Dear everyone,
I honestly forgot that anything existed outside of my mission this last week. I am exhausted right now. Typing is making me even more tired. But THAT'S OKAY! Because this work will move forward no matter what. Our whole mission is seeing more and more success every week. We saw a ton of success in San Carlos this week and found three really amazing people who have tons and tons of potential. We received the call from our District Leader yesterday night about how changes would turn out. I had already felt like I was leaving, so it didn't surprise me when he told me that I would be going. But I'll be leaving with dignity because we worked super hard in San Carlos to invite others to come unto Christ. I'll be leaving the department Maldonado and going to Florida! No, not Florida with Universal Studios and Disney World and Sea World (also, Sea World is super lame)! I'll be going to the area called Piedra Alta! I have never heard of it before, but my companion's name is Elder Gila and he is from... wait for it... not North America! Not South America! Give up? The only place in the world that Truman wants to go! He is from Fiji! And I don't know what that means for us, but I think that it's a sign that we are going to see much success together! He had to learn English and Spanish on his mission: what a boss. He speaks some other language that nobody knows, too, but that's not important. What IS important is that I'm leaving! Yes, I have to say goodbye to San Carlos, my home. It was very appropriate that I came to San Carlos first, because they call themselves "Carolinos" and I, being from the wonderful state of North Carolina, was already a Carolino by association. I don't know what people call themselves from Piedra Alta, but I guess I'll find out this week.
We worked a ton today and helped Honorio understand how important going to church is. I had this amazing inspiration to take him to his backyard, where he has planted tons of fruit trees and bring a seed with me from an orange that I ate. We compared the seed to faith! (Sound familiar?) And I took him to different trees in his backyard that were at various stages of their growing process. We talked about how a tree needs things like sunlight, soil, and water to grow. Without one of those things, the tree simply will not grow. If we take one of those things away from a grow tree, then it will die. We compared those tree things, sunlight, soil, and water, to three things that are completely necessary to grow faith: daily prayer, daily scripture study, and weekly church assistance. If we don't have all of those things, then our faith cannot grow. Maybe it will grow a little, but it in no way will be able to reach its full potential. If we do those things for a long time, but then stop after a while, then our faith will not only stop growing, but it will die. After this lesson, Honorio understood very well. The reason he hadn't come to church was because his mother (who is against this whole thing) had asked him to stay with her (there was a little bit of mother-induced guilt in there, too). A question came to my head: "Honorio, do you think that your mother is blessed because you come to church?" "Of course," he said. "So do you think that the Lord will bless her more if you come to church or if you stay with her?" "If I go to church," he said. And so it is. Going to church is blessing. We shouldn't ever forget it. On Sunday, he came and said "my mother didn't want me to come; she wanted me to stay with her, but I knew that I would do her better coming here than staying with her." That, everyone, is a miracle. True doctrine understood changes attitude and behavior. And now he understands.
I love this work. I love how I live a life that is conformed to the Spirit and the relationship that I have with the Spirit as a missionary is undoubtedly different than anything I have every had before. Just coming to understand this relationship has been a gigantic blessing in my life. I know that a life lived by gospel standards is what brings true and everlasting happiness. I'm gonna go to my house and fall asleep now (it's okay; today is Preparation Day). But after I wake up, I will go and serve the beloved children of God.
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