Fam,
I think I now more than ever understand the words of Nephi found in the 32nd chapter of the second book of Nephi which says,
"8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. "
We've had four lessons with David and they go pretty well. The only problem is after the first lesson he felt really uncomfortable praying and wouldn't. Missionaries are here to invite people to come closer to Jesus Christ. Prayer is pivotal to that process. Prayer moves our lessons from convincing someone logically of the truth to helping them discern by the spirit the truthfulness of our message. People progress once they pray with real intent, with faith in Christ, and a willing heart because it's once they start doing that that the spirit is able to direct their path for good. If they refuse to ask in prayer if what we share is true or do so without faith, real intent, or a willing heart they won't receive direction from the spirit. The problem was that David wouldn't pray. During our first lesson with him, we tried to figure out why. After a fair amount of pushing we couldn't get anything out of him to explain why. Even after teaching him how to pray, he wouldn't. Giving him a second chance we taught the Plan of Salvation with a significant emphasis on how prayer is a key step in our progression. Still nothing. Feeling there was something deeper going on than just not wanting to learn, we spoke with Teodoro who was there with us and he said, "you need to break him, you just need to be as persistant as the Elders were with me."
Determined we planned a lesson on prayer covering the who, what, why, and how of prayer ending with an invitation to pray, having 2 Nephi 32:8 ready if he repeated "maybe next time." He really liked the lesson. We liked the lesson too, but as we extended the invite he looked down and wouldn't. As we spoke with him we felt deeply that there was some significant unknown barrier making this abnormally difficult for him. Saddened by his unwillingness to progress we discussed our purpose with him and how even though we like him alot we couldn't come back if he wasn't progressing towards baptism. We discussed with him our purpose and bore testimony about the truthfulness of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly we felt as Nephi likely felt by the words he used to describe his situation, "it grieveth [us]"
I really like the statement made by Jesus in Matthew 18:12. The shepherd, looking for the one lost sheep of his herd of 99 sheep, needed to leave and go searching in the mountains for the one. True ministering is going for that one who had left. To help that sheep you need to find them. That might mean physically finding them but I think often times for issues more ingrained, it's more like trying to come to an understanding of who they are and why they feel the way they feel.
Something clicked on Monday for us because when we came back, something about David just looked better. There seemed to be more light in him. We met on his porch as usual and finished the Plan of Salvation and asked if we could end in prayer. He folded his arms and looked down readying himself for the prayer. After about 10 seconds I saw him open his eyes, still looking down, and solemnly realize we were arriving at a fork in the road. We really didn't say anything. He slowly looked up at us and then back down, and after a few long seconds offered a humble quiet prayer. Honestly I just about jumped off my chair. He had taken a step that turned out to be much more significant and difficult for himself than I think we might ever realize. We were pretty happy and he was too. I'm not even sure I touched the ground as we walked back to the car.
Latter we got a pretty good referral for the first time from other missionaries. Some sisters in Lansing reached out to us to teach a man they had met. Within a week of getting a Libro de Mormón he had read up to about Moroni 8. We had a good lesson and challenged him to baptism. He accepted! Now we have to just figure out if his English abilities are strong enough for him to function well in a Lansing English congregation or if he is willing to make the hour drive to Grand Rapids. The Book of Mormon really resonates with the spirit and is normally the most important tool in conversion to the fulness of the gospel.
We've spoken of Alex the missionary pastor. Unfortunately we parted ways this week. The french-portuguese-spanish-english didn't help. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure his comprehension is around 0%. Also side note he turned out to be an apostle and part prophet. He showed us some weird magazines of stuff he did back in Africa. We attempted to show the Restoration movie in Portuguese but he still wasn't understanding. He was confused why we were teaching him. He used Matthew 10:6 to make his point. Matthew 10 starts with the ordaining and commission of the 12 Apostles. Verse 6 says "6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He felt he already knew what he needed to do, but we tried to explain the story of Apollos found in Acts 18:24- Acts 19:6. Basically Apollos is doing a bunch of good teaching and baptizing--- but all without authority. The church reaches out to him and he is taught "more perfectly" by the church and given authority by the "brethren" or Apostles in that time. Paul later baptized Apollos' converts again with authority and gives them the gift of the Holy Ghost, Apollos then continued to "help them much." Alex was pretty great but didn't understand. He would be a great addition to the Church but unfortunately there are no French speaking missionaries who could have helped us when we needed them. He even wanted to go teaching with us.
