so this week was pretty crazy. pretty humbling. i love the mission you
know that? the lord knows exactly what we need every single day to
become what he wants us to be. thats why i love humbling experiences!
this week i had an experience that ive never had before. we recieved a
reference seriously like way out in the flippin boonies and it took us
like 30 trekking through the forest to get there. turns out they were
two less actives taking care of an evangelical church campground
place. but anyway the mom was a return missionary and they were both
endowed. we didnt really understand the strength of their testimonies
in the beginning but they began to tell us there wasnt any point in
talking to them because we couldnt help. however we refused to leave
until we had talked. so after sharing a scripture and still not
hearing why there were inactive the brother finally told us their
story. for 25 years they had been trying to fix a previous sin. were
not sure what happened but they had gotten to talking with a mission
president a little back to be judged before a council and it still did
not get resolved. somehow in the process of the years their files had
been lost and without the results of the council they still couldnt do
anything in the church and pretty much every leader told them there
was nothing they could do. the extent of that part were not sure, but
i am absolutely positive of the pain and suffering that i saw in their
eyes. becasue of what had happened with the leaders in the past they
had gone inactive and their son that was preparing for a mission did
not go. we realized as we walked away from their house how little
decisions tht we make go way beyond affecting just us. because of what
happened they could not get themselves to go back and try to go
through the repentance process again, making their children also be
taken out of the church, that will almost definitely affect their
grand adn great grandchildren in the future. it was really sad to see
especially hearing how strong their own personal testimonies were!
we also received a call from maribel this week who had a baptismal
date with her 12 year old son saying that her husband got mad and they
could no longer go to church nor meet with us. it was really hard.
they were awesome. we had some things happen this week that just
brought us to our knees and made us want to work even harder to make
things happen in our sector and in our zone! the day that happened we
were down, but we worked our butts off until at the very end of the
day we passed by an old contact and taught her and set a baptismal
date. she didnt go to church... but thats not the important part! the
lord will always reward us for our work, personally, as well as with
the fruits of the work. i dont know hwo to phrase that in english but
oh well.
i also struggled hard core this week with allergies. i was a walking
sneeze. i dont know what it is that is killing me but one day it was
so bad i couldnt even hardly open my eyes. we went ot the house and
elder mcelhaney gave me a blessing and i washed my face off. as we
left the house i felt completely normal again and we worked hard the
rest of the day!
jason is progressing but couldnt go to church. saturday night he came
to a ward activity but didnt really feel all that comfortable. i
remember that a big turning point for our convert christian in
coquimbo was when we started going with young mens leaders to invite
him to mutual. i feel like if we can help jason the same way and make
him feel included in teh ward that hes going to be able to progress
much more! thats kind of been something that was difficult for me to
understand in the mission... that social conversion is almost as
important as spiritual conversion. obviously the spiritual conversion
is absolutely needed, but at the same time people who stay active are
the ones that feel taken in and befriended by other members. thats
what a complete conversion means.
on tuesday i went on interchanges with elder giustozzi from argentina.
it was a sick day and we did so many contacts! at the end of the day
we knocked a house and some guy let us come in and his hosue was in
the middle of nowhere. when we got in he brought us in to the kitchen
to talk while he chopped off the heads and skinned quails and rabbit
in front of our eyes!! haha after teaching him and his two sons we
were served dinner... it was really... good.... im almost positive it
was not cottontail if ya know what i mean.
i honestly have no idea if i made any sense in this email. but stay
fresh guys. love you. dont ever abandon your faith. its become real
clear to me in the mission the difference between genuinely happy
people and those that only experience short spurts of happiness. alma
41:10 wickedness never was happiness. choose the right homies.
-elder allred - chilean street raptor
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