Friday, August 19, 2016

Week 5 - Last letter from CCM

Hola Todos!!! 
First, happy anniversary Taylor and Ronnie!!! Love you guys and I absolutely LOVE your family that you have started!! So this is my last time emailing from the CCM!! But that also means you won't hear from me until the 29th, I think that's my first P day in the field.

This week was pretty good, I had my first Cockroach encounter... SO BIG! it was in IP (IP is where I teach a mock investigator) And all of a sudden you could hear something moving across the floor, and when we looked down... a cockroach, and I had to kill it. Those things dont die! I had to stomp on it 3 times. 

Also we heard a fire fight in our classroom while doing personal study. We all of a sudden heard a bunch of gun shots hahaha

Also Proselytismo!! First off, the horses walk around like stray dogs, its messed up, they just are chilling in yards and in the streets, haha. This was a new area, because you only get two times in each area, and we went knocking door to door. This area was harder because it was a lot more city, like I was able to get mcdonalds for lunch, (so good to get a little american food). The city is a huge change from the suburbs, its poor in the neighborhoods and pretty nice in the cities (well nice for Sur America). Anways we found this dude Fernando and his wife while knocking doors, And He Let Us In!!! so lucky. For the first thirty minutes he was talking, and I literally didn't understand anything, he just kept talking about The Cuban Blockade, Kids in Africa, Kept making fun of us for not being able to understand, and Donald Trump. But then all of a sudden, Don de Lengua, I could understand everything like the flip of a switch! And then he realized I could understand him and we started getting some where.
We then started to share the Book of Mormon, and when he saw the aztec pyramids in the background of the picture of Christ, he went off about God being an alien and all the miracles like Moses dividing the red sea is because the God (An alien) can give them more power over there mind. And Jesus Christ also had this ability. And that Sodom and Gommorah was a nuclear strike by aliens..... And the CCM hasn't gone over how to handle this scenario quite yet. hahaha
Anyways, I had the strongest impression to talk about the preisthood, and finally I got my opportunity to talk. so I told him, "We believe in this ability or power that you have talked about, it's called the priesthood. It's the authority of God, to use his power for his will. By this power, Moses split the Red Sea, Christ and his apostles performed Miracles, Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, and this power was lost from the world after Christ. But, its been restored, and a normal man, if he follows Christ and his commandments, and is worthy of it, can Have this power!" 
Before he could respond his wife came into the room and kind of ruined the moment, but she invited us back this next Saturday for Empanadas! so we have a second chance before his information will be given to the real missionaries. 
We also ran into two teenagers, who spoke english!! Shared the story of the Book of Mormon and challenged them to read and pray about it, and hopefully they do. They kissed us on the cheek afterwards.. Honestly I don't know how this custom came about but its weird and I don't know how to avoid it.  
There is this missionary in the CCM who is a recent convert, 6 months ago. His name is Elder Morales from Bolivia. He comes to me every day asking questions about the gospel, and I've had the opportunity to teach him about different things. He doesn't know much about this gospel at all, but he knows its true, and he knows that the missionaries changed his life 6 months ago. He was brought to tears thinking he wasn't ready to go proselyting because he didnt know the gospel entirely. Its so humbling to see how blessed I am to be born into a gospel family. I've taken this gospel for granted in my life, to have the knowledge I have. And I've never respected anyone as much as Elder Morales, who doesn't even know anything beyond the basics, but knows it is true with all his heart, and he is for sure out here because he wants to share that.
We watched the Joseph Smith Movie, Prophet of the Restoration (Not the 20 minute investigator version but the real one). That movie almost brought me to tears. Joseph Smith is the leader of this last dispensation, and nothing can change my knowledge of that. He has done more for the church in our day, save Jesus Christ. I invite you all to watch the movie if you haven't, or watch it again
Thats it for this week, The latinos think I'm a goon here. I mess with them so much! haha I literally can say the most random stuff to them and get away with it because im a gringo, its the best haha




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