October 29, 2012
Hola familia!
Alright well I wrote a whole letter
and instead of saving it, hit discard. So that was a 'smart alek' moment HAHA.
So Im going to try to rewrite that sucker the best I can, whoo! So it has been
really dang hot here. Our pench has the kitchen downstairs and then our room is
upstairs, and it was so hot and humid where we sleep, so we put our mattresses
down on the kitchen floor and we've been sleeping there, since it's a lot
cooler :) but yeah, this heat just sucks the life out of you and we got fodged
a lot this week and so we walked a lot in our big area in soul-sucking,
purpose-of-life-destroying heat. Just kidding it wasn't that bad haha, I mean I
like the heat a lot, but it can get pretty rough when it's Halloween everyday
and I'm dressed up as the missionary. Except we aren't asking for treats but
hoping to give away treats, unfortunately most people think we're giving away
tricks, which is unfortunate since the treats we're handing out is the opportunity
to taste of the fruit from the tree of life. But if some kid gets fruit in his
bag he's going to be a little disappointed.... I'm sure all they need to do
before they toss it away would be to try it! And realize hey! that is pretty
rich! Well that was my tangent of the week haha, happy Halloween! I probably
should just keep to the script and try to rewrite that last letter I
wrote.
A couple of things happened to us
that was a testimony to me that God is watching over everyone and is guiding
us, even in small and simple ways. Last Sunday was mothers day, and I think I
mentioned that we gave a bible to our investigator Mariana that day. They weren't home when we stopped by, but little Santiago was there and he said he
would take it to his mom. They were having a big lunch with some extended
family, and I guess at that time they were talking about us and saying not to
listen to those crazy Mormons, especially not those goofy guys with the ties
and nametag thingys, that we have a 'different bible' and we don't believe in
the Bible, and that her kids shouldn't go to the temple, stuff like that. And
then Santi walks in with the bible and says it's from the missionaries for
mothers day. She later told us she was really grateful for that because it
showed that they really didn't know what they were talking about and that we're
pretty good people. And then she said 'you know what, I don't know everything,
but I believe in the things they teach me' and that was that. A simple
testimony but she was able to share what she knew in the face of adversity. so
that was really neat :) The other experience, it was 12 in the afternoon and we
had lunch planned for 1, and it was hot and nobody was home, we stopped by Carolina's (a less active member) house and she wasn't home either, and so we
had one of those awkward 'well what do we do know?' moments, and I was looking
around and had a feeling we should go to this area right in front of us that
was a little more poor and do some contacts. So we walked over there and we
ended up bumping into Carolina and her sister and her son. We talked for a
little while, and they told us that it was her daughter Karen's birthday and
something bummy happened so she has been crying all day. So we walked over and
wished her a happy birthday and talked to her for a little while, and it was
really great to see that when we left she was more content and happy. So it was
neat to be able to hopefully have cheered her up on that special day of
hers.
We got a reference from the Zone
leaders this past week, her name is René. She was in the house of her sister
when the missionaries were teaching her and her family, and she had a few
questions about us and the church, and it turned out she lives in our area! So
we stopped by and had a great lesson with her, her husband was a member, and he
had a smoking problem, but some things she said she noticed about him was that
they always prayed, as a family, and he read the book of Mormon. She is really
happy, really smiley and has a lot of interest in the gospel. She accepted a
date to be baptized in a couple of weeks and has a lot of desires to read and
pray and learn more. She has a lot more interest than her kids do at the
moment, but with her example she can really help them. Yesterday we had stake
conference and she came with her sister! So 4 missionaries were pretty happy to
see they came, and they just loved the conference, and afterward they went up
to meet President Giuliani and the stake president!
The stake conference was awesome!
there were a lot of talks on the family, and missionary work, and being
converted to the gospel. It sounded like another General Conference! The talks
were really great! Probably the most interesting that happened, was when a
future sister missionary goes up. So it was a pretty normal stake conference
with screaming kids running everywhere and just a lot of noise, and she goes up
and talks about how she just got her call and how excited she was to be like
those who shared the gospel with her, and she bore her testimony of the gospel
and the Book of Mormon. And right when she mentions the Book of Mormon she
started to cry and it got silent, like creepily quiet, and the spirit was so
strong. And the spirit just stayed until the end of the conference, and it was
really noticeable. My mission president and his wife spoke as well and they
gave incredible talks, about first being converted to the gospel being being
able to help others with it.
A couple of nights ago I woke up at
2 in the morning to some random kid screaming and breaking windows and swearing
and threatening our sweet drug dealer next door neighbor. It was one of the
freakiest things to wake up to haha.
I am so grateful for the gospel of
Jesus Christ and for His Atonement for me and for those I love. I have really
grown spiritually and find great joy in studying the scriptures and the words
of the prophets. Im grateful for the blessing of being born in this family,
which blessing I can only be eternally grateful for. Thank you for everything
you do for me :)
Los Amo,
Elder Alek Clubb
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