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| Ch'utillos traditional outfits & parades |
HOLA!! This week was
awesome and crazy and crazy awesome. Hahaha.
Martes/Tuesday we
had interviews with President. My interview went pretty good, and we spent a
while talking about the work and other missionaries and such (normally my
interviews are like 30 seconds, ha-ha). After those interviews, we studied and
then went to work. We had a super awesome afternoon. We had a cool visit with a
lady who is a member but pretty inactive. We helped her realize how important
temples are and how they can really help us a ton (visiting and entering the
temple). It was super cool to help somebody else in the covenant path. Normally
we just help people get baptized, but this time we were able to help somebody
keep progressing and getting closer to Dios/God. Later we went and followed up
with a few contacts from last week, and we actually had a few really good citas/appointments.
That was super awesome because normally contacting is good, but nothing really
progresses from it. But we found this lady named Irena, and she is an awesome investigator.
She has awesome questions and really understands and accepts what we are
teaching. She´s amazing! Later we had an awesome cita with Sara. It was super
interesting though because she was trying to tell us that prophets don’t exist
anymore; that God has given us the Bible, and we can each talk with God now,
and there is no need for prophets. So, we had an awesome visit teaching her a
little about how God works and then about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.
Now we just really hope she`ll read and look for the answers to her questions.
Later we had a sweet visit with Carla and Gustavo. They are super-duper
awesome!! We taught them a bit more about the Book of Mormon and how it can
help us repent and get closer to God.
Miércoles/Wednesday
we had a few citas in the morning. We were hoping to be able to teach a few
contacts and get more investigators, but they all fell through. We did have a
couple good visits with a joven/youth investigator and later a mas o menos
(more or less) active member. Then we had lunch and helped get stuff ready for
the zone conference. Conference was awesome. I learned a lot about how I can strive
more and be more diligent. I love how much President uses the Bible, especially
the Old Testament, in his welcoming messages. He also gave an awesome class
about prophets and apostles in the Bible (using the scriptures more in our
lessons and helping the investigators to learn themselves and not just us
teaching them).
Jueves/Thursday we
started the day early with a few citas in the morning. We had a really good
cita with a contact from last week named Adríana (a friend of Sara). She is
super interesting. She talked to missionaries before, so she has some
background knowledge and kind of seemed like she was just trying to destroy our
beliefs and that this isn’t the true church and such. So at the beginning it
was kind of rough because she didn’t want to really listen; she just wanted to
set us straight. She also was mainly set that God doesn’t talk to people today
or have prophets. But she kept like contradicting herself and ...ya ...ha-ha
that was interesting. But then we were
able to share a few scriptures with her and help her see how God really works
and also testify that God really does still talk to us and how the Book of
Mormon clears up a bunch of confusing stuff in the Bible. So once again we have
left it up to her to decide if she will read the Book of Mormon and put it to
the test and pray and learn for herself. In the afternoon we had a ton of
people with citas that we really needed to visit but literally all of them
failed us. That was tough. But it gave us the opportunity to contact and look
for the people God is preparing. We did have a good Noche Misional (Mission
Night) at the church, so that was sweet.
Viernes/Friday and
sábado/Saturday were awesome and terrible. Ha-ha. So here in Potosi they have
this big festival called Ch´utillos. It’s super awesome and a huge cultural
thing with dances and such. It’s sweet.... except that all the parades and
dances were in our area, so 99 percent of the people in our area were either
dancing or helping or watching or selling food and such. We really tried to
work and contact and fortunately we were able to have at least one super good
cita each day. Viernes we were blessed to be able to visit with the Flores
family. They are super awesome and want to get baptized but really just need to
act a little more (coming to church).
Sábado/Saturday we
had an awesome, awesome visit with Cristian and Isabel. Cristian isn’t a member
but wants to stop drinking and start helping his kids and family be happier.
Isabel is a member but mas o menos (more or less) active. It’s super cool that
they both concluded to talk with us to help them make their family better and
happier. They also really want to change but need to make the desires become actions.
Domingo/Sunday was
awesome!!! Carla and Gustavo came to church, so we were super-duper happy for
them!! Also Isabel came but Cristian chickened out she said. Ha-ha. Dang it. I
went in the Quechua class of Sunday School, and it was super awesome. Ha-ha. I
miss Betanzos and talking and hearing Quechua all the time. After church we had
a super good visit with a few jovenes/youth from another church who are also “missionaries.”
We talked a bit about our similarities, and it was super cool and then they
started asking questions and giving us goofy answers. Once again their main problem
was what a prophet is and why they are important. It’s SOOOO interesting to see
how many different ways Satan confuses and misleads people. They are awesome
jovenes who really want to strengthen their faith in God and be closer to Him,
but they kind of discount the truth, only because they don’t know where to find
it. We had a few awesome citas and then a super good Noche de Hogar (Family
Night) with our pensionista and her family. Five of her family members are our investigators
(like Carla and Gustavo, Cristian and Edgar, and Don Victor). Don Vic and our
pensionista gave the lesson, and it was super-duper awesome!! They shared from
3 Nephi 9, and it was a sweet lesson about repentance and how Christ is always
there for us. Then Gustavo and Edgar and the other joven (Crisitian) were in
charge of the games, and it was super fun. It was soo awesome to see them all
progressing. God is good,... all the time.... and all the time.... God is good.
:)
Today we got up
super early and went to Uyuni (like for my 5th time, hahahha), but it was fun.
This week wasn’t as productive as we were hoping because Ch´utillos kind of robbed
us, but we made the best of it :)
Les amo!!
Elder Sorensen
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| Lt to Rt: Elders Sorensen, Vergarra, Salinas, Cabrera |
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| Zone Conference picture with President Montoya |
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| Elder Sorensen, Schulz, & Hawkins |
