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| Missionaries from Springville and Maple Mountain High Schools |
Hola Mi Familia!!
Well it was a good
week for sure! But like I said, we traveled a ton. We have been working hard to
help the investigators that we have to progress to baptism. it has been a while
for me... hah
I SAW ELDER
SLAVENS!!!! Like I told you guys, this week we had a conference in Santa Fe and
that is the same city that Elder Slavens is serving in. I sat with him at the
conference and helped translate a few things ;) I was able to meet his
companion as well, Elder A., I am happy to say that Elder Slavens is in
good hands! They get along really well too!
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| Elder Slavens - a friend from Springille |
I loved the
conference, I felt the spirit telling me a lot of things that I need to do
better. I left with just this excitement to work my guts out. I think the
general authorities have a special way of doing that. I have been fighting
against something my whole mission and that is to not waste any time. I
understand that I am on the Lord´s time but sometimes it is hard for me to
fully maximize the time that He has given me. I know that the mission has changed
me a ton for the better but I have enough time left to finish converting
myself! I gotta get pumping in these last 3 and a half months!
I really liked a comparison that the Sister Zeballos talked about in her talk (when the 70s
visit, their wives talk as well). She asked us, and I ask you guys (think about
it before reading on please) What does Missionary Work and an apple have in
common?
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| Elder and Sister Zeballos |
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Did you think
about it? Her answer was "Because in one apple you can count how many
seeds there are pretty easily. However, there is no way to know how many apples
will come from each of those seeds." I loved that! She accompanied it with
a story about her husband. He is the only member of his family and was baptized
when he was 12 years old. He then went on to be a Bishop, Stake Pres, Mission
Pres, Area 70, and is currently serving in the 1st quorum of the 70. He has
touched and changed many peoples lives and that is just from planting one seed.
They showed us a picture of him and his 2 missionaries the day that he was
sustained as a general authority of the church. You never know when you may
find someone like that. I want to invite everyone that reads this letter today
or this week to pray for missionary experiences! The church is in need of
leaders all throughout the world, and those future leaders are your friends,
family, neighbors, etc. The Lord needs YOU to help plant some apple trees :)
I wanted to send
another reminder of my BOM Challenge, this is for EVERYONE regardless of your
location on the planet earth! EVERYONE needs to read this book and that is
exactly why we need to share the Gospel. The Book of Mormon contains the
FULLNESS of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ.
On Friday we got
our weekly FHEs started here in the branch. Elder A. and I taught the
lesson. We didn't have much time to prepare because of a long night the night
before (more info to come) but I felt that it turned out pretty well. We had 25 people which is more than I was expecting for the first time to be honest. We
were thrilled. We talked about reading the scriptures. Not just reading but
really studying them. We should be have spiritual experiences each time we
read. There is a word in Spanish "escudriñar" which is even more than
studying. Its just taking them apart to take everything you can out of them! We
did an activity with a bucket of water and a cloth. With the cloth we passed it
around and each person was able to squeeze a little bit more water out. Even if
it was only one drop, water fell. This is how it is with the BOM, each time we
read, no matter what, we can at least pull a drop of water out. And let me tell
you, those last few drops were the ones that required the most
work/energy/effort.
So as I said, we
had a very long night on Thursday. We left the conference and got to a city
called Paraná around 5 expecting to buy tickets for the 8:00pm bus. Well that
bus was full and the next bus time was not until 1:20am. Yeah I kinda chuckled
too... well we bought them quick fearing that it would fill up too. We spent the
8 hours of waiting in a nearby church playing games, pingpong tourney, magic
tricks, and sleeping. haha little did we know is that we were only gearing up
for the longest night ever. We get back to the bus station and find out
that the bus we were about to get on was not going to come straight to
Concordia like normal (a 3-4 hour trip) it was going to pass through La Paz,
Feliciano, San Jaime, Federación, Chajarí, and finally to Concordia. We got
home at 10:00am, so if you are any good at math you already know that was a 9
hour trip.... haha we got home, showered and we went to lunch. How fun!
hahahahah
Kinda cool quick
story, on Saturday we had our weekly meeting with the branch mission leader and
there were these kids playing soccer outside. (they are always out there, they
just jump the fence or break the lock to get in and play soccer) but these kids
were a little younger so I invited them inside and we taught them how to say a
prayer. Then I invited them to church the next day and 2 of them actually
showed up! They only stayed for an hour but they came! I was very pleasantly surprised! :)
Well it has been a
good week, I am feeling excited for this week to keep teaching all of our
peeps! R, C, and L all came to church again and the 2 boys are
looking solid for their baptism the 27th! We also had more than 60 in church
again this week for the 4th time straight! My second week here we only had 27.
We have seen miracles. I love you all, keep doing all that you are supposed to
do and you will be happy! Have a great week!
♥Elder Sisk