Saturday was also my busiest proselyting day yet. We left the apartment at 7:30 a.m. and had a meeting from 8-9:30, lessons from 10-12, a trip out to Grant Michigan after those lessons which took 5 hours in total, and lessons in the evening, compelling us to arrive home just before 9:30. It was a pretty good day. Most days we can't proselyte for 14 hours.
As Joseph Smith said, "the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel."
-eric
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Thursday, January 12, 2017
First Week at the Mexico MTC
12 January 2017
Dear family and friends,
Getting to Mexico was pretty easy. I had a layover in Atlanta that was more than enough time to get from gate to gate. The day I left it was raining, so when I was getting ready to board, I was watching the planes take off. I flew first down to Atlanta, so I was also at the front of the long line.
The two ladies at the front desk were talking their time, so I was able to watch about 6 planes take off before I boarded. I wasn't the first on the plane but I was close. It was really cool watching the planes, because as they'd take off the jet blast out the back of the planes would throw a massive wave of water into the air. Two planes seemed to have been going faster than the others and when they pulled up water condensed out of the air on top of their wings.
On the plane to Mexico I met Elder Conklin and Sister/Hermana Perkins as well as Elder Pearson, my current companion. I was pretty tired and slept nearly the whole way to Mexico.
I sat next to this kid flying home, he asked me why I was going to Mexico. I told him what I was doing and why and we talked about religion for awhile. At the end of the flight He asked if I had a copy of The Book of Mormon. I was laughing in my head because I can't imagine that giving away a copy of The Book of Mormon will be any easier than it was then. Luckily I had an extra copy and gave it to him.
The weather is also super pleasant. It's around 55-65 degrees all day and night, also it is slightly more dry than I was anticipating. We are at about 7000 feet, or so I've been told, but the air doesn't feel as thin as I would've expected. Parakeets fly and nest all over the MTC. They're bright green and super loud sometimes.
Everyday feels shorter and shorter than the last. Each 15 minute segment is planned out for the whole day, everyday. Never has my life been so organized. The first few days were a little rough. We had no idea what we were doing, or what books to take to each class. We have 12 pounds of materials, from about 20 different books in both Spanish and English, so we didn't really want to take everything everywhere. We later learned we only had one major classroom we used, and we could leave everything there. That was day 3.
We had a devotional our first night and one of the area authorities asked if anyone felt stressed over the past week. About 3/4 of the 300 missionaries here raised there hands. He said that while we are here there is no reason to be stressed. He told us that while we are here we will never have to run 5 miles so fast that we vomit at the end or we go home. Never will we have to take a single test that if we fail we will be sent home. And never will we have to deal with any situation that if we fail we will be sent home, so there is no reason to stress if we do our best everyday. After the devotional my roommates and I read a chapter from the Book of Mormon. The chapter we read was about the sons of Mosiah and their mission. They preached the word of God to the Lamanites for 14 years, a group of people that would try to kill every Nephite they saw. Missions are around two years long, not 14 years, and we are not preaching to people who want to kill us.
Today we are going to the temple visitor center for a few hours. I'm not sure what we will be doing, because the Mexico temple is currently closed for the next two hours. When I got here I received a tablet, so there might be pictures coming later this afternoon, but no promises.
Lastly I was able to see my cousin Ben Johnson before he left. I have a picture with us two but I don't know if I will be able to get it off the camera. I also saw him Sunday and was able to give him a goodby hug after we talked for a little bit.
Sorry for any typos, Mexican keyboards have slightly different key locations and the spell check is on Spanish, so I have a wall of red lines.
Dear family and friends,
Getting to Mexico was pretty easy. I had a layover in Atlanta that was more than enough time to get from gate to gate. The day I left it was raining, so when I was getting ready to board, I was watching the planes take off. I flew first down to Atlanta, so I was also at the front of the long line.
The two ladies at the front desk were talking their time, so I was able to watch about 6 planes take off before I boarded. I wasn't the first on the plane but I was close. It was really cool watching the planes, because as they'd take off the jet blast out the back of the planes would throw a massive wave of water into the air. Two planes seemed to have been going faster than the others and when they pulled up water condensed out of the air on top of their wings.
On the plane to Mexico I met Elder Conklin and Sister/Hermana Perkins as well as Elder Pearson, my current companion. I was pretty tired and slept nearly the whole way to Mexico.
I sat next to this kid flying home, he asked me why I was going to Mexico. I told him what I was doing and why and we talked about religion for awhile. At the end of the flight He asked if I had a copy of The Book of Mormon. I was laughing in my head because I can't imagine that giving away a copy of The Book of Mormon will be any easier than it was then. Luckily I had an extra copy and gave it to him.
