alright so here is my week, but first off the truck - is the new truck the mission bought for us, pretty cool huh, haha just kidding i wish that was our truck but it was the neighbors.
this is a pic of me looking over only about one quarter of our area. it is pretty big and we walk all the time so yes were always tired.
and then the other pics are from last night in the family home evening we had with president which was just way awesome.
alright here is the week:
Monday - as a zone we went to this one park that is located in Central America and we played baseball there. it was super fun and we had a blast. i forgot how fun baseball was and we were just acting like fools. there were some pros watching us and i think they were kind of mad because we made it a joke. haha. but we played baseball for a little bit and then we went back home because we were exhausted, so we ordered pizza and then just slept the rest of the day. our lessons canceled on us that night so we had nothing but we went and bought some stuff we needed for the week and it was just a pretty much good day.
Tuesday - not too much happened this day and we just kind of contacted all day but there was this one contact that i had that was just absolutely hilarious. so i was contacting and talking to this lady and she was all just like wow your guys church sounds really good and all. then i just started asking about her to get to know her a little bit and she was a girl who was 24 years old and was married but had no kids. then all the sudden her mother in law comes around the corner and is all like, "hey who you talking with... oh... oh... another man huh? your talking to another man... what is my son not good enough for you? you think you can just cheat on him while he is not here with a gringo. oh no..." haha wow i just got out of there as soon as possible. it looked so bad but it was just so funny, haha me and my comp were laughing so hard after that .
but anyways after that we had to go to the church so we took a bus going down and while we were going down something funny happened outside the bus. there was this drunk guy who kept bugging this lady, and all the sudden she just socked him right in the face. really hard and the guy went right down to the ground. haha these girls here are not afraid to do something about someone bothering them. and the guy really did deserve it.
that night we were talking in our meeting about the youth in the ward and we have a really big problem with the kids in the ward. and i was just thinking what the problem could be because we have been thinking about this problem for awhile. then i just asked how the parents are doing. and the bishop said "well, they are not really active. and in that moment i knew what the problem was. i knew that if the parents are watching the kids or don't have an interest in something then the kids just as well will have the same problem. in that moment i kind of realized the kind of parent i want to be. i want to be a dad where my kids will always come to me for help and that i will always show a love and interest in their worries. also push them so that they can become capable of what they are able to do. if we push with love then we see success in the people we push. so that is something i learned that night.
Wednesday - this was kind of an interesting night, we went to Mariella Paz´s house and she told us that she didn't have any time to meet with us but that she is now ready for her baptism and that she wants to be baptized the next Saturday, so that would be this coming Saturday the 26th. so that was awesome news for us. then we went to these others people's house, rafael and alejandra and they told us that they were ready to be baptized as well. which was just completely awesome and they told us that they were so happy to be meeting with us and they know without a doubt that what we are teaching is real and that it can bless their lives and that they had some pretty spiritual experiences with their prayers. so that was just a really cool day and as of this day we have 3 dates with them for baptism.
Thursday - so there is this lady in our comedor who hasn't entered the temple but it has been my goal to get her there the whole time i have been here. and as a zone we are going tomorrow morning Wednesday the 23rd. anyways we called the temple with her and set the appointment so she could go with us and all could be set. but she is just so scared to go. so we taught her about temples and why we have temples and the importance of temples and the blessings it can bring. she really enjoyed the lesson and wants to enter so badly but is terrified because of something the Jehovah Witness' teach but we are not very clear on what that is. she just kept saying she was scared of the word to seal with a spouse. but she doesn't understand it and is rather a kind of stubborn lady so it is difficult with her. but were working hard with her but I'm not sure if she will enter or not. i really hope she does. then we were talking about marriages, and here i learned the kind of husband i want to be. i remember i wrote 2 things at the beginning of my mission that i want to do the rest of my life from that day forward, number 1 was to never miss a sacrament meeting and to always take the sacrament. number 2 was to have love for my wife and kids always no matter what. that means i never want to go to bed with her angry and me angry and always have a solution. like president alvarado always tells us, I'm a man of solutions, not a man of excuses. we need to always fix the problems we have and have an open relationship with our spouses, its the same in my companionship's, we have a very open relationship and when we do something we don't like we tell each other. that way we always have the Spirit with us and not the spirit of contention. it has helped us so much more and it will help my in my future marriage.
Friday - so not to much happened this day we just did some contacting and worked with our mission leader, then we went to this guy named leonel who is just way cool. we have only been teaching for a little bit of time but he is just so cool. and has learned so much lately. anyways i taught him about the gospel of Christ and the importance of following Christ always in all we do. he loved it. and to end i told him about how we were talking about following Christ a lot and how that is what we need to do, but then i challenged him to follow Christ and be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood. he accepted and we are going to visit him today so we can find out a day this week or next week to baptize him. but yeah pretty cool.
