Day by Day

Email 3/7/17

Hello everybody,

As I had indicated in my last email last Monday, we went to Granada in order to have interviews with President Andersen. On Tuesday, we had our preparation day. We went to the Museum of Jaén, which was free (probably for a good reason). We also had lunch with the Bishop and his family, and he fed us some pig brains, which taste fine but have a really interesting texture. The rest of the week went pretty normally after that. 

On Tuesday, we also got the green light to go ahead and prepare Pablo for baptism! He’s our 14 year old investigator (his mom is a less active member) who has been coming to church for the past year all on his own. The Bishop and one of his counselors were able to get his parents to consent to him being baptized this week, so if everything goes as it should he’ll be baptized on Sunday! 

One thing that we’ve been trying to do is think of more creative finding techniques. Usually, the default activity for finding here is through street contacting. That works fine, but is definitely the most inefficient method for finding people who can become new investigators. One big thing that we did this week was that we worked together with the ward in order to set up a week fútbol activity. That way, we can have members invite their friends and we can invite the various people that we meet on the street to come and play. This week, it was only us, a member, and one guy we had met on the street the day before, so not super great, but we’re sure it’ll keep picking up as the weeks go by.

Now, just a few other odds and ends: Our air conditioner got fixed this week! It was great, but last week’s temperatures were about 10°C lower than the previous weeks, but it’ll be getting back up to about 40°C (104 F!) this week, so that’ll be nice to have. We found out yesterday that in September, Elder Holland of the Twelve and Elder Johnson of the Seventy are going to be visiting our mission! It’s a few months away, but we’re all excited. Benjamin left this week to Luxembourg, which was really sad to see. That’s okay though because the church is true everywhere! Also, Elder Moffat and I have been pretty much falling apart as of recently. We’ve both been kind of sick and sore and just all around exhausted recently. But, the work continues!

In the story of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath, Elijah the prophet has the widow woman use her last bit of flour and oil to make him some food. After Elijah the prophet was fed, he made it so that the barrel of flour and the jar of oil of the widow never become empty. In one of the video depictions of this event made but the church, it shows that each time that the widow reaches for the flour barrel and the oil jar, there’s always just enough in them for one more morsel of food. Such is the same with the mission, I’ve discovered. God gives us exactly what we need in order to make it through the day and accomplish his purposes. Sometimes, it might not seem much, but I’ve seen for over a year that there’s always been enough “flour in the barrel” and “oil in the jar” to last through the day. Day after day, they’re replenished with the necessary levels for the tasks that the Lord needs to be accomplish His purpose. It’s such a blessing to be one of His missionaries, and have His constant help.