. In the apartment today, we had a mini-obstacle course that we had to do while doing push-ups. :D It was a little like Hot-Lava (the game we used to play as little kids on the swing-set). I think he enjoyed it for a little bit at least.
The apartment is dope. I have a hammock above my bed that I can use (it's mine) if I feel like it. Before now, I hadn't had a spot to put the hammock. I got in it two nights ago and woke up in bed... I don't know how that happened... The pillow was still in the hammock, as well...
I also woke up this morning with a rash but we went to the office this morning for immigration purposes for my companion and an eye-check for me so I also got my skin looked at. It looks like it did when I sprayed "OFF!" on my body at the beginning of the mission. Hna Oldroyd gave me a treatment and if it doesn't work she'll look at me again. It doesn't itch and it's not bed-bugs either. I feel fine.
Thanks for the letters this week. You honestly don't know how many prayers (said and unsaid) have been answered just from your letters.
Yesterday we went to the house of a member who recently had a baby. Her cousin was there and we didn't know what we were going to teach because we don't really know them still but we brought my USB to watch a Mormon Message and watched Pres. Uchtdorf's Patience talk (with the experiment of the little kids and marshmallows) and at the end I could tell that the cousin, Sofia, was really affected by the video so I asked her what she was thinking. She responded that she had been a while without seeing her family and she had been praying to be able to go back soon but because of her job and studies she can't right now. She then said, "I know that God wants me here right now. I just need to be more patient and I'll be able to eat two marshmallows instead of one." I felt the Spirit testify to us all that if we wait well, God will reward us and pour out "two marshmallows" from heaven instead of one.
Love you family,
Spencer-pooski #starsarefartherthanthesunandmoonandback ;)
PS Great job with the gate, Dad! and Congratulations Kristen and Ian! I want pictures! :D Give Bro. Staheli a hug from me.
I have been doing fantastic. Actually today, I started off mad at my companion because he didn't tell me we would be playing soccer and he brought his sport clothes and we got to the field and I realized that he was taking me to play soccer and I told him, "But why didn't you tell me so I could have brought my clothes?" It just escaped his mind completely because of all the busy things we've been doing. I forgave him though. So while they played soccer today, I played Sudoku on the phone and beat Level 100... yeah no biggy, just a Utah Sudoku player in Tegucigalpa. ;D
Well, I'm in Teguc if you didn't catch that. My new companion is Elder Reinoso from Guate. He's a super fanatic about soccer, or was a super fanatic. He played in the national cup in Guatemala before he became a member of the church. Then his coach told him that he was kicked off the team for being Mormon (yay for Mormones!). But he loves it here in Honduras. He's been in the mission for 11 months and he still has a little bit of a newbie attitude towards the mission. But that's helping me to have more energy.
I have started to do diligent exercises every single morning and motivating my companion to do it as well. In the apartment today, we had a mini-obstacle course that we had to do while doing push-ups. :D It was a little like Hot-Lava (the game we used to play as little kids on the swing-set). I think he enjoyed it for a little bit at least.
The apartment is dope. I have a hammock above my bed that I can use (it's mine) if I feel like it. Before now, I hadn't had a spot to put the hammock. I got in it two nights ago and woke up in bed... I don't know how that happened... The pillow was still in the hammock, as well...
I also woke up this morning with a rash but we went to the office this morning for immigration purposes for my companion and an eye-check for me so I also got my skin looked at. It looks like it did when I sprayed "OFF!" on my body at the beginning of the mission. Hna Oldroyd gave me a treatment and if it doesn't work she'll look at me again. It doesn't itch and it's not bed-bugs either. I feel fine.
Thanks for the letters this week. You honestly don't know how many prayers (said and unsaid) have been answered just from your letters.
Yesterday we went to the house of a member who recently had a baby. Her cousin was there and we didn't know what we were going to teach because we don't really know them still but we brought my USB to watch a Mormon Message and watched Pres. Uchtdorf's Patience talk (with the experiment of the little kids and marshmallows) and at the end I could tell that the cousin, Sofia, was really affected by the video so I asked her what she was thinking. She responded that she had been a while without seeing her family and she had been praying to be able to go back soon but because of her job and studies she can't right now. She then said, "I know that God wants me here right now. I just need to be more patient and I'll be able to eat two marshmallows instead of one." I felt the Spirit testify to us all that if we wait well, God will reward us and pour out "two marshmallows" from heaven instead of one.
Love you family,
Spencer-pooski #starsarefartherthanthesunandmoonandback ;)
PS Great job with the gate, Dad! and Congratulations Kristen and Ian! I want pictures! :D Give Bro. Staheli a hug from me.
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