1 Year and one month in and this week I felt the weight. Probably one of the more gratifying and tiring weeks on the mission as of yet.
Divisões
More splits as always, so I'll shorten them up. Tuesday I was with Elder Granados who gave me his hat from Mexico. Started speaking more Spanish and half participated in a lesson with an entire family of Venezuelans. Don't give me a test I truly can't speak much in Spanish. Thursday I was with Elder Rocha where we visited some people, but mostly laughed the whole time. Friday I was with my second mission son Elder Slaugh in the center of Curitiba. A lot of people. It was awesome to see how much he has grown from the beginning of his mission. It threw me off realizing that he is about to hit 6 months on the mission…that means I'm getting old. Anyway we caught each other up on life and worked the day away. I'm proud of that boy.
Challenges!
So this week I realized that the entire zone and I were exhausted. Don't know what happened, but I could tell that we all were getting slower, so Tuesday at the start of the split I sent a challenge into the Zone. The challenge was that the first companionship to complete all the challenges throughout the week would win 2 pizzas! Let me tell you that idea worked. Even though we were all tired we saw how pizza can motivate anyone to work harder. In all seriousness, at times we do need motivation because the work is not easy. For those who may not understand let me explain what a day is like.
- 6:30 am: Wake up
- 8 am: Personal study
- 9 am: Companion Study
- 10 am: Leave the house
- 10 am - 9:30 pm: Sun, rain, hot, cold, storm of any kind; You will find us on the road talking to almost everyone. You will see us talking to people on the sidewalk, knocking houses, and chatting with people in public areas. We get rejected about 80% of the time and get called all kinds of profane things. We walk anywhere from 10-25 km every day in white shirts, slacks, and a tie.
- 9:30 pm - 10:30pm: Relate your day to your leaders, communicate to your local church about your day, etc…
- 10:30 pm: In bed Sleeping
This is the normal day for a missionary for 2 years. It's honestly the best, but let me tell you it may not seem like a lot, but it truly is a lot. A quote from President Thomas S. Monson sums up missionary work perfectly: “Missionary work is difficult. It will tax your energies. It will strain your capacity. It will demand your best effort—frequently, a second effort. Remember, the race goeth “not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong” (Eccl. 9:11)—but to him who endures to the end. Determine to—
Stick to your task till it sticks to you.
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place and praise
Will always come to the one who stays.
Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too—
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life’s victories after awhile.
As a missionary we are here to help people, strengthen their connection with Christ, and to show then how we can return to our Father in Heaven. So yeah it's exhausting, but so enjoyable. The joy you feel when you help someone and you see all the blessing that come afterwards. It's just amazing!
Prayers Answered
I cannot express how this week I've been able to see how much the Lord truly loves all of his children. The Lord has answered so many prayers for so many people. Antônio is a 75 year old man who we found last Sunday who told us that he was praying for God to help him, and the next day we showed up. Since that time he has gone to church, connected with members, and will be baptized this next Sunday! He is so excited and everyday since he has been receiving mini blessings. Also this Sunday we found a family who lived in a favela that goes into the woods. It's crazy because you have to half climb half jump through houses and stuff to get to the very last house in which lives this awesome family. The mom and one of her daughters prayed for help. As you may guess, we found them and they got so happy and excited. We had so many more miracles that happened, but to tell them all would be a lot. In the end, Heavenly Father truly listens and answers our prayers. Just be patient, he will always help.
Anyway that's basically it!
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