2019-03-25: Staying in Betanzos!

L to R: 1st Counselor in Betanzos bishopric,
E. Sorensen, and Bishop.

Well... this week was pretty crazy, like really weird. It was the last week of the cambio/(transfer or 6-week assignment), and we weren’t really sure what was going to happen. My comp (Elder Vergara) and I planned to contact a ton more than normal during the week to find a lot more new investigators. Well martes/Tuesday after our district meeting, our zone leaders called us to a different room and told us that President is thinking about closing Betanzos (as in taking out the missionaries so there are no missionaries). So that really killed us. We explained that it shouldn´t be closed and why. They told us they would talk to President and the assistants and let us know what they say. That really killed us. We made it back to Betanzos and had a good day with all our citas/appointments.

Wednesday was goofy. We woke up and were talking about what will happen if they do close our area. We both felt it was kind of pointless to try to find new investigators if they were just going to take the missionaries out. We had a few citas that went pretty well and also one with Virgilio and Remedios. They are doing pretty well, and we are really pushing to prepare them to go to the temple and do baptisms in May.

Thursday we got a call from our leaders, and they told us they talked with the assistants and they said they probably won’t close our area, but it’s still not sure so that didn’t really help us. The whole day just felt super empty, and we felt kind of sad the whole day. That was the first day I´d felt really just bummed out. We were super sad to think what would happen with some investigators and how the ward probably wouldn’t go to the temple in May. We mostly just visited members that day and recent converts. It was a super weird day.

Viernes/Friday we had a bit better day, but it still just felt super empty. We visited several investigators and later helped Max prepare a talk for Sunday. They assigned a pretty hard topic: Nature (as in our nature or how we should change our nature). So we helped him prepare a little talk about Mosiah 3:19.

Sabado/Saturday we had an activity for the Young Men and Young Women. Leaders from the stake came and had it all planned. There was about 20 jovenes/youth there, so we were super happy. After the activity, we played futsal, and it was super fun. My comp is super-duper good at soccer (like professional level in Ecuador), so he has taught me a lot and I actually really love playing soccer. Later we visited with our bishop. He has been sick for like 2 or more months with some stomach problem. We visited him and he had just gotten back from Sucre where he had an operation done and is all better now (I guess his pancreas was clogged up). We are super happy he is better now, so now we can work better with the stake leaders to improve and make the ward better. Without him it was pretty tough.

Domingo/Sunday, Max didn’t come to church (we think because he was too nervous to give a talk). So the bishop asked me to talk. It was super cool because I basically just shared my personal studies from the week. Earlier in the week I listened to a talk by Elder Bednar about the Character of Christ. I based most of my talk off that but also a few things I learned in my personal studies. I explained that our nature is like our character or how we act when nobody else is around or when times are the toughest. I explained how Jesus Christ is the perfect example of how we should be. I shared Matthew 4 (which to me is super awesome). In this chapter, Christ goes to the desert and fasts (no eating or drinking) for 40 days. After this Satan comes and tempts Him. In each temptation, Satan was attacking the character of Christ, by saying “IF you are the Son of God...” But Christ stayed true to His character and didn’t break under the pressure. Now my favorite part. In verse 11 it says that angels came and ministered to Christ. We can think that if Christ had just fasted for 40 days he would be physically exhausted and then after the temptations of Satan he would be spiritually exhausted. However, if we read the Joseph Smith Translation of verse 11, we see an amazing example of the truly perfect Character of Christ. In the JST of verse 11 it explains that really, Christ realized or learned that John the Baptist was in jail and then Christ (in his own weakened state when most others would look for their own help) sent angels to help and comfort John. Wow! To me that is truly amazing. Elder Bednar explained that the Savior always turned outwards to help others when the natural man would have turned inwards to help himself. The Bible is full of examples of this character of Christ. Later in my personal studies I was reading in 2 Nephi chapter 4. I really like verse 21 that says that Nephi had been filled with the love of Christ (or charity) unto the consuming of his flesh. I thought a lot about that verse and what Nephi meant by that. After studying a little bit more and pondering, I came to the conclusion that when we have charity or when we are filled with charity, it changes our nature. It consumes our natural worldly desires and helps us be more like Christ. I love Mosiah 4:11-12 that says we need to humble ourselves and always pray for help of the Lord daily, and remain steadfast and firm in our faith. If we do these things, we will always rejoice and BE FILLED WITH THE LOVE OF GOD and receive a remission of our sins and grow in knowledge. I love also Mosiah 3:19 that says we need to be full of love, and put off the natural man and become saints through the Atonement of Christ. I thought a lot about that during the week and then shared it for my talk Sunday. I thought it was super interesting how many times it referred to being full of love or having charity or the pure love of Christ. I have been thinking that that was the driving force behind the Savior’s actions; He loves us soo much, and loves His Father that He was willing to put Heavenly Father’s desires and our eternal salvation above His (Christ´s) own desires. That made me think I should really change and try to be filled with this love. I felt the Spirit pretty strong while I was giving that talk, and it was a super cool experience for me.

We had several investigators at church and also Hermana Daria came with one of her daughters, so that was super awesome. After church we talked with a super cool guy named Eugenio, who has come to church several times but we never can find during the week. He has a super good heart and really just wants to follow the Savior and help his children be happy. It was a cool lesson to see how he has so much faith and desires to follow our Savior. The rest of the day we visited with members and then taught the Institute class (for those 18-30 yrs. old). Around 10p we got the call with our cambios/transfers. Fortunately they didn’t close Betanzos. Unfortunately my comp (Elder Vergara) who is super awesome is going to Cochabamba. Dang, I’m going to miss him. Fortunately, I’m staying in Betanzos :) I love it here. And my new comp (Elder Puma) is a Peruvian (who speaks Quechua, well Peru Quechua but pretty close) so I’m pretty excited for this cambio. It should be awesome!

Les amo!!

Elder Sorensen

Sorensen.tanner@missionary.org

PS: We weren't sure if we would be staying in Betanzos, so we took a bunch of pictures with people from the area.