Ma Chére Famille,
Another week as gone by and I do not know where the time is going. This week has had some ups and downs.
The sad news first. Victor, our russian friend who was progressing so well, texted us
friday
evening telling us that he had decided to discontinue seeing us or
coming to church. It was quite a difficult night for me. It took a while
for me to get him off of my mind. It is sad to see people choose to
deny incredible blessings their Heavenly Father has in store for them.
Now on to wonderful news. We are teaching a small (quite the
opposite of Victor) man from the Dominican republic. He is maybe 5 feet
and speaks better spanish than french. And since Elder Loera is a fluent
Spanish speaker, our lessons are usually mostly in spanish while I will
teach in French. It is fun and great experience. Spanish is really
quite similar to french. But Mario is doing very well.
Furthermore we have a woman from Cape Verde who lives across the
street from us with two small children that we had become friends with
over the weeks. Turns out she is good friends with Rui one of our Cape
Verdean members...and her ex husband was a missionary. She is interested
in the church and is planning on coming this week and hopefully will
take the lessons.
Some fun things from this week:
- We met a
man on the road who had a knight templar ring on...we asked him about it
and he told us he was a knight templar then walked away...Elder Smith
and I were in awe...
- -Frére Cresto, the first counselor in the bishopric, spoke on Sunday. He is a spiritual GIANT. What an example. Anyways he plays ball with us each Saturday and is a huge basketball fan. Guess what he opened his talk with...talking about Jabari Parker. It was really cool.
- We went over to Alcides' apartment this week and had a great
dinner night with him and Frére Fuega and Tahiana. We had this shrimp
dish that was absolutely wonderful. (The shrimp still had the heads on
there and everything...it was bomb!)
... A quick shoutout to my boy Tiahana! Stop Reading this!
A thought:
The
Lord always opens our path before us as we work hard and strive to be
obedient. That is one thing that has been incredibly apparent to me this
week. The origin and motive of commandments. Our Heavenly Father gives
us commandments for the sole reason of blessing us. Every commandment
that we have in our lives is there for our benefit and when we disobey
we are simply denying ourselves blessings. If we are seeking answers to
questions of solutions to problems, first and foremost ask yourself, Is
there some way in which I can be more obedient to the commandments I
have been given from my Heavenly Father?
I love my Savior. I have been striving to apply His atonement
in my life everyday. It is an indescribable miracle for me to have
someone who is always there and who is walking next to me and has borne
my struggles.
