26 Octubre 2015
Hijole...ya vamos acabando el cambio y el
mes....
We got the transfers this morning. My
companion is going to Monclova! And I'm staying here! I'm going to be training
a new Zone Leader whose name is Elder Hernandez about whom I know absolutely
nothing except that he's supposedly from Mexico City and a good missionary.
Other than that, I have no idea.
But Elder Flores is really sad he's leaving because he's leaving a TON of work behind. This week we saw a TON of miracles and it's super exciting to look ahead to this next transfer. We're looking at a transfer FULL of baptisms.
Ester and Jocelin: Jocelin quit her job
to be able to come to church! WOOO! And we started teaching Mayté, her other
daughter. We felt like we should call her and go and visit her in her own house
because it obviously wasn't working to set appointments and have her come to
her mom's house. So we set the appointment, went to her house and turned out
the whole family was there, her mom, her sister, her brother (who is a recent
convert). And it turns out she'd been reading all the pamphlets and living by
them, already stopped drinking, doesn't like going to clubs anymore or anything
like that. So then the next day we had an appointment with her mom but then
Mayté showed up there as well.
We walked into the house and saw the
four women (Ester, Jocelin, Mayté and Eliza) had already set up the chairs,
books and pamphlets at the table, just waiting for us. THAT was exciting. And
then we taught lesson 3 and I felt like it was the BEST lesson I'd ever taught
in the mission. Scriptures came out, they asked questions, we asked questions,
Mayté told us she was already thinking about being baptized (without us asking
her about that) and that she would think about a date to be baptized, and then,
right at the climax moment of the lesson, her two-year-old son peed his pants
on her leg. She got mad and took him out to change him while her mom, Ester,
just laughed and laughed. It was fun.
We're looking at the 7 of November to baptize Ester and probably Jocelin. Mayté, unfortunately, didn't come to church so she's going to have to wait a little longer, but she'll get there. I've seen so very few people so open to receiving the gospel.
Gilberto: Dropped from 20 cigarrettes a
day to 10 in ONE WEEK! This guy has been smoking for over 50 years, but now
he's determined to stop to be able to be baptized. He asked to see the
baptismal font in the chapel and told us that now he's ready to be baptized and
that he'll tell us this week a date. And the ward is in LOVE with him. And he
cooks really well and has been giving us a ton of tamales and pastel de carne
and stuff like that.
Leopoldo: well, he still loves coming to
church. He even started making jokes with the members this week in church and turns
out he knows one of the families. It's a struggle to teach him because he can't
read and we can't leave things for him to study, but we'll find a way. He
understands everything we teach surprisingly fast (you wouldn't BELIEVE how
hard it is to teach a Mexican that Jehovah is the premortal name of Jesus
Christ but he just picked it up and accepted it without any problem.) He still
struggles to pray, but that's fine. He almost tried praying to Joseph Smith the
other day but we caught him before he started. He's learning.
The ward went to the temple in Monterrey
this last Saturday and the Hermano Rosas went to rent the bus and explained
what was going on to the owner of the bus company and his wife and the lady got
really interested and wanted us to visit her. So we went and visited her family
and she and her daughter came to church. Anamaria is her name, but I don't even
know what the daughter's name is. They escaped before I could corner them, but
our new Ward Mission Leader Limhi sat with them and said that they really liked
it.
Last night we found a lady and her
daughters from a reference that the lady just started bawling in the first
prayer and it turns out that she doesn't know if she believes in God anymore
and we asked if she would be willing to test out our message to see if he does
exist and she said sure, but her daughter said she wanted to start coming to
church again to make her mom happy again. We're not entirely sure everything
that is going on in their family, we know that they have a ton of family
problems, but we do know that if they just try the message, they will be
happier. She actually reminded me a lot of the Hermana Alvarez from Saltillo.
And look how that turned out, the whole family got baptized. Speaking of which,
I might be getting a call any day now telling me that they're going to the
temple and inviting me to go with them.
We also just found out this week about a
less active lady who wants her son to be baptized and who wants to be baptized
himself (that's the hard part: a lot of kids want to be baptized but their
parents don't want, or a lot of parents want their kids to be baptized but the
kids don't want.) He will be turning nine in a couple weeks and so it will be
our duty to teach him.
Last week we started with Miguel Angel
who we barely sat down and said that he wanted to be baptized. So we took out
the calender and set a date and he very happily accepted. The only thing is
he's super busy with his work so hasn't been able to come to church.
We also started teaching Jose Luis this
week who is the guy who came to general conference. He HAPPENED to rest one day
and we HAPPENED to be out where he lives and HAPPENED to think to visit him.
He's a high school English teacher and had earlier studied Theology, so it was
a very interesting lesson. He accepted everything very well and said he's going
to study and pray about it. We're going to visit with him in the church this
week. We'll see how it goes!
We ALSO started teaching a man this week
who has been going to church for 5 years, pays tithing, obeys the Word of
Wisdom, his wife is in the Relief Society Presidency of the stake, goes with
the ward to the temple but for some reason has never been baptized. He lives in
a different ward where there aren't missionaries, so we got permission and went
and taught him. He's interested in learning more and willing to put it to the
test. We'll see what happens.
Basically we have a TON of people just
ready to be baptized. It's SUPER exciting and that's why Elder Flores is sad to
be going.
Hurricane Patricia passed by this week.
We just got the tail little end of her and nothing happened, it just rained a
little, got really winding and stinking cold. But the sun came out today and
it's already really warm, so it'll pass.
Yep. That was my week. I have the packet
for Christmas all ready. I'll send it soon so i don't have it in the house
anymore taking up space, but as it contains cookies, i suggest you open it
right away so they don't go stale or something. We all know how dad gripes
about even slightly stale things.
I love using these three scriptures
together. We used them with Jose Luis and he was very impressed by the doctrine
and by the spirit, so yeah, it's very nice to use especially in a world of
philosophies of "relative truth."
I start with the question: What is a
definition of truth? Then we go to Doctrine and Covenants 93:23-24. Then 1 John
5:6 and then Moroni 10:4-5. It creates a response that nobody can deny, in that
truth is absolute and that God has one version of the truth, not many. If God
has one truth, loves us and knows what's best for us, he therefore will want us
to know the one truth. Therefore, if you just ask God the truth, He will make
it manifest to you. There are people that even then argue, but that's when as a
missionary you know that they're just flat out not open to listening, as
happened with a taxi driver last night. (Already read the book of mormon,
already had been going to church, already claimed that Joseph Smith was a
prophet but that he wouldn't be baptized because he was Catholic, even though
he doesn't like the Catholic Church.) When we said "We only invite you to
ask God if it's true," he said, "Well, you lot are all just religious
fanatics." That's where you know the Holy Ghost tried but just didn't touch
him.
Well, I'm going to try another time to
send pictures. If I send some that I already sent, I apologize.
Que tengan una semana maravillosa!
Elder Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment