12-6-10

Monday: My family`s email this week told me about their adventures during Thanksgiving. Colton, my cousin, is back from his mission from India. His time flew by. Mom and Dad are pleased with how he matured and impressed them a lot. They saw Harry Potter 7 part 1 while they were at Gram`s. We had a cool FHE with the Millahuals. We read Jacob 3 & 4 and I told everyone to say what the Atonement was for each of them. It means so much to me, knowing that my big brother knows all of my pains and troubles. And he did it for ME.He doesn`t want me to pay him back. It`s like piano lessons that are paid for by your mom. She pays for them, not for any benefit to her, but because she wants that gift for me. Elder Oversby and I talked again. I finally found my true problem I have: I need to find satisfaction in the moment of life. I asked him how ot find that peace. He asked, "Do you believe every good thing comes from God?" I felt sobered as I realized the implementations of that. God wants what`s best for me. Every thing, good or bad, is for us. Our lives are crafted for us, individually. My life now is as important as the future or past. I feel satisfied with my Father and Christ.

Tuesday: My District leader called at 8, to remind me I had to teach the class on Tithing. So I studied for that during my personal study. I taught it well enough. It`s interesting to think why God would want our money and income. It`s not like he`s going to use it to buy anything. He owns the whole Earth! It is an act of faith and sacrifice. It doesn`t go to any man, but helps construct the Kingdom of God. (Haha. I`m noticing my vocab. is different because of my Spanish vocab.) We visited Jonathan, and he was sick. As we left, I got clotheslined...by an actual clothesline! We visited a Sister who was sick. I asked what she was sick with. She teared up, and her lip started trembling. Right then, I needed an enormous crane or a dangerously sized pack mule to pull my foot out of my mouth. She told us she had a cancerous tumor 8cm long. She looked fragile and very, very scared. We gave her a blessing of health and comfort. Elder Oversby gave the blessing. He told her she had a long and difficult path ahead of her. It was so heart-wrenching. We did a lot of good work today. We found some people, and talked to a whole lot more. We`re getting better at working together. we visited Robin and Bilha. Bilha`s teeth have been hurting her. She refused some Aspirin because she might be prenant! That`s so exciting!

Wednesday: I slept through the alarm today. We all did. I woke up first, and got ready. Then we went to see if the money had arrived yet. I was so excited when it did. I hadn`t eaten breakfast or dinner in two weeks! I still blame the fact that I bought gas. We went shopping, and I spent the least money. Oversby spent almost 3 times more than me! I got one cereal that will be gone in 3 days, and some oatmeal that should last two weeks, as well as powdered milkl. I`m excited. We ate lunch. It was my third time eating clams and oysters. I am definitely getting better at eating them. I have to say that out of all the springs of my life, I have never been so...wet, as I have in this one. It`s raining almost constantly. We went out and talked with people. they didn`t want to talk to us. Well, one woman talked to us for 10 min. (outside) before telling us she was hard-core adventist. We went to the house to ready the sheets we had to bring to our ward meeting. I asked Elder Oversby to help. He asked me to do it alone, because he doesn`t know the people very well. He knows them just as well as I do!

Thursday: Today, for my personal study, I decided to analyze my Patriarchal blessing...on a "bottomless trench"-level of deepness. One thing that has always confused me is that it says that I`ll "receive, and manifest, and give the love of Christ." What`s the difference between manifesting and giving love? So that`s been my question for months. I read in Mark that when Jesus "manifested" something, nothing was hidden. When I read that, I started to cry. I heard, recently, that when that happens, it`s God talking to you. I was happy to know (fully) that I`ll manifest love, but in the same moment i was excited to know I`ll receive it one day, too. We planned for the week, before going to lunch. I got a really bad headache afterward. We talked with people all afternoon, and NO. ONE. would listen to our message. We couldn`t find new investigators. We did visit mamà Maite for a little while, to see how her back was. It was hurting her yesterday. Then we had an FHE with Robin and Bilha. Bilha`s molars aren`t hurting her anymore. We talked a little about temples. They`re excited to get sealed next year. It was at that point that I realized that I`m going to miss the people of this ward. Very much.

Friday: I woke up at about 5 in the morning and couldn`t go back to sleep because I felt a little ocld. My throat was painfully swollen. It hurt to swallow and talk. Then, after I was all ready, I felt really nautious. Elder Oversby let me rest until lunch, which I appreciated. When we went outside, the air was fresh and wonderful. I started feeling better right away. But for lunch we had 6 baked potatoes...without any seasonings. It was awful. But the end, I was about ready to throw up. We came back home, and I slept that off too. We headed off to Jonathan`s, for our appointment, but he wasn`t there. So we went to Estefanìa`s house for a visit. We taught Cesar, so he can be ready for his baptism in December. We called, and got a hold of, Ignacia again. She was so happy to hear from us. She might be able to come to church this week, too. I got to teach English to some members. It was really cool to be the one translating for people. We went to Robin an dBilha`s to finish the night. While we were at the Church, the members showed up, for their temple trip. Sonia and Ernesto were there! they didn`t want to go at first, but I got to teach them and changed their mind. They`re going to be an Eternal family, and I helped!

Saturday: I woke up and my did my exercises, but stopped as I was forced to acknowledge my condition. My throat was still swollen and sore, I woke up with a migrain, and my neck was stiff. So stiff, that my vision was limited to a far smaller area due to the pain moving would cause. So we took it slow again. I was grateful again. We headed off to lunch, and the Sister wanted to talk about swimming. that was a sweet torture. I realized that I really miss being weightless and feeling the almost friendly resistance of the water around my limbs. So...wonderful. We did Permanaced and found an 11-year old member--only one in his family and inactive. We talked with him for a while and invited him to come back to church. We can`t really do more than that. We did contacts for a while before we ran into Renato`s daughter. She invited us over for a visit. Renato was there this time. It was so good to see him after 2 months of nothing. He invited us to lunch on Thuirs. I am really enjoying the friendships I`ve made down here. People that I can talk to. People who want to talk to ME. It`s a nice change. Elder Barajas will visit Temuco tomorrow from his current sector. Yay!

Sunday: Today we had a really cool testimony meeting. I really enjoyed Mamà Maite`s testimony. She got up to the pulpit and told the whole ward that she had been struggling spiritually during the past week. Or at least until we had had the family home evening with them. She told how the most helpful thing for her had been to hear all of her children say what the Atonement was for them. She started crying and thanked us. Then Sonia and her husband, Ernesto, went up. They were sealed yesterday, and she got up there and started talking but quickly started crying and, bless her heart, I didn`t understand a single word. But she was obviously happy and touched. It was such a blessing to see them come from being less-actives in July to feeling God`s love fully. It`s times liek these when I remember why Ipm on the mission. During our lesson in Sunday school, we talked about service. They said that we never know the good that we`re doing. He went on to tell how some missionaries had stopped someone from committing suicide. I just exchanged a look with my comp. and we felt like missionaries who had done a good job. Elder Barajas and Elder (check this name out) Logatila Tonumaipe`a (who`s from New Zealand and talks like the guys from "flight of the Conchords") are visiting Barajas loves the new house, and I love talking with someone about old times.