Well hello friends and family!
It's great to be a missionary in Provo! This week was quite eventful, and as such went by quicker than any before. I guess I'll just mention everything as it comes to me, and not in chronological order. To begin, I have slowly been working my way through El Libro de Mormon, and already I feel that my ability to understand and speak Spanish is markedly improved, though I do feel that this was the right time to start reading it in Spanish.
We had a powerful lesson with Alejandro Herrera this week about God being our Father in Heaven, and that families can be together forever (which I felt I was able to contribute to better than other discussions). The same applied to our lesson with Diana Gabriela. Our lesson with Desiree Arredondo was my first (and unfortunately I feel not my last) in helping her deal with a member who had offended her. Just a reminder to everyone that people watch us as members of the church, especially here in Utah. She luckily is very sincere in her desire to learn about the gospel, and we helped her work over it. She is progressing nicely, though, and will go home for the winter holidays for a while, so we won't see her for too much longer.
Last p-day, the Elders in my district got together to play Star Wars Episode 1 Monopoly again, which I won with heaps of luck. It is a nice saving grace that in an area of 25 stakes and countless people to meet, I can make lasting friends with the other Elders in my district, and at my first Zone Conference we had a lot of fun learning how to be better missionaries. On that note as well, Elder Rivera and I have begun an initiative to meet with all of the Bishops in the wards we cover, starting with the family stakes we have in North Provo. It has been a great opportunity to get to know so many fine servants of the Lord, who know their wards like a shepherd knows the quirks of all his sheep. It has given us not per se many investigators, but plenty of people to strengthen and serve, especially as the winter snows loom near. (I am so stoked for my first real snow, woe be unto any within snowball range when it comes).
We have continued to try and build a friendship and spiritually encourage Diana Fernandez, who still has not made the leap into baptism, but we do not want to rush her in. Toree Coleman, the American girl we're teaching, finally came clean with her Catholic mother and told her of her decision to be baptized. It took some time for the dust to settle, but we'll be meeting with her again tomorrow. We feel confident that her faith will sustain her in these hard times.
Hard times came as well to Alex, a Russian returned missionary who was part of our Sunday night blessings we gave a couple of weeks ago. He had been feeling some very negative influences on his spirit and in his apartment. He asked us for an emergency blessing and we came right away. Elder Rivera gave the blessing and took the brunt of the negative casting-off, as Alex trembled and wept. By the time it was over, a sense of stillness, like after a loud noise finally turns off, engulfed us, and with the space that he cleared, I was able to bless his equally afflicted roommate, Valentino. It was a very easy blessing for me, in comparison to others, as I did not feel worried of what I would say or the effect it would have. It was well received, and I hope will encourage Valentino, who is struggling with the decision to go on a mission. Interestingly enough, my outer suit tag was not on while I preformed the blessing, and it made me realize that if this had any lasting effect on Valentino, he would not be able to remember my name, only the Spirit. To me, it testified that the Spirit is the true teacher, healer, and messenger, and that we have the opportunity to give the honor to the Savior, and that our own personal effect is not nearly as important. Quite subtle, but interesting to me nonetheless.
The Provo temple closes soon, so Elder Rivera and I went one last time before it closed, and it was an incredible experience. Especially after spending time in the waiting room reading the Sermon on the Mount, which I can't even relate how powerful and simple it is, I received so much spiritual testimony and guided thoughts/personal revelation that I had not room enough to receive and remember it all. I love the Temple, and it makes me think a lot about the New Provo City Center Temple under construction, which I see quite often and I often draw as a parallel to myself. This article I found basically sums up what I had to say, I'll add more of my own thoughts next time:
http://www.lds.org/church/news/provo-city-center-temple-teaches-lesson-on-conversion?lang=eng&query=provo+city+center
But the week's highlight falls on last night, when we had a lesson with Angel Corona from Mexico. I'd only had one lesson with him before, but I was impressed by his sincere desire and sweet spirit, and despite often forgetting others in my long list of investigators to pray for, I always remembered him. We had not had a lesson with him in two weeks, since he could only meet us on Sundays. This Sunday, on three separate occasions in Sacrament meetings, as I was praying, I felt the slight reminder to text him about a lesson for tonight, which we did not have. I forgot the first two times to do it or even write down a reminder, and finally on the third I talked to Elder Rivera right there and we set it up. I am grateful that the Spirit was persistent with me and my faults! In that lesson Angel accepted the invitation to be baptized on December 7th. It was a wonderful experience, and the Spirit filled the room in a happy, joyful kind of way. I am glad that I had the opportunity to help in this, and throughout the whole thing it taught me the very important lesson that it is much easier to listen to the Spirit when we try to align our thoughts and heart with him, rather than just look for influence on our own self-appointed path. Hopefully I'll be able to further exercise this as I continue on as a missionary. Everything is very exciting here!
To end it all, I don't have my list of things I'm grateful for fully complete just yet, but to sample you something before Thanksgiving (I'll include my full list and how everything goes Thanksgiving-wise next time), this is the list I wrote up in our Mission-wide grateful list. Note that I was trying to be unique and specific to avoid doubles with other missionaries, hence the lack of some of the obvious ones that will be present next time.
The sound of running water
A sun-warmed couch
Seeing a good friend after a long time
Tripping but no one sees
Shoe gaze
Crunch of leaves
Snowball fights
The moon on the mountains
A loud, solid high five
Seasons
Finding candy in your pocket
Finding money in your pocket
Finding a pocket
Pebbles
Puddles
Sunrise
Sunset
Dawn
Dusk
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, God bless, and Eat till you're stuffed!
-Elder Martin
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