I hate rain.
Okay, I got out the negative, and I can focus again.
¡FAMILIA! How are you? This week was a little better than the last. We're
slowly being blessed with more success, and I can see the pattern. If we keep
working hard, I know that this area is gonna explode. Because that's how the
Lord rolls.
The city's awesome, but sometimes, it's just rough, man.
There's a lot of people who go "oh hey! You're Mormons? That's so cool!
Yeah, I'd love to learn some more. You know what? I'm going to church. Give me
the address of the church. No don't worry about coming to teach me, or
contacting my friends, I'll give you all that info when I come to church."
Then Sunday comes around and you're left wondering whether they got lost, they
died, or they just downright lied to your face. Sometimes it's a bit hard to
find the line between having faith and assuming the best in people, and just
getting your hopes up. Anyway, we're going to work harder on being more bold
with people, and keep looking for those elect that the Lord has promised are in
our area.
I sure hope Miguel's one of them. He's this stud that was
the only one who came to Church out of the hundreds of people that we invited
to come to church / committed to coming with a careful respect for their agency
/ passed by their house to drag them out of bed. Miguel's this humble guy
from Paraguay who's living with his cousins in a room even smaller than my
apartment. I love him so much, and I pray that he'll start progressing even
more, because I know that the blessings are going to flood out of heaven as he
keeps his commitments.
Dad, I told you that I'd take a picture of my study notes
about the way the scriptures use the word "fear"... but I forgot.
Dang it. Sorry. But while I was studying this morning I read Moses 7, which
talks about Enoc's conversations with the Lord. It's really cool to note the
difference in the success of Zion, and the enemies of God, as Zion feared God
out of respect, humbled themselves, and repented; while it's enemies feared God
out of seeing His power destroying the wicked. It makes me think of all the
people I've met who wail about all the bad that happens in the world, throwing
all the blame upon God, thus acknowledging His power, or "fearing"
Him, but not repenting, and therefore just suffering more. But in reality, as
Moses 7 continues, Heavenly Father shows so much sorrow for the destruction of
even the worst of sinners, and Jesus Christ even begged to sacrifice Himself so
that they didn't have to suffer (v. 39). All the while, Zion is prospering and
slowly progressing to perfection until it was literally raised up off the earth
and translated.
It's interesting how fear that develops faith and repentance
brings you closer to God by keeping you humble, while fear sent from the devil
does the exact opposite, alienating you from God.
Les amo un montonaso. ¡Que tengan una buena semana! ¡Hurra
por Israel!
-Élder Goff
P.S. I don't remember. Is it normal to see old ladies in the
street waving a machete around? We couldn't remember, so we just casually
crossed the street and kept on walking. Hahaha yeah for South America.
Pictures!!!:
1. I celebrated my birthday with Mario, the security guard
in our building. He's super quiet, but gives us a hug and kisses us on the
cheek everytime he sees us. We gave him some birthday cake, and the next day
asked him how he liked it, and he said, "it was good, but there wasn't a
whole lot." Hahaha, what a stud.
2. This is Elder Castillo's idea of a good birthday present.
A face full of shaving cream while I'm trying to practice teaching.
3. Elder Zollinger and I got him back, don't worry. :)
4. This dog's name is Cano, but the Elder's call him
Pokemon, because apparently he looks like a pokemon. I don't know, I guess I
didn't play Pokemon enough. But he's clean and soft like an American dog, so I
like him.
5. We didn't feel like proselyting, so we just explored
Buenos Aires in normal clothes. Just kidding we were doing service.
6. From the top of my apartment building, if you look out on
the horizon, you just see buildings forever. It's ridiculous, especially for a
Utah boy like me. I took a video of it, but in case I can't send it, here's a
picture of a little fraction of what I'm talking about.
No comments:
Post a Comment