Semana cuatro! Coke verde, bigotes, and 'Waiting on the Lord'

Well I must say the weeks go by really fast and I'm almost at 2 months this coming October 20th (8 weeks on the 15th)!  I'm not as preoccupied with this being two years anymore and I'm having a lot of fun here as well.  My companion is really cool and we get along really well. 

 

My generation of missionaries come today (the ones that went to the MTC at the same time) and I am going to the presidents home as well with them for dinner because I missed out.  I think its kinda funny that I now have a month more experience in the field..

This past week was a lot of fun because we are teaching some little kids the lessons at their homes and they are so funny!  For me, it is much harder to teach children the lessons than it is to teach adults the lessons.  It seems my Spanish is getting better when i am just talking but in lessons it just starts to stink.

The families we are teaching are all really nice people and I like talking to them.  Though this one family (Flia. H), where we teach the kids, the brother of the dad who lives there does not have hands from his elbows down.  He seems to have a really hard time because his wife and family left him because he lost his arms and not many people are nice enough to help him.  He is a really cool guy and when I have to shake his hand i shake his elbow which is kinda funny but I really like this guy and I want to help him out.  We have been trying to motivate the members to want to do missionary work by praying and fasting for opportunities to share the gospel and it is slowly working but the members here are so awesome!  Most of the homes where we teach are just made of concrete and some are really small and compact and look poor but some random people have nice TVs with PS3 or Xboxes

Well the expected amount of baptisms this month is 11 people! So every Saturday we are going to have a baptism! HOW COOL IS THAT!

 

Well, my message today that I would like to share is concerning ''Waiting on the Lord''.  And what I mean by that is: when we have trials or difficult tasks and we need help but don't know what to do and are feeling down;  we need to be patient and hope that one day our Father in Heaven will answer our prayers in his own time.  So often we pray and pray but we want the prayer answered right now.  However, that is not always the case.  We need to be like the Savior when he was in Gethsemane when he felt alone and had to complete his very difficult task.  He asked his disciples to ''Watch with me'' three times! Yet he was ultimately alone without the companionship of his disciples or his Father.  But he chose to drink the bitter cup and suffer our pains and afflictions.  He waited upon his Father, saying, ''Thy will be done'' and continued on.  I know if we but have faith, remain patient, and continue moving forward in our trials, we will soon find the help and peace we need.  Again, the key is we must have faith in the Savior, because He knows how we feel and wants to help us!  I know this from my recent experience - This past week I was feeling slightly hopeless with my abilities to  teach in Spanish but I prayed for the help to be better.  I put my trust in our Heavenly Father because I know he answers our prayers and at the end of the week he answered my prayer and the answer was so simple. 

 

Well I hope everyone is happy and doing well! I pray for you all everyday and night!  I love you all and I'll talk to you again next week!

Elder Wright

 

Here are some more random pictures that he sent:

GREEN COKE! - sweetened with Stevia

 MTC companion in USC sweats

 MTC District

 Not sure if the shower should be clogged that high up!

 Elder Parroquin and Elder Wright

 It's easier to grow a bigote in Mexico!

 

Semana 3: 'Bettering' with a new comp!

Well I am in a new area with a new companion already! This last Wednesday I was randomly transfered to a new area called Colinas.  (I think the ward is called Colinas and the mission offices are just up the street!)   I like this area so much better because the people here are so kind and help me with my Spanish.  I might be here for a while since this is my first full cycle or whatever.  I am actually still really close to my last area and I'm still in the same zone.  I will probably be here for another month since this is the last cycle for my companion since he is my trainer.  And I am not sure how long each transfer is yet.  Maybe every six weeks? Maybe more? 

 

My companion is called Elder Garcia and he only speaks Spanish and has a slim understanding of English so I can only speak English when I write or think!  Elder Garcia is from Mexico but I don't remember where and this is his last exchange; lucky duck.  I'm beginning to forget words in English already as well cause last night writing in my journal I tried to say ''mejorando'' but all I could think up is ''bettering'' I don't even know if that's right or not cause I think it's wrong. 

 

Well this last Sunday I had to teach the Gospel Principles class about Talents to investigators and new converts..  I had only that morning to plan and I had a few things jotted down in my agenda.  It went really well because I got them to participate and  it was just awesome!  We learned that it takes faith to better our talents and strenghthen our weaknesses.  I shared the story of Enoch with the class where his weakness was speaking to people but with the help of our Heavenly Father his mouth was filled with what to say.  I related myself to Enoch by telling them I am still learning Spanish but I know with the help of our Father in Heaven I will be able to improve if I put effort on my part as well.  My lack of Spanish as well I think helped the people in the class really enjoy the class and want to participate and teach. 

 

This last Saturday we had a baptism for Hna. Maricela.  My companion baptised her and I was one of the witnesses.  The Spirit was really strong in the room and even her family who are not members felt it and some wanted to be baptised as well. 

 

There was one experience I had this week;  Friday, I believe where a sickly man walked up to us and apparently asked us to bless him.  It wasn't until we started walking that my companion told me he wanted a blessing.  When we got to the members house to eat lunch I had such a strong impression to find this man and give him a proper blessing because if the Savior was there instead of me he would of blessed him and since I represent the Savior I should of gave him a blessing and he came to us to help him.  For a while this feeling was bothering me that we needed to find him but when we were about to finish opur food the feeling disappeared.  I think I needed to have just left lunch and went to find him because when the feeling disappeared I know it was too late to find this man.  It is very important that we listen to the promptings of the Spirit right when they come to us because we never know if it will be to late to act on it if we wait to long. 

 

Im trying to have small goals like get to the end of October and stuff so I dont worry so much that this is two years long.  Because only weeks are going by fast not months.  I know I got one month under my belt but it is still very hard for me especially when so many missionaries are talking about how excited they are to go home in a week or a month.  That is my only trial at the moment. 

 

So far on P-days, we just shop for food for the week, write, sleep, watch church movies, and eat hahah  The food is most of the time really good. The only food I did not like was mole.  Though mole verde is super good!  They don't have burritos or use pinto beans and they eat everything with spoons.  And, by the way, the new group (the one that went into the MTC the same day as I did) won't arrive till next week I think.

I hope you are all doing really well and are happy.  I love you all just 23 more months to go!