Hey Y'all,
So this week was super busy and we got a lot of good work done!
So to follow up on those marriages I wrote about last week..... none happened. Well, kind of. One family went and they said she needs a birth certificate which she doesn't have. She will be going Wednesday to get the documents and try to mark again! We went with another family and got a member to drive us all to the cartorio.(where you mark the marriage) Unfortunately the cartorio was closed. We had called two times to confirm that they would be open and they said they would be! People kinda just do what they want here. So they didn't all work out, but there was effort and a willingness shown. There's always gunna be trials when you try to do the right thing because Satan doesnt want you to and God wants to see if you'll continue to try when it's hard. So the key is the second time. We'll get 'em back there this week and get those suckers marked!!
On Wednesday we had splits again (I have a ton of splits with other elders. Props of being the comp of the district leader) and it was great!! I normally don't like splits when I travel because I like working in my area but this one was sick!! So the elder I went out with is kinda just a goof and I like to get things done, so we are a little different (I like to goof too but I goof when it's not working time) They don't havea lot of investigators and they only had two appointments that day and the rest was knocking doors. We were able to get in and teach two new investigators in their area and they are pretty sweet too! One of them has a brother that is Mormon and said his brother's never really told him much about the church. When we invited the other guy to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he said "This is gonna help a lot because I've wanted answers about religion" I love it when that stuff happens!! And it happens a lot out here.
When it came to be 6:00, the other elder called it good and said it was time to go to a member's house. But unfortunately for him I was having the time of my life knocking doors! I have pretty much hated it when I've had to knock doors here on the mission until this week. Before the mission my job was to knock doors for 8+ hours per day and I loved it and got pretty good. But here, speaking a different language, I had none of the same skill I had before and that frustrated me to death. I just wanted to be able to do it the same way I could before. But Wednesday I turned into myself again! I was talking to everyone and having real conversations with the people. It wasn't the same nervous scripted half fluent mess was doing. I just quit worrying and talked!!! It was the BEEEST!! So I kept knocking alone while he hung out behind me because he was done for the day. I set about ten appointments for him and had a ton of fun! That was a great day for me because I hit a turning point where I feel like I'm finally myself again. That's happening more and more now and I'm having more and more fun now.
Our investigators are doing great! We've got a sister that has a member friend that is building a brick wall around her house. We've been doing service projects there to help her and gain her trust. We began teaching her and she's coming to church already! We have another family with a single mom. They've been receiving the messages really well. Unfortunately they didn't make it to church. A lady found us on the street and gave us her address and it turns out they had just moved here and have been inactive for the past 13 years. There was a lot of mess in their last branch and things being tought that shouldn't have and they stopped going. We've been visiting them and they are a great family!! They love the missionaries and are always offering dinner and food.(that's a plus about their family) They have two grandkids that live with them and never went to church. We got their family there yesterday and the grandkids loved it. We're gonna talk to the grandparents this week about baptism for them.
We had one more lady that we started teaching last week. She said she got an answer when reading the Book of Mormon that she needs to go to church or things will get harder for her. She has been having a lot of trials in life and she got the answer that church is the answer. She believes the Book of Mormon is true and that the restoration happened. She's pretty golden!! She as well is a single mom with kids so we're gonna try and get some service project for her too!
This week was just awesome! A lot of times there's hard times and things that suck out here on the mission. But you can't stay down when you see how much the Lord helps in every aspect of the work! like I said earlier, every trial that happens is just a test to see if we will stay firm. When you stick it out and stay enthusiastic, nothing will stay bad. And God will bless us that much more for pushing through. When you think about trials as nothing more than a test, short learning period before the fountain of blessings, it's so much easier to endure as well. I love being out here and having all these experiences. Good and bad. Wouldn't trade 'em for the world.
So here's my rat. We had the back door open and we were standing in the kitchen talking. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and there was a rat outside. I took off running after it and grabbed the broom on the way out. Caught up to him right behind the house and sacrificed half our broom for him. The good news is, we are rat free and had another broom head (I don't know why, but it's a good thing we did.)
I love everyone and hope y'all have a blessed week!!
Elder Little
