okay familia! sorry I skipped the big email last week. I will tell you the problema... we just had an overall lack of diligence. We weren't working as hard or as efficient as we should have been, and it showed in the results of our week. So we repented and changed and decided to have a better week. And it was amazing! gosh I don't even know how to word this email so sorry if I ramble.
we'll start on a not spiritual note... haha so Thursday morning we woke up early... too early. Okay actually I woke up to Hermana Jensen throwing her stuffed shark at me at 1:30 in the morning. I had no idea what was happening so I just rolled over and started praying. Then I heard the crazy argument that was going on outside. Our gang friend drug dealing neighbor named sam who is the sweetest was in a fight with this crazy lady who was swearing and yelling very profane things that are very unpardonable at 1:30 in the morning.. so after listening to them argue we went to sleep and she came back at like 5:00 to yell at him again in some more foul language. I may or may not have spied on them through the window... :) I tell you. They always keep me on my toes!
continuing with drama stories, one of our investigators juan (who we call the chosen juan.. haha get it like chosen one! that one was all Hermana Jensen) but he is like way in love with us. He invited us to go out dancing with him this week. So we started taking our recent convert Pedro to his lessons to protect us! haha we have another creepy investigator that wants us to date his son. yikes.
and then one day this week just for fun hna Jensen made us a fort because we had to watch some training videos. haha she's just a hoot. So here's some nice fotos. anyways, now that you have been filled in on all the unspiritual things, now onto the spiritual things to restore your faith in me as a missionary of the lord!
so I have been studying diligence a lot. Cause I don't want to finish my mission being one of those trunky missionaries that just wastes time. I want to Finish Strong. Well in preach my gospel it says“I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There willbe no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work—there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.”
–President Ezra Taft Benson
I have really come to understand, appreciate, and gain a testimony of this principle. If you are not working diligently, you don't have the spirit, and if you don't have the spirit, you are not happy. One of the most amazing things I have seen is that diligence in planning really pays off. If you plan with precision, the lord is going to put people in your path. He will lead you to them, or them to you. So this week has been a week of being in the right place at the right time, and working on the timetable of the lord.
For example Monday we met this one guy named Marin who I had met like one month previously, and he remembered me. He asked if we could teach him. So we taught him right then. For our return cita we went to his house, and he wasn't there, but we found a family that said oh we know the missionaries, they used to teach us! and we were able to go back and teach them! they are way cool. Santos and Delmi. So we were guided there by marin who remembered me from forever ago! miracle!
Another time we were planning, and Hermana Jensen says to me hey remember that guy that was washing his car? we start trying to remember this way cool guy, decide we should try calling him, he doesn't answer, but later that night when we are out contacting guess who we run into? CAR WASH GUY!!!! coincidence? I think NOT!
The lord was just putting us where we needed to be at exactly the right time. It was really unreal how everything worked out perfectly. If we had a return appointment, and they weren't home, the Lord had the perfect backup plan waiting. So I really know that when we work hard, and do our best, the lord will make up the rest and guide us.
We also had the amazing opportunity to have a mission conference this week with Elder Bruce A. Carlson of the seventy. He is so cool! he used to be a General in the air force, so he told lots of cool stories about war and stuff. Most of which went over my head. Dad you would have loved them! We talked a lot about what it means to be a consecrated missionary. Or sanctification. What I really think is the most amazing thing about consecration is that it's personal. It's about turning your heart to God. Submitting your will to his. Like Christ did when he was on the earth. Whenever he was asked what he was doing he always answered I am doing the will of my father, or doing what my father sent me to do. He never thought of himself. His own agenda, or his own desires. He was here to serve his father. And that is the kind of missionary I want to be. More than just a missionary who sacrifices 18 months to serve the Lord, but a missionary who has truly become sanctified, and become and instrument in the lords hands, to carry out his will. I know this church is true, and the Lord needs missionaries "who love [him], truly, truly love [him], and love what our Father in Heaven has commissioned [us] to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world." Jeffry R. Holland.
So my dear family "Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Love you all so much!
I have really come to understand, appreciate, and gain a testimony of this principle. If you are not working diligently, you don't have the spirit, and if you don't have the spirit, you are not happy. One of the most amazing things I have seen is that diligence in planning really pays off. If you plan with precision, the lord is going to put people in your path. He will lead you to them, or them to you. So this week has been a week of being in the right place at the right time, and working on the timetable of the lord.
For example Monday we met this one guy named Marin who I had met like one month previously, and he remembered me. He asked if we could teach him. So we taught him right then. For our return cita we went to his house, and he wasn't there, but we found a family that said oh we know the missionaries, they used to teach us! and we were able to go back and teach them! they are way cool. Santos and Delmi. So we were guided there by marin who remembered me from forever ago! miracle!
Another time we were planning, and Hermana Jensen says to me hey remember that guy that was washing his car? we start trying to remember this way cool guy, decide we should try calling him, he doesn't answer, but later that night when we are out contacting guess who we run into? CAR WASH GUY!!!! coincidence? I think NOT!
The lord was just putting us where we needed to be at exactly the right time. It was really unreal how everything worked out perfectly. If we had a return appointment, and they weren't home, the Lord had the perfect backup plan waiting. So I really know that when we work hard, and do our best, the lord will make up the rest and guide us.
We also had the amazing opportunity to have a mission conference this week with Elder Bruce A. Carlson of the seventy. He is so cool! he used to be a General in the air force, so he told lots of cool stories about war and stuff. Most of which went over my head. Dad you would have loved them! We talked a lot about what it means to be a consecrated missionary. Or sanctification. What I really think is the most amazing thing about consecration is that it's personal. It's about turning your heart to God. Submitting your will to his. Like Christ did when he was on the earth. Whenever he was asked what he was doing he always answered I am doing the will of my father, or doing what my father sent me to do. He never thought of himself. His own agenda, or his own desires. He was here to serve his father. And that is the kind of missionary I want to be. More than just a missionary who sacrifices 18 months to serve the Lord, but a missionary who has truly become sanctified, and become and instrument in the lords hands, to carry out his will. I know this church is true, and the Lord needs missionaries "who love [him], truly, truly love [him], and love what our Father in Heaven has commissioned [us] to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world." Jeffry R. Holland.
So my dear family "Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Love you all so much!
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