Week 3: Greenie!

Well Hello Everyone!

It has been another solid and interesting week here in Provo!  We finally managed to schedule appointments with and teach all of the people we haven't seen in a while.  At the same time we were not able to meet with most of our regulars due to them being busy.  It was actually kind of cool, and it illustrates for sure that people are busy in life, and making the time to meet with missionaries at all can be a sacrifice for people.

One girl for instance, Diana Gabriela, who I hadn't even met yet because she had been so busy with work, was finally able to meet with us, and things are going pretty well with her.  The same thing happened with Alejandro Herrera and Desiree Arredondo, who we had also not been able to meet with for some time and were finally able to teach.  We also met with the recent converts Sergio and Ruben, as well as our neighbors, the Martinez family.  All of our investigators are progressing and accepting the principles as we teach them bit by bit.  But they are all still genuinely seeking their own answers and witnesses of the truth, which they are doing with a sincerity that is truly touching.  It has definitely made it clear to me the importance of the nature of our work, which is not as much bringing souls to Christ but helping souls bring themselves unto Christ.  In the end, we all must choose our own path, and whenever we do it with Patience, Diligence, and Faith (there are those three together again!), Heavenly Father in the wisdom of his timing will always manifest his Spirit unto us. Just as our investigators are doing this, I have been, bit by bit, trying to come closer to the Lord in my own life. And goodness gracious knows what the end result of these two years will be in doing that!

But in other news, I have finished running through the Book of Mormon in English (I started in the CCM).  Now that I have done that I'm going to read it in Spanish during personal study, which should really help me progress faster in the language.  (I would have started sooner, but when you're halfway through Helaman you might as well finish up).

We also had our last lesson with Jose Ignacio Pardo, who will in the next few days head down to Bolivia to be baptized.  He has a sweet, persevering and genuine spirit, and I only wish I could have got here to meet him sooner.  Picture included below (along with Courtney from his ward).  Elder Rivera and I are going to keep in touch with him via Facebook.

Toree Coleman has been progressing fantastically, in fact sometimes I feel like we're just preaching to the converted and that we're merely formalities in her conversion.  She loves the lessons though, and since things have gone well with her Mom she has decided to move up her baptismal date to December 14th. Pretty sweet!  Our experience with her has affected me mostly in that I want to learn Spanish faster, and be able to connect, understand, and feel what those I'm teaching in Spanish are saying just as well as I can while teaching Toree in English.  Not just understanding the logistics of what they're saying, but the connotation and meaning conveyed through the tone, phrasing, and choice of words. It will take some time, of course, but I am recommitting to make not just studying, but learning Spanish (if you get my drift between the difference of verbs there) as my number one priority. After all, if you can't hear what your investigator is saying, how on earth are you supposed to hear what the Spirit wants for them?

And to end with some fun notes, as Elder Rivera is District Leader, we got to go on exchanges this week.  I got paired off for a day with Elder Brown from Alabama.  Two Southern boys together made the day (which ended up slow) turn out to be quite enjoyable.  He is a semi-professional bass fisher, and in fact payed for his mission with fishing tournament winnings!  We talked about a lot about that and we made some southern-seasoned chicken and cornbread for our companions when they got back to re-trade.

Also, a funny story...  Elder Brown and I were walking around one the Riverwood Malls after one of our references wasn't home and we came upon a family unloading out a van.  Their little girl, who couldn't have been more than 4 years old,  flabbergastedly exclaimed to her parents, "Mom!  It's the mississis... the missishnairies!"  Her mom smiled at us and looked down at her daughter frantically trying to pronounce "missionaries" and encouraged her to say hi and wave.   Just how many other missions get celebrity experiences like that?  Me and Elder Brown headed back to the car laughing and saying "Missishnairies"

The work is going well, thank you for your prayers and support!

-Elder Martin