Well time has certainly lost all meaning to me this past week. There's not much that the missionaries can use here for perspective or to help us to distinguish the days from one another. We are on a weekly schedule, so basically all mondays are the same, all tuesdays the same, etc. The weeks feel like one big long day here, which I am actually really appreciative of. It helps me to keep the same attitude and mindset from day to day, rather than starting fresh every single day. Time flies here too by the way....
I've gotten quite a few letters and packages from people. Thank you!!!! I apologize, we are only supposed to write letters (of any kind: email, letters, packages) on Mondays. If you write me or DearElder me, I may not get a chance to write back to you until the next Monday.
I've gotten quite a few letters and packages from people. Thank you!!!! I apologize, we are only supposed to write letters (of any kind: email, letters, packages) on Mondays. If you write me or DearElder me, I may not get a chance to write back to you until the next Monday.
This week has been really fun for me in a few ways. Starting on tuesday I began to get a little bit of a sticky throat....about 6 hours later, I could hardly swallow because my throat was so sore. Needless to say, that was not my most peaceful 8 hours of "sleep". I woke up the next day feeling like absolute trash. I pushed my way through most of the day. Around 3 i reached my low. My body was not cooperating with me in my studies, and I quickly most of my motivation. In my humilty, I did what a humbled man does best. I got on my knees and asked Heavenly Father what he would have me do. My companion was walking by, and I felt that i should ask him to give me a priesthood blessing. I don't think that I was the only one who was blessed because of that Prompting. I'm not really sure how to read Elder Apeland. He is a pretty good worker and doesn't ever really complain or give me grief, but at the same time I think he still has quite a bit to learn about why he is out here and what the Lord has in store for him. I think him having the opportunity to exercise his priesthood was just as much a blessing for him as it was for me. I slept like a ton of bricks that night, and woke up feeling much better. I am doing my best to heed every nudge and prompting that the Spirit offers me.
Well now a little bit lighter story for you....my two roomates elders Miller and Stewart were having a companionship inventory (basically a companion improvement session) in our room while me and my companion were in there. The first elder told the other that he talked too loud. Elder Apeland starting to laugh under his breath, and of course I started to lose it. I tried to get out of the room as quick as I could before things got any worse, but as I was walking out the other companion responded that his bed sheets were hanging to low (we have bunk beds) and that it was absolutely unacceptable for a missionary. I couldnt control myself. I am definitely glad not to have those kind of problems with my companion.
While I was studying yesterday, I saw President Jackson (the San Jose Mission President who was just realeased) walk right by me in the hall way. I stopped him and had a nice long chat with him. My companion recognized him from a meeting that he had heard him speak in while he was in Salinas (my companion went to a community college in Monterey. It's a small world for sure! President Jackson seemed pretty miserable to have to go home after three years in the field. I'm certainly not looking forward to that day when I have to go home.
I think that I must be adjusting to the missionary lifestyle pretty well. Even my subconscious is catching on. I've had several dreams of teaching investigators and my roomates told me that I was speaking portuguese (understandable portuguese too!) at 3am in my sleep. Honestly though, I'm really quite amazed at how much I am not tempted or wanting to go on the Internet, or use my cell phone, or watch TV or something. I really think that his lifestyle is something that I was made for. I really do look forward to studying in my scriptures or to practicing portuguese. When you lose yourself in the Lord´s work, you really do find Happiness, Joy, and Satisfaction that you would otherwise be hardpressed to find in this world.
We have been teaching investigators (they are really just our teachers), who are based off of real people our teachers met in Brazil on their missions. We have been teaching Pablo, a Brazilian student studying English. I´ve been able to teach him the lessons (in portuguese) with relative ease. I know my pronunciation needs a lot of work though....anyway, halfway through our lesson on the Plan of Salvation, I realized that nothing I was saying to him was getting through...we hadn´t made it applicable to him at all. I stopped right there, and told him that he needed to pray and ask God if our message was true. Until then, it wouldn´t really matter what we told him if he didn´t have the faith to believe it. That was extremely frustrating for me....I wanted soo badly for him to accept our message! I´ve figured out how to teach the lessons for the most part....it´s teaching individuals that I need to work on.
I know that his work of our heavenly Father is true, and that all of his children everywhere on the Earth can know of its validity through reading the Book of Mormon and asking its authors, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, if it is true. It really is that simple....I promise. Until next time,
Love, Elder McKinley
No comments:
Post a Comment