March 4, 2013

Las Palmas from the hills above town, and near the caves

Family!

I´m having too much fun out here, I almost don´t know what I´ll do when I return home, but I´m sure that I´ll find something. I may get companion deprived, as well as stick shift deprived, as well as other things, but yeah. You get the deal. Oh well, on to my week, and it will be a nutshell.

The hills around the caves visited by the Las Palmas district.

So, Thursday was a very busy day! We had a lot more planned than we could both go to. We had to do splits with members so that we could get to all of the appointments that we had on time, but that didn´t matter. At least we had some good lessons! So, we did the splits. We called as many members that we could think of, and we only had one member that could go with us. I then had the idea to call the Buhlers to see if they could help us out. It was amazing because they could and it all worked out!! So we met at the church and started from there. We headed out, Elder Valenzuela with Nenad, and me with Elder Buhler. We first went to see if Jose was there, but he ended up not being there. I was kind of sad about that, but Elder Buhler (who served in the Spain Sevilla Mission) just smiled and said, "Well, the missionary work hasn´t changed much in 30 years." It was just funny to me since he wasn´t angry or anything. So we went to the JAS [Young Single Adult] Center so that I could explain a bit of the residency process to them so that they could get things done when the time comes. At about 5:30 we started heading up to Luram´s house to teach him a lesson about Enduring to the End. I didn´t know why he needed that lesson, but that morning, I just had the idea to show him a video and to talk about it.

So, we arrived and found him there at home, and it was a good little lesson!!! I loved it actually! Really cool experience. We then went down to the church and I had to stay at the church while my companion went with Elder Buhler to another lesson, just in case some people wanting English classes came. No one came at 8:00, so I didn´t know what to do. Some contact from the street came in at that point and I decided to teach him, even though he seemed a little weird. After the lesson, I was informed about him, and I decided that I will not teach him again. Then going home, we saw a dead person on the street, but covered up with a white sheet. Pretty creepy.

Okay it was quite a hike to the caves on a P-Day!

Friday was another day where we did splits, but then one of the lessons fell through, so we got back together. We went to see Cristian. I hope that all goes well with him. Later on we saw Juan, and he´s going to get baptized this next week, the 9th of March! I´m pretty happy and I´m sure that he´s pretty happy too!! We taught him about tithing and fast offerings. He accepted it and we committed him to fast and donate tithes and offerings after he´s baptized. Super cool guy!! Nothing else happened that day.

Saturday we had to do splits once again! We had Jose and Juan at the same time. So we got two members and met them there at Parque San Telmo. We then went our own way and Fernando and I went to Jose, and Elder Valenzuela and Nenad, went to Juan. With Jose, the biggest challenge is that he´s 70 years old, and wants to get baptized. The only thing is, that he doesn´t understand that he needs to change his lifestyle to be able to be baptized. We´re really trying, but I don´t know how it will all work out. He has a visit with President Santana on Wednesday so we´ll see what happens. Later on we went to see Fani, and she´s doing great!! She´s pretty much a member, but the only thing that has to happen, is that she has to get married to her "boyfriend" that she´s living with. They are planning to go to her country so that they could get married there, but they are planning to go in June!! Long ways away from now, but then again, not really. We talked to her about the Atonement and it was a great lesson over all. She said that she´ll come to church.

But it was an uplifiting experience to visit the caves as a district.

Sunday was a great day!! We got an answer to our prayers about if Juan should get baptized, and we had the confirmation of the spirit. We announced it in church, and Juan is pretty happy about that! Fani and Jose came as well so we had quite a few investigators! Later on in the evening, my companion and I were planning, and thinking of what we could do to find more people to teach. We´ve been working hard to find new people, but haven´t found anyone. I was a little disappointed, but my companion was a bit more discouraged. When we went out of the piso [apartment] at about 8:00, we were walking to the JAS [Young Single Adult] Center, as usual, and I decided to set a personal goal to talk to at least 5 people on the way, before getting to the JAS Center. Not many people are out and about on a Sunday night, but I still felt like I could do it. I talked to as many people as I could, but only got to 4. We reached the JAS Center and I saw a lady walking on the other side of the street, and I talked to her and that made 5 people!! The goal was achieved, and it gave me some sort of jolt of joy!!

It was still a little early and we didn´t want to interrupt the Noche de Hogar [home evening] that was going on, so I decided to do the same thing, set a goal to talk to people, but not just 5, but 10 people, before 8:30, and at that time, it was 8:18. So I decided to voice my idea to my companion, and he decided to join me in my efforts! We talked to as many people as we could find, and we got to 8. It was past 8:30 at that point, and so I decided to adjust the goal, talk to 2 more people before getting to the JAS [Young Single Adult] Center, and have one of them give us their number/reference. We talked to 1 more person before getting to the JAS Center, and no reference. I was feeling a bit down, but happy at the same time for doing a bit more work than I thought I could have on a day like yesterday. When we got to the JAS Center, we found Carlos, a friend of Luram that we´ve met before. I talked to him a bit as I ate. He´s a really cool guy! At the end of the night, just before we went to the piso [apartment], he asked me, out of the blue, when we could meet him at his house! I was shocked, and told him that at any time when he has some time. He gave me his number and his address, and off we went to the piso [apartment]. While going over my day in the piso [apartment], I realized that I had achieved the goal that I set for both of us in a way! I talked to those 10 people, and got 1 referral, but by the end of the night!! It was really cool!!

The Buhlers were also uplifed by the experience - or maybe Sister Buhler is just uplifting to all others!

I´m happy to say that I´m doing the best that I can. Just a little scripture that came to mind that I personally like. Mosiah 4:27, since my work has been full of effort, and yours has too, I just love that the Lord says that "...it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength..." BUT "...it is expedient that he should be diligent..." I just love that. I hope that your week is good and that all is well. Take care and I love you all!!

Elder Bauer