Well this week turned
out to be one of the hardest yet. I finished 6 months apparently, but I´m not
really sure which day I entered the MTC, the 13th 14th or 15th. So I just kind
of wrote my journal entry for the 14th as the one. I honestly don´t count the
time too much, and that’s the best way to go about it. I forgot grandma´s birthday
last week, so wish her a happy late birthday from me, I´d like to say that preserves
my track record of birthday wishes.
Anyways, as for the
hard week, I couldn´t just not worry about Darci and Joe, or pray for Braden an
Ashley, because well, even as missionaries we are human beings. I don´t want
that to stop you from ever telling me what’s going on there, just to let you know
that missionaries are heroes...but they are heroes from among us, that we all
can be like. That’s a pretty complicated way to put that every member is a
missionary. I learned a lot about the atonement this week, or better put, I put
into practice a lot about the atonement this week. I´ve been preaching for 6 months
about how the atonement works for not only the sins of the entire world, but
their pains, sicknesses, and anguish as well, but I hadn´t really been putting
it into practice. Mom, you know that all of my life, I have had an on or off
switch, either I was in Bottle it up and deal with it later, or I was
mercurial, a little bit of a hot head with thin skin. I know that I was hard on
you and dad as parents, and that isn´t how I am now, or how I try to be. I know
that I still bottle a lot of things up, but I´m trying to release the pressure
valve more often so that things don´t get out of hand. I know that the
atonement is that pressure valve, and the reason we have companions isn´t just
to save us from the dangers of being in the mission field. It´s to help us with
our problems as well. They ought to be our best friends, those invited to our
weddings and those who we pray for. Every person has their story, and as
companions, we ought to know and play a part in that story. Basically, I´m
beginning to be a more open-hearted person, and that´s extremely important in
life.
We had one family, the
Ostos family, the mechanics, that fell this week. They are in a dispute over
the title of their house and at the same time are paying the bank for their house
and with those two pressures, they just didn´t make the time or money to do the
necessary things for their marriage papers. We had a lesson with them about how
if we are willing to keep a commandment of God, then He will put the means for
us to be able to do it. With all of their responses my heart broke a little
more every time because all I heard was, "I don´t have the faith or trust necessary
to allow Him to do that for me" It was hard, but we are working a little
less with them now, and concentrating on a few other families whose marriages
are coming up.
One of them is Roxana,
her mom and her boyfriend Pablo. We had a lesson with Marlene and Roxana this
past week on Friday. Things were going alright in the lesson, about how
the gospel can bless families and how one of the ways we get closer to our
families is by going to church. Marlene started to talk about how she wasn´t
always a loving mother. Hugs were sparse and I love yous even less, but she
hoped that her children could see the love with which she went to work for them
and made sure they never lacked food or a place to sleep or clothing. I had the
strongest impression to tell her that if she would come to church this Sunday that
she would be able to hear somebody say something that she would know was
directly for her to hear. She broke down crying and promised to come to church
the Sunday even though it would mean missing an hour or two of work.
Well...she didn´t come to church and neither did her daughter and daughter’s
boyfriend. Turns out 8 o clock church was too early and they all slept in.
Well....the third speaker spoke for 20 minutes on how to develop loving
relations with your family members. I knew it was just for her and it showed me
that the blessings are there for us to claim if we are but willing to step
forward and claim them.
I love you family, I
know that these weeks have been absolutely crazy, but remember that we have a
constant in our lives, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it makes us the happiest
we could ever be.
Love,
Elder Nelson
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