This week we had our zone
conference. Our area leader from the
quorum of the 70 showed up (Elder Piper).
He talked to us for about 6 hours.
I didn`t even know someone could talk for 6 hours, but he pulled it
off. Every hour he had us stand up and
do jumping jacks, which was good because half the missionaries were collapsing
after the second hour of talking ha ha.
The assistants came up and brought mail for everyone except me. They said I had a package, but it was too big
to bring with them and it would`ve been super expensive for me to carry with me
on the bus back to Delicias. So they are
going to bring it up to me later when they have a appointment in Delicias. Fortunately, I did get one so that means I
can get have mail. I`m not really sure how to send letters home from
Mexico. My companion has never sent one
during his mission, so I need to ask another gringo. This all means it could be awhile.
The zone conference was a little
stressful because it was all about why we don`t have as many baptisms as we
used to in our mission. Last year
Chihuahua was the top in the world for baptisms for one month with over 300
baptisms. But this was during the time with the old mission president who had
the missionaries teach to baptize. Our new president has us teach to
convert. I like our current approach
more, mainly because nearly all the baptisms from the last president are
inactive members... But none of the missionaries wanted to say this to Elder
piper because our mission president was in the room with us. We didn`t want to blame the lower baptism
numbers on him, simply because of the policy change, so it was a bit of a
stressful situation. All the
missionaries were looking at the ground hoping not to get called on. Sort of like when a teacher asks in church
for someone is willing to offer the prayer ha ha ha.
I also learned to never trust the
burritos here. Whenever I have one, I
always get poisoned. Just this week I
only ate one while my companion ate 6. I
had a little stomach ache afterwards, but my companion... let`s just say he
went through 3 roles of toilet paper in 1 week ha ha.
Because the zone conference was 2 days
long this week, we only had 3 days to work and teach our investigator. Although we only had 3 days, it was probably
one of our most successful weeks. One of
the days we taught 9 lessons. That
doesn`t sound like a lot, but a lesson is at the least 1 hour long... So it was a dang successful day. One of the families was a old
investigator. His name was Bryan and he
was 13 and very surprised when we showed up.
Mainly because it has been 2 years since missionaries had visited
him. He had a little hesitantly letting
us in, but soon after his mom joined us for the discussion. They listened while we taught and about 5
minutes later in came the father and sat down. He was not looking very happy
that we were teaching his family, but surprisingly he got super into it. He started telling us why he thought we were
super cool and how the Testigos (Jehova Witnesses) bored him. He also liked how we had white shirts and
ties, basically that we were super spiffy.
He then started asking us a ton of questions to find out why we were
different from other teens our age that were out getting drunk and messing
around. We could barely answer his questions in time before he had another
question. It was super cool and before
we knew it 2 hours had gone by. We had
another appointment to be at, he gave us his information in order to find him
again and teach him more.
Another cool experience was yesterday
after church. A woman called us over and
asked us to give her a blessing. She
then asked me to give her the blessing.
Unfortunately I chickened out because I didn`t know the prayer lines in
Spanish to open a blessing. So my
companion gave it and it was a good blessing.
I felt kind of dumb, but afterword we went to lunch with the
hermanas. We asked if they needed
anything and they had a meet one of their families. The mother (it was a mother and daughter)
told us to ask the daughter what was wrong.
The daughter started to break down and tell us all the problems she had
been having. I didn`t understand a
single thing she said, but when she finished the hermanas asked if she wanted a
blessing and they explained what it was to her.
She was a a little hesitant but she agreed. My companion asked me if I wanted him to offer
it this time. This time I said I had
this one this time. I gave my first
blessing in broken Spanish and didn`t open it perfectly or pronounce her name
perfectly, but it was a super super powerful experience, and I had no idea what
she was going through, or what to expect.
Somehow I gave a 5 minute blessing to her. I can`t recall a thing I said, but when I
finished, she was crying. So I guess i`m
just that bad at Spanish, but it`s alright because I think she got the
spiritual message that God intended for her to receive. Afterward, she couldn`t say a thing. But
immediately after the blessing the mother stood up and said she wanted one as
well. And so I gave 2 blessings yesterday. Both were super cool, and definitely
not what I would normally say or suggest at all. And I didn`t magically have my spanish changed
to be perfect or just go blank minded and say random words. I didn`t know I was saying completely, but I
was alert, and knew what I was saying in the moment. Although I don`t remember much of what I said,
I do recall that part of it and how we felt.
Definitely different than what they say happens in all the stories, but
equally cool in its own way.
Well I decided I had to include a few spiritual
moments I had this week. Oh, I learned
how to solve a Rubix cube. It only took
me 30 minutes to learn how to solve it. Now I can solve it in about a minute. My companion who taught me can do it in about
30 seconds, so I`ve got some practicing to do.
I`m going to try and add some photos of my house, but my camera cord
doesn`t really like the spanish computers very much. I`m probably going to need to buy a converter
next month to speed up the process.
Well hopefully I get more time tonight,
Elder Bunch
Delicias Chihuahua
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