"You preach really well"

Arrived 8 jun 2016

Love the family more than harmonizing will singing hymns! This week we had my first concilio or mission leadership council with all the zone leaders, sister training leaders, the assistants, and Hna and President Castillo. I think for one of the first times in my mission we sang more than just the harmony and even that was good. I miss good singers ha ha.

So a few things I´ll write right now so I don’t forget are... 1 Our

Preparation days (p-days) will be on Mondays from now on. 2 This week we accidentally broke the news to somebody that man has been on the moon. They played it off pretty well that they didn’t know and they accepted the news well, ha ha.

Summer has officially started here, or for me at least. We preach and spend most of the day covered in sweat. Our zone was making fun of me today at an activity about how much I sweat. There is an old abandoned airport in our zone that now has a lot of soccer goals and basketball hoops and after a few hours in the sun I was told it looked like I had gone swimming. The same thing happens when rain comes. The humidity and heat shoots upward and then fifteen minutes later it pours rain.

It has rained a lot but it was a little bit of a tender mercy when I

had a fever due to Sica. Everyday feels more hot than the last.

Our zone stayed mostly the same for transfers but things continue to be crazy in our zone with some of the sisters getting a special

transfer. Our zone has about 10 pairs of elders, a pair of sister

trainers and a pair of sisters. In our ward are one pair of sisters

and us but they don’t eat much so on Sundays when members feed us there isn’t much trouble.

Emily, you asked if they love blue eyes, they do. But I’m the second draft pick usually because my companion is 6´4, blond and has blue eyes. I wish I could say we are used to cat calls but every time it’s a new approach so they keep us on guard. I laugh when little kids and people in general ask us to say something in English and my companion says ¨You shouldn’t worship the virgin¨, the kids go crazy and we feel good for spreading the word.

With our investigators we have a small group that are about ready for baptism, but they just like things how they are, and aren’t making the proper steps. Jaser, Aira and Eliani specifically have recieved all of the lessons and come to church every once and a while, and they know about baptism but aren’t really exited to take that step. Jaser the teenage son says he knows he should get baptized, but he is nervous, so he will fall back to the old ways eventually. This always gets me and is a common concern but it wouldn’t be there if people truly understood the depth of the decision.

On the bright side I feel like when we teach people are understanding more completely. The other day Luis and Yocasta were listening to us and we were giving them examples and they were into the lesson. Part way through Luis half shouted ¨you preach really well¨ and near the end he practically confessed to us that he wants to stop smoking and drinking alcohol. It was a great moment because we felt like we were feeling the spirit and it made Luis want to truly change. We testified that these feeling were from the Holy Ghost and our message could help. It is nearly impossible to convert people that do not understand, the better they understand the greater the impact of the choices they make. If you understand and still deny making the correct decision, it is willful rebellion against God. If you understand you then know how to more fully be obedient. Ignacio accepted to be baptized and it seemed pretty sincere, but a little easy. Easiness makes you nervous because it is of big importance. He hasn’t come to

church yet which normally is one of the biggest barriers, getting off

the plastic chair on the front porch and coming. We will see how it

goes. Our nice old friend Espedito is interesting, and we don’t really

know what to do with him. We are going to invite and an old hunched back

member to come with us to the lessons. Either things go well and the strange old men bond, or some interesting lessons are coming up.

The other day in my zone meeting I gave a capacitation, or a talk,

about looking for how to improve. Mainly I talked about how we need to first learn and then teach, learn what needs to be done and then do it. Doctrine and Covenants 107:99 says it perfectly. I also love the example of the brother of Jared. God has a plan and we are a part of it, but it is hard to play our part if we don’t know it. Please search for how to help others and improve yourself and then do it.

Missionaries should learn what their investigators need and how they personally can improve. Everyone should learn to learn and work to act. I bear testimony that when we struggle to act, because of fear or lack of strength, we will be held up by Christ and His angels.

p.s. a picture of three of us six that are from my group who are now

sister trainer leaders or zone leaders. The tall elder in the middle

is Elder Eddy other wise known as a future general authority.

--

Elder A. W. Sheffield

This is like the mission bulletin board, we get one every transfer.

This one is cool because it is the first one that mentions I’m a zone

leader so that’s a little cool