I am finally getting how tough it is to be a mother of a missionary. The tough part is not being able to get an answer to a question directly. It is the worry that the missionary is not well and knowing I could make it better. It is the worrying of mental health, physical health, and then just realizing I have to leave it in God's hands. How can a mother care for their child everyday for 19 years and then not be able to even ask the simple questions like, "How are you?, "Are you eating enough?, "Do you need anything?, and "Do you know how much I love you? Being a missionary mom is so hard and I cannot even imagine not having the help of prayer and knowing I have to rely on Heavenly Father to make sure those things are being answered. I don't think I really understood how tough it was going to be. I am not really looking forward to doing this again. Even though I know it is a good thing for the missionary. No wonder all missionaries look back and remember their missions so vividly! I guess I just really wasn't ready to let my son go. Is anyone ever really ready?
Pretty normal week. Not going to lie. I had a crazy bad sty that almost kept me from working. Elder Burk got sick for a day. Our investigators are still good. They didn't make it to church, though. Blast.
Let's think.
Last monday we bought food. Okay.
Tuesday was super, super normal. It was the sick day. So it was normal until 6, and then it was rest and putting hot stuff on my eye.
Wednesday I gave a lesson about "How to begin teaching" in lessons with new investigators. It was not terribly good. I was very distracted with my eye thing so no one minded. It was so big and gross that I think everyone just looked at it and didn´t listen. The thing is, sometimes the zone leaders give a very specific tiny wierd class for me to do. And that's how the lesson comes out in the end. I usually do a good lesson. It was the eye!
Thursday and Friday and Saturday were obscenely hot. Didn't help the eye thing. At all. Thursday we had another great, though very difficult lesson. It was difficult because my Spanish was taxed to the limit in explaining the plan of God from a more... intellectual point of view than usual. I've noticed that over time we learn to teach on an average-person level. When we run up against intellectuals, like these people, we have to think a lot more like ourselves.
This guy's doubts are very similar to mine. His big problem is essentially the Church. The doctrine he knows is right. He just can't stand yet the idea of a church. Not to mention baptism. As we talked, though, he started to see the purpose of it. We then mentioned how God gives blessings for obedience. He said, "I don't like the idea of obeying just to get something."
That's just it, though. We obey because we love God. We explained that to him. I have never understood what it meant really when it says in the Bible that "They were astonished at his doctrine." Not until then did I understand. No one had ever presented such a docrine to him, or to his wife. They spoke little after we taught. It seems we certainly gave them a lot to think about.
I think it won't be long before we see baptismal dates for them.
Wierd thing related to the five-month conversion of Brother Calloway - the average person is baptized three changes, or four and a half months, from their first contact with missionaries. We hope for faster, but it doesn´t always happen. I know people who investigated for a year. As long as they progress, it's never a waste. Speaking of that, I just heard that like five of the people I taught in Melipilla have been baptized now too. Not bad. One was the one I knocked the door of on a Spirit whim. Not only that, his whole member family is active as can be. I just need some of the same success here.
I wish I had an apple comptuer. This one makes me mad.
And and iPhone.
No, let's just focus.
It's really hot now.
Well, have a good day and stuff. Faith is not the Force, even thought the Force is cool.
Vocal Point
Do you think Regina Speckter has any acceptable songs? I know The Call would be okay. (Can someone find it?)
I also with I could have a fountain pen here. Oh well. I heard there's a cross or something pen that takes refills that aren't that expensive and you can just get the refill and stick it in a Pilot G2 pen and it has the same exact amazing expensive feel for like eight dollars, not a hundred.. Maybe you can find that article. That would be cool for Christmas.
I found a shaver thing here because I couldn´t just keep using the old belt sander... it seems you got one too... I guess if it's nice you should send it, but if not maybe Jake would like it...
Vocal Point?
There's this multicolor pencil in the BYU bookstore I'd really like. It's Pentel. It has a bunch of leads in the barrel and you can eject them one at a time. They had them in the MTC Bookstore. They're cool.
I think for Christmas I would like a new set of socks. Mine are t-rashed. Maybe synthetic ones? I don't know. But mine are trashed.
Love,
Elder A. Conrad Crist
No comments:
Post a Comment