A Familiar Spirit

Greetings y'all,

The southern Texan drawl is quite familiar to me now. I'm not afraid of bringing it with me into the future.

This past week was full of plenty of ups and downs; bitter and sweet. I'm getting better at writing what happens every day in my journal, but it would seem that I still have some improving to do. It'll take some pretty consistent goal setting with incentives placed with it. What I'm trying to relate is my very natural tendency to struggle to write in my journal. I want to change, and that helps. Don't ever get discouraged as you strive to change.

I suppose I'll begin with exchanges with Elder Smith. This past week he told me that I was one of the first people to greet him when the new trainee's arrived in Austin. When he described other struggles since coming into the mission, it helped me feel a little bit of peace for trying to love someone. And the resulting friendship has been great. Elder Smith had mentioned how excited he was to go on an exchange with me. I would feel flattered if I thought he didn't mean it. He truly did.

That afternoon we spent mostly in the area of Herminio. Elder Smith's energy rubbed off on me and we had three lessons with Spanish people I had never met before. I don't remember teaching an entire lesson by myself before. Without Elder Anderson's help that day, there were times that I missed him. A ton. We met three ladies by the name of Maria, and I was only able to catch the last name of one of them. The last Maria we met was sitting at a rock, waiting for her grandchildren to arrive. We sat there with her. I had a one sided conversation with her. I lost track of time and before I knew it, the bus pulled up. I frantically chased after her to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon with our number. If God wills it so, we're going to find her. After the Spanish events of the afternoon, I understood why God taught that it isn't meet that we should be alone.

We had dinner that night with a familiar family in the Ward. Brother Smith felt at home, and, well, I did too. When we sat down to share a spiritual thought, and towards the end of that, Elder Smith noticed something and wanted to take a picture:

This hand crafted duck is made out of wood. You might not guess.

Not the best lighting. You can fix that with your monitor I'd guess.

We set off for the evening. We found J at home again. Because he had time, we shared the Easter video and talked about the Book of Mormon. J has remarkable English and is very kind to us when we speak Spanish. Elder Smith supported me as we introduced him it. I'm afraid I might have fire hosed him with information, as I was extremely excited. He did seem to recognize something different. And so we've kept a good eye on J. He's not the only new person that we've met. It's kind of hard to tell who I should talk about. Many of these people are great.

Then after that we decided to visit Daniel and Julie. They are great members and Daniel was baptized within a year ago. He came out with us. Though we had some lessons planned with people, none of those planned went through. It was yet another opportunity to practice stress management "one the road." Eddie was not home that evening and we didn't get a welcome from his family, though we learned later that he still had interest. We're waiting for about a week until he becomes available again.

It was a great evening. I learned a fair amount from Elder Smith. He's a committed missionary. Do not believe for a second you need to have the scriptures mastered to qualify for service. Anyone who remembers me from before missionary service might believe that I knew the scriptures well. Let's conclude that the Lord knows his own scriptures better. Haha, I love learning from the scriptures.

Questions and Answers

How is E doing?   

We saw her again this week. We still haven't sat down with the family. To review, E belongs to the same family that J does. They are progressing. I pray every day that I'll know what they need to hear from God, not just what seems will help them.

And how is Ee and H and his family?     

Ee seems to continue with interest. We're sending him and others scripture references that can be searched. Kind of like: Moroni 7:19 - How can I search for good with the help of God?"

It's blessed many people. Diligence really does bring blessings. And so our communication will be limited until we can meet with him after he's available.

H is still working hard. In many ways he is personably responsible for providing for family here and family elsewhere. We had a miracle where we met F, his friend and partner, and taught him about prophets. F has a little family too. He pulled up as we were writing a note to H. We talked to him (F) the entire time through his car window in that front yard. H wants to be baptized, and so the opposition continues.

I forgot to say that we taught H's son Diego for the first time. He is a younger kid old enough to be baptized, and his interest seemed high as we taught him. H helped out as well. Tony, a member of the ward who speaks Spanish, was able to be there that night when we taught H.

And how is the most wonderful, sweet Sister Smith and her family?  

She beamed all throughout church yesterday. She fights allergies but is doing quite well. Ashtyn her granddaughter came to church as well. She is the most socially sunbeam I know. Thank you for your marvelous prayers on her behalf and on ours.

And how are B and A?

This weekend was a slight let down. When we caught B we learned from her that she wasn't feeling support from her family. Her mother wants her to go to a different church, and A doesn't support her. We realized that in all our time visiting her, we had neglected to bring with us Sisters that would relate to her and give her support. We thought at first B didn't want to meet with us anymore, but we've grown to realize we simply needed a call to action. Keep them in your prayers. These wonderful Spanish speakers in many ways remind me of the R family. They need the same patience God grants to us. A probation to change.

And how has the Lord blessed you as you've worked with your good companion Elder Anderson this week?

Immensely. It seems forever ago, but last week we had a slight argument as an apartment. I wasn't fully in control, but afterwards Elder Anderson helped me to recognize the Lord's hand in healing me, and then I apologized for the way I communicated things to the others. Since then, we've been able to build up our companionship and work hard. We've been able to teach many people. This area is growing. And best of all, we have a front seat to watch people change. That is greater than any movie (sorry Star Wars fans).

He's one of my best friends. His calmness has taught me, and I've been able to help him too. It feels like a very healthy relationship. No matter how much we disagree, we recognize that God knows his people best. We can then seek the will of the Lord.

Selfishness is a bit exhausting. I'm learning even better to focus on the positive.

Our local tradition in the mornings is to have an abbreviated study together in the apartment. We always do the first two together, and we do the other two at least once a week together.

Elder Hall

Texas San Antonio Mission