we are here pretty early today so I'm guessing that's why you haven't sent an email yet but you should just send them on Sunday so that they are here and you're not rushing it. we had our missionary stake council the other week and this ward mission leader told president that there just isn't enough time for us to do everything he wants. and wow president gave him a pretty big lay down of the law. he said that he needs to manage his time better and that if the prophet can have an appointment every 30 mins of the day then the mission leaders can easily give a little time up. he asked if he watches tv, he said yes, goes on facebook, he said yes, takes a nap during the day, he said yes. then president kept asking him stuff and then he said the moral of the story is that we have time to do useless things but we cant manage our time to serve the lord. i thought that was really cool and after my mission I'm definitely going to make that a priority in managing my time better. i have seen the importance in planners and they really help me stay focused and remind me what i need to do. i will be using those after the mission. ha. anyways here is my week.
Tuesday - So technically Tuesday was our pday. We didn't do much that day since we were just so stinking exhausted. we went to miraflores to eat lunch after internet and then we just went home and slept for the rest of the day. that night at 6 we went to our ward council meeting with the priesthood holders and it went pretty good. we just talked about some things coming up for the other quorums and how we can all help but the missionary aspect didn't have to much to add. one thing that was really cool is that the stake president felt inspired to have an interview with this lady from our ward. (one of the ladies that was complaining about the bishop and also was supposed to enter the temple with us the next day) anyways he had an interview with her about going to the temple and why it is important. she said that she really really wanted to go but just can't sustain the bishop right now. and he told her that he understood but that she needed to clean her heart out. right now. she had a heart of hatred and she needed to remove that. when the interview was over she told us that she feels like someone just took about 50 pounds off her back. she said it was amazing. she loved it and now has a testimony of going to the temple and is working on sustaining bishop. ha but all in time, she will go one day. she told me she would ask president if i can come to the temple when she enters since I'm most likely going to leave before she enters.
Wednesday - We woke up at about 4 00 am. man, my ears have now become tuned to my alarm. i was worried because last time me and elder hardy almost slept passed it. but this morning right as it rang i sprang up and was all ready to go. ha. mainly i was just so stinking happy to be going to the Temple. it has been awhile since i have last been and i love going there so much. the Spirit was so strong there that day and it was just awesome. i always feel so uplifted after going there and i love the feeling that when you enter all the worries of the world and everything just disappear. all you can think about is being in the temple. it literally is walking into a new world and i love it.
so after the temple we went back and we went to a lesson that we had. it was pretty fun, we just taught the plan of salvation and then afterwords we had a little fun and played some games to help kind of teach the word of wisdom as well. then we drank hot chocolate and ate bread, they say that is all Mormons can drink that is close to hot drinks. everyone here loves coffee because it is a hot drink but we can't drink that so they give us hot chocolate.
then that night we went to this members house for dinner and wow mom your spaghetti has been beaten, or i haven't had yours in a while but it was amazing. we ate spaghetti with chicken and man it was so good. i was impressed that she made food that good too. but yeah that was a pretty fun day.
Thursday - So this morning our zone leader called us and invited us to lunch in their area with a hermana named hermana Guinac. She is a super cool person and makes the best food ever and is literally like my mother. he invited us but told us that we needed to have a certain amount of lessons and contacts before Saturday. at the moment we had like 5 lessons and like 5 contacts as a companionship. but needed 25 lessons and 140 contacts. so we called some members to set up divisions and that is just what we did. i went to the upper part of tierra blanca and my comp went to the lower part of tierra blanca and we finished it off. YESSSSSSSSmins early, my comp just wanted to go in but i was in such a big mood to contact so i went and contacted. in that 10 mins i contacted 15 more families and 30 more people. it was sweet. then we went to this ladies house who served her mission in el salvador and we ate pulpusas with her. wow they were so good. i loved it. now i understand why joseph cruz loves them. haha.
Friday - so since we finished off with Tierra Blanca we went up for this new part of our area called the Fabrica. which is by the factory. it went pretty good and we contacted quite a bit while we were up there. but that is pretty much all we did, we contacted a lot and taught a little bit of lessons. then that night we went and visited this one family that lives in tierra blanca and it went really well. we gave them a couple pictures and they loved it. also the stake president called us and told us that we were going to be at the activity on Saturday so we needed to plan something. ha.
Saturday - We woke up and we got right to work planning the activity. we were expecting something totally different then what they expected. we went and bought some stuff and made a reference box. then we went to our lunch with hermana guinac. wow she never ceases to amaze me. she made this delicious pork and this dessert that was just so dang good. i loved it. then i gave her one of my pics and she said that she is going to put it with her other kids. she isn't married but the missionaries that are her favorite she calls them their kids. which is good because then we get treats apparently for the rest of our mission haha. anyways she lives in the other area and I'm good friends so we talked for awhile and had a good time. then we went back to the church and got our room set up. we were in the chapel and when we got there they president told us that we just need to show a short clip and share a brief message about the church because we only had 5 mins. ha it was an activity for the young single adults and wow it looked super fun for all of them. we just showed some clip about the restoration with elder ballard talking and it was really good. we were pretty popular after awhile. ha. so anyways that went really good and that was our day on Saturday.
Sunday - oh boy so today is the day that we had to give a talk. I was nervous because it was my first talk but it went really really well. i was planning all week about talking from Alma 4 where it talks about pride in the church and how it destroys the church. but the night before i was praying about what i should talk about and i just got the strongest impression to talk about the importance of the sabbath day. it went really good and i just told a story about when i worked one time on the sabbath day and how i just felt horrible the whole day and the horrible feelings i had. then i gave some suggestions on what they can do to keep the day holy and sacred and to help uplift people. I like what Jesus taught because in that time they said that he couldn't teach or walk or do any miracles but he did anyway. but Jesus Taught that this is the day to edify the family and to edify man. it is the day to help other people so that you can help yourself as well. it went really well. anyways after that we went to dinner with hermana flor and her family and Elder Tua One came as well. it was really fun and the food was really good too. and we all had a good time talking and all.
then we went from there to a lesson where we taught this one girl and she just had so many questions of the church and we answered everyone of her questions and she loved it. then she said ended her questions by asking, why are there so many churches today. and i told her and it was so spiritual, but i told her, that there was a young boy who had that exact same question and he was a little younger than her. and i told her the Joseph Smith story and she loved it. she said she was impressed and just kept saying how interesting. what I've noticed is when she really likes something she would say how interesting. but she said it like 20 times after the story then we asked her to pray and she started but couldn't finish, so her friend who was with her prayed for her. and we just explained to that girl that was she was feeling was the Spirit and that the Spirit is telling her this is right and that she is making good decisions and that the Spirit is happy for her. it was just a really neat experience. but yeah there is my week. it was a pretty good week and we got a lot accomplished. also in church today, the last year the ward has been averaging about 130 but it has been going up since me and my comp have been working with ward members a little bit more and gaining their trust. this last Sunday we had 164 and it was super cool. i told the bishop it was for our talks, haha and he said we will have to talk more. then i just said i was joking, haha. but anyways it is cool to see the success in the hard work we put it. it is really rewarding. i really feel like it is my time to go and not this Wednesday but the next are our changes. so we will see what the Lord has in store for me. i love this church, mom and i love my Savior. i love all the things and blessings we receive from Him. i love you guys all so much and am so thankful for you guys and your example. well i will talk to you next week.
Love elder Daniel Shipley
ps if you can send a line of authority that traces back to Joseph Smith that would be cool. see if you can find that out. alright love you.
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