Saturday - So this day was a huge bummer. so we went that morning to visit mariella and we were so bummed with what we found out. so we were talking and everything was going good and she is so happy for her baptism. but then we were talking about the interview process for her baptism. so we gave her the questions to make sure she was all ready to go. but during the interview we found out she has a huge problem with the word of wisdom and with coffee. she doesn't want to give it up for nothing and says it is dumb that we would make her do that. she told us she is unsure of baptism now and that she needs to think about it. what a bummer that was, so her date for this week fell. then we went and visited our other 2 who had committed to baptism and they had the exact same problem. they promised that they would stop drinking coffee though but they said it would be better if they got baptized in late April. we agreed and told them we would help them every step or the way. but then again another 2 dates fell. so now all we have is leonel and hopefully he doesn't say he has a problem with that as well. that would be such a bummer.
Sunday - so Sunday was really good and we had a good time in church and the Spirit was strong like always. i love going to church so much and i learn so much there now that I'm actually interested. ha. sad to say. after church we went to this guys house named carlos for lunch. he is the elders quorum president and is way cool. his wife made chicken and wow it was so dang good. i loved it. we were talking about the problems in the ward and he was telling me him as a parent what he does with his kids is has interviews with them every week. he says he started when they were 2 and then it just became something that the kids look forward to so that they can ask their dad for help with serious things, that way he knows what's going on in their lives and etc. i think that is a great idea. also he told me there was something that Gordon B Hinckley said and that if we are not making our family home evenings then we will not have a strong family. we need to do them every week and then we will see success. that is something president alvarado told us too, that if we want a good family then we just need to make our family home evenings. i thought that was good advice. so anyways after carlos we went and visited this one lady who´s sister died and was feeling sick. so we taught a little about the plan of salvation to comfort her and make sure all was good and she loved it. so that was that. then that night we had a family home evening with this really cool family. the family hernandez. it went really well and i taught the lesson. i just felt really prompted to teach about the power of satan and how he is trying to destroy families. and how we need to be strong. i really really love the scripture Genesis 3 15 about satan can have little power to affect us but overall we have power to destroy satan. he has no power over us. the only power he has is what we give him. we need to shut him out and let that be the end.
then we were eating and something really ugly happened that night and i have never felt so uncomfortable in my life. the members were talking about the bishop but in such an ugly way. they were making fun of him, just talking really ugly about him and i felt such a dark spirit. kind of like the secret combinations is all i could think about. i just kind of went off and was telling them how that is not right and that he is an inspired man and how he loves all of them. he is not the best bishop in the world but he tries. he needs the help of the members to teach him so he can teach them too. we can learn from everyone. they just kept saying that he will never change. and that just made me really sad. i just told them... if that is what we think with all people then this church would not function. we would have no converts because no one would be changed. this church changes lives, correction Jesus Christ changes lives, we just have to help people change so that Jesus can work through us. then i asked them how many times they talked with the bishop about the problem they had. they said never. and i was just so sad. i was thinking if there was a problem that i had and no one ever told me what it was but instead just made fun of me with their friends i would be really hurt. i told them they needed to resolve this problem immediately, because they cannot sustain the bishop in a mood like this. and if you can't sustain the bishop then you can't sustain that he was called and chosen from God through his prophets, apostles and all the other leaders. there is a line of order and i know that all those men receive revelation for us. but i hope we can help the bishop`out a little bit because it seems to be an issue in the ward. i hope that you guys all help bishop cook everyday, he needs you guys and cannot run the ward without you guys. it is a family and everyone needs to do their part.
Monday - so this day we just worked pretty hard again and went around inviting a bunch of people to the activity we are going to have. that night we all met about 6 00 and left for the presidents house at 6 30, it went really really good and will be something i will remember for the rest of my life. president is such a great man and is so inspired. he taught us a really great lesson then we played some games after and it was just such a blast. then he told us he was pleased with the work me and interiano are doing and is happy to have us all there. he is such a great man and is definitely one of the few people in my life that i admire. behind Dad, Bishop Allen, and Bishop Cook, there is President Alvarado. but yeah it was fun and just wait till you get the videos i took, they are pretty funny.
Well there is my week it was good and bad. Sad because of the 3 people who fell with their dates but we will get them another time. when the time is right. just a reminder of a couple things i need. Envelops, shaving cream, body wash and face wash if you can, clippers, and the ones from home will be ok. the USB i need pretty badly, they are expensive here. An FJ cruiser when i get home would be awesome. Also i really want a Recent family picture of all you guys, i know Kate is coming this week so take the picture. try to send one like every 4 or 6 months if you can. also if there are people who want to send letters to me send them with banner so it is free, like people from the ward, or the youth from the ward, or some of my friends at home, i would love to hear from them. and Peanut butter, that is really expensive here but it would be cool if you could send some, i have been craving it lately. oh and by the way i didn't write this in my last letter from last week, but the week before we had an earthquake here, it was so weird, i was just laying in bed and all the sudden my bed started shaking pretty badly, it was scary but cool at the same time, my first time ever i felt that . but it was just a small little one, i cant even imagine those poor people over in japan, i feel so bad for them but they are well prepared and are being taken care of. well i love you guys and i will talk to you next week. have a good week.
Elder Shipley
Dearelder.com is also a great free service
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