#30

This week was interesting indeed. I´m not going to have any structure or organization in this letter.

Anywhoo. A member introduced  us to her brother, who used to be a Evangelical pastor on the radio. I´m talking HALLELUJAH AMEN PRAISES evangelical pastor. She was worried that he would only want to fight with us but he actually listened really attentively and told us a week later that he got an answer that the message of the Restauracion is true. He told us he would like to get another confirmation but that God already told him that what we taught him was true. Now the problem is that he works on Sundays, but we´re working on that! But it´s pretty amazing to see how the Spirit can change someone´s heart. #thechurchistrue

We are also teaching a family, and we´re not sure why but they really love us. A lot. Their challenge too is that the parents and son work on Sundays, but we´re working on that too. I think the reason that the people love us so immediately is because we bring the Spirit into their homes, and they feel the happiness that comes. So that´s fun too. 

Ten o clock Saturday night the bishop called me and told me that he and his counselor felt inspired to call me to speak in church the next day for ten minutes about the obra of salvation and thatI should focus on hermanando..... fellowshipping? the new converts. I had no idea what to say, and the rule is lights out at 10:30 and I still had to call in the daily report, so I only had about an hour in the morning to prepare. I found quotes and what not in Preach my Gospel that spoke about the importance of members in the work, but I knew that the second I started reading quotes everyone would zone out. So I decided to talk about my first months in Ecuador. I told them that in my first lunch, I was baffled because they gave me a bowl of hot soup even though it was blazing hot outside, and that I had no idea how to eat meat with a spoon, nor how I would be able to eat the mountain of rice that they gave me. I explained that when we greet each other, we don`t kiss each other on the cheeks, that this is something reserved for boyfriends only, and the first day when the hermana greeted me by kissing me on the cheek I was utterly baffled. And of course I said that I didn`t understand a thing that anyone was saying. I was scared to death, confused, and I felt that I would never acostumbrar to Ecuador, but that the good thing was that the Lord didn`t call me here alone. He also called a compañion, someone to guide me, to explain to me, and to help me understand, and someone to be a friend. And then I said that it´s the same with the new members. In the church, we have our own language and customs, and the new members are confused, sometimes scared, and sometimes they feel that they will never fit in, but that the Lord has called cada uno of us to be their companions, to guide them, to explain things, and to be their friends. I like to think that the whole thing was a grand success. I called their attention with my funny experiences (everyone was laughing, and you know that making people laugh is my favorite) but then they were still attentive when I got to the more serious parts. Also, people told me congratulations afterwards.....so... Triumph!

And then we finally got the conference Liahona so me and my companion are pretty psyched. This morning I read the first thirty pages. I`m excited for it to arrive in English though, sometimes it´s so much more satisfying to read/listen to their own words and jokes in their native language.
My current favorite talk: Cristo el Redentor - Carlos H. Amado. 

 

So my counsel this week is to treasure up the words of the current apostles and prophets. While reading Neil A. Anderson´s talk, I thought about how it`s pretty cool of the Lord to keep giving us such current guidance, and that we need to show our appreciation and our faith by making sure we´re familiar with what the Lord´s servants are saying. 

I don`t know what else to say, I´m happy, I`m relatively healthy, and it looks like I`m staying in Valencia until the middle of June with my beloved Hermana Flores. We really are best friends.  

The church is true, José Smith was and is a prophet of God, and being a missionary is the best. 

I love you all!
Hermana Rust