This week was actually what I might consider one of my first "normal" weeks in the mission field. Nothing huge or immensely different happened until Saturday, but... I´ll get to that.
Wednesday we stayed home all morning so they could fix our shower, since it´s been leaking water to the lower level and bubbling and peeling the paint of the neighbors´ kitchen. We tried to study, but the jackhammer he was using to break open the wall (cement and cinder block houses, remember?) was ridiculously loud, so we ended up playing chess for the hour (really?) that he was making the hole in the wall.
Friday we tried to contact a reference from a less active (some of his friends) and found 3 new investigators who were not any of the references (we met family members). Sunday we actually contacted them, and thus found 6 new investigators this week from that reference alone. XD
Saturday I had the privilege of listening to Richard E. Turley, Jr.--Assistant Historian of the Church. That was a pretty sick meeting. First he compared missionary work to an avalanche--even if we don´t have a lot of success,
we´ve been a "stone cut out of the mountain without hands" and that eventually the people who have rejected us will accept someone. He mentioned (as well as many of the missionaries who are converts who he asked to tell their conversion stories) that people ALWAYS remember the first missionaries, who they rejected. He also talked about Parley P. Pratt´s mission to Canada, and the hundreds of thousands of lives it´s blessed and brought to the Gospel (including John Taylor, Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, M. Russell Ballard, and himself). Brother Turley also talked a lot about the importance of reactivation. He then took out an hour to learn about the missionaries and the mission by asking us questions. He opened up the last hour and a half for people to ask him ANYTHING they wanted--which got interesting really fast. Some snippets:
Did you know that Joseph Smith, when translating the plates in order, started with the Large Plates, (Lehi, then Mosiah-Moroni), then got to the small plates (Nephi-Words of Mormon). Thus, in the 116 pages which were lost (and are presumed to have been burned, because nothing has ever been found about them) was the book of Lehi AS WELL AS Mosiah 1-2. What is our Mosiah chapter 1 is actually Mosiah chapter 3, because words of mormon "just so happens" (the Lord knew the 116 pages would be lost) to fit perfectly with Mosiah 3 as a transition.
Other topics mentioned included polygamy, re-baptism´s origin and abolishment, and why we don´t know the locations of where exactly the majority of the Book of Mormon takes place.
Anyhoo, not much time left. Love you guys! Until next week,
Élder Rowe
We also got PICTURES!!! So good to see this guy! He does have more color (I won't go as far as calling him tan...) and his hair is definitely sun bleached.
This is his first companion and his first area...
This is the "sick" bag that he had made that he referred to last week.
This is a past companion who taught him to cook using the local ingredients and who was his "personal trainer."
Jacob just being Jacob!
No comments:
Post a Comment