The Missionary Training Center is really pretty. It sits on a 90 acre lot in Mexico city, which is a little insane. It's basically an oasis from the craziness of Mexico City. Ten foot concrete walls with another 8-10 feet of barbed wire fence surround the campus, so we are completely isolated from the city. Wednesday it seemed like something was going on, but we were never told what was going on until the afternoon. Supposedly there were some "security issues" on the other side of the fence. We were later told there was rioting in the city. So if someone could email me some information on the riots that would be great.
Palm trees and this other tree, which I don't know the name of, are scattered all over the campus and like I said before, it's super pretty.
The weather is also super pleasant. It's around 55-65 degrees all day and night, also it is slightly more dry than I was anticipating. We are at about 7000 feet, or so I've been told, but the air doesn't feel as thin as I would've expected. Parakeets fly and nest all over the MTC. They're bright green and super loud sometimes.
Spanish is kind of interesting. Every single Spanish teacher I've had before now was absolutely horrible. Some were mean but taught way too fast, and others were nice and never taught. We have two sets of teachers, one for language study and one for teaching lessons. Our language teacher is really awesome. Hermana Gonzales served a mission in the San Antonio Texas mission Spanish speaking and was born and raised in Mexico City. The teacher who teaches us how to teach is named Hermano Velallobos. He is about 5 foot 8, slim build and the deepest voice I have ever heard. It's slightly hilarious.
My companion and my other two roommates are great. It's funny, everyone warned me about bad roommates at BYU-I and bad companions on the mission but so far everyone has been awesome. Two prayed to have dreams in Spanish one night. Elder Forsburg said he had a dream Hermana Gonzales was getting mad at him and talking in reeaally fast Spanish, while Elder Henrikson said he didn't remember any dreams from that night. The only dream I've had so far had to do with flying a float plane and some weird art, but beyond that I couldn't remember much.
The first week here everyone was extra nice. At each meal time, the missionaries that have been here for a longer amount of time come and talk with the guys who just got here. Everyone said if you can make it to Sunday, you're set. The first week is the hardest, but once you get through it you can rely on Sundays, Costco pizza day, and P day to get through the week comfortably. Your first week you don't get a P(reparation day) so it's long and harder than all the others.
Sunday, as expected, was an awesome day. Sacrament meeting was 75% in Spanish. Before the prayer the person presiding calls on a few missionaries to speak. Everyone gets speaking topics on Thursday so it wasn't horrible. At the very beginning I was called to say the opening prayer. I heard Johnson, but didn't understand anything else. The Elder behind said I had the prayer. I was way nervous, I had never given a prayer in Spanish without reading, but when it was time I got up and said the prayer in Spanish. It was really short, but I said it all without reading.
Everyday feels shorter and shorter than the last. Each 15 minute segment is planned out for the whole day, everyday. Never has my life been so organized. The first few days were a little rough. We had no idea what we were doing, or what books to take to each class. We have 12 pounds of materials, from about 20 different books in both Spanish and English, so we didn't really want to take everything everywhere. We later learned we only had one major classroom we used, and we could leave everything there. That was day 3.
We had a devotional our first night and one of the area authorities asked if anyone felt stressed over the past week. About 3/4 of the 300 missionaries here raised there hands. He said that while we are here there is no reason to be stressed. He told us that while we are here we will never have to run 5 miles so fast that we vomit at the end or we go home. Never will we have to take a single test that if we fail we will be sent home. And never will we have to deal with any situation that if we fail we will be sent home, so there is no reason to stress if we do our best everyday. After the devotional my roommates and I read a chapter from the Book of Mormon. The chapter we read was about the sons of Mosiah and their mission. They preached the word of God to the Lamanites for 14 years, a group of people that would try to kill every Nephite they saw. Missions are around two years long, not 14 years, and we are not preaching to people who want to kill us.
Lastly I was able to see my cousin Ben Johnson before he left. I have a picture with us two but I don't know if I will be able to get it off the camera. I also saw him Sunday and was able to give him a goodby hug after we talked for a little bit.
Sorry for any typos, Mexican keyboards have slightly different key locations and the spell check is on Spanish, so I have a wall of red lines.
Questions I can't answer
Why is Christmas pronounced chris-mass and not christ-mas?
My first few days I had some free time to draft this email, so the next few might not be as long.Why is Christmas pronounced chris-mass and not christ-mas?
- my district is 16A for mail. Don't send packages from the United states they get stuck in customs often. There is a service that sends stuff from Mexico, but I don't know what it's called.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)