Family!
It snowed! We woke up to a
pretty nice layer of snow all over everything. Our car didn't have an ice
scraper, so we had to buy one so we don't have to clean the car off with our
hands anymore. But yeah, it was a super good week!
We taught V-------- (the little girl
we have on date) twice this week. She's super smart, and she's really
excited about her baptism. They announced it in sacrament meeting this
week, so it's pretty set in stone.
I met a lot more of the members this
week. I think I've now met almost all of the members in our area.
There are a lot of them compared to my last area, and they're all really spread
out. I met an amazing Columbian family who fed us a really good meal and
gave us a whole pan of brownies to take home. I met an awesome
part-member family from Mexico/Texas/California who fed us some really good
enchiladas and cinnamon water. I told them I was from Michoacan, Mexico
and there was a few seconds of silence while they stared at me in disbelief until
I finally broke it by telling them I was from Utah. I guess I'm still not
Mexican enough to pull it off... Speaking of that though, I did recently
meet a less-active guy who uses tons of slang, so I've become a little bit more
cultured (or uncultured I guess) as far as Mexican slang goes though. But
most of what I learned is mas o menos vulgar, so I can't really use
it.... I also met my third Peruvian family! We ate something called
seco con frijoles y arroz. Pretty good stuff. This week we have plans
to work a lot with all of these people and others to help get them more
involved in the work.
Let's see. I invited one of
our Dominican investigators to stop smoking, and he said that maybe one day he
will. It's sad when people don't even try... I went on a short
exchange with the Elder Prach while Elder Elbaba and Elder Shiffler went to a
baptism of someone they used to teach. Our exchange consisted of a carne asada
outside in the 30 degree weather, then playing soccer at the church with a bunch
of investigators and the branch president. When I imagined missionary
work before my mission, I never imagined it like this... But I love it!
After sacrament yesterday we were
recruited to go help out in the primary. There were so many kids that
they need more people in the class to help the teacher maintain some sort of
order. So I learned about Shad, Mesh, y Abed (Shadrac, Meschac and
Abednego translated to Spanish and then abbreviated so the kids could say the
names), got cookies, and helped everyone learn "Tell me the Stories of
Jesus" in Spanish. It was a pretty nice Sunday. =)
This week Elder Anderson of the
second Quorum of the Seventy came to visit our mission. He and his wife
had recently returned from living in the Dominican Republic for a few years, so
I was able to speak with them in Spanish a bit. That's the second general
authority I've spoken Spanish with on my mission! But anyways, I learned
a lot from that meeting. First, I learned more deeply the role of the
Holy Ghost in our lives. We can learn things with our minds, but only the
Holy Ghost can teach our hearts. In order to have the desire to keep the
commandments and endure to the end, we must have the constant companionship of
the Holy Ghost. It is his companionship that helps us have the desire to
press forward. I also learned how to study even more effectively and
really seek the revelation that my Heavenly Father is trying to give to
me. The way I've been doing things has been completely different since
that meeting. I know that the Lord inspires His servants and helps guide
us as we seek to follow Him.
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Foote
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