Week 3 - MTC

Hola, mis familias! This has been a fantastic week. I have learned and grown a lot. On Thursday last week, we taught our investigator Esteban before entering, we said a prayer and I explained that we tried our best to prepare, and needed Him to cover what we miss. We went in, and we asked how he was doing, and he said "more or less". My companion elder West said "More or less? Why?"  Elder West then got up and started drawing the tree of life on the chalkboard.  I explained it to Esteban for him, and explained that when Lehi partook of the tree of life, he wanted his family to do the same, and connected it with him and his daughter. If he came closer and found the Love of God, he could help his daughter find it as well. Inspiration, I say. He wants us to teach his daughter, and I so wish that this were a real investigator ('tis but my teacher acting as one), because that would be stupendous. On Friday we taught Diego (our other teacher, Hermano Kinghorn) and he kept going to his priest for answers about our church, then coming to us to clarify. At one point Diego said "I don't need any more of the word of God or continuing revelation. He said "I have Jesus, the bible, and baptism. I don't need anything more than that. I asked him if he truly loved God. He said yes. I then said in essence, "Then why settle for the basics? The full truth is here as it was when Jesus was on the earth. On Saturday we thought it would be a good idea to use pamphlets to explain the restoration of the gospel, and it was much more animated than like a conversation. I got a package from my family, and thank you guys so much for that. I love anything I get in the mail. I shared with everyone, and we still have stuff left. On Sunday we had a great sacrament meeting. On Monday we practiced a lot, and for lessons, we're always supposed to leave with a challenge to the investigator, and use future tense Español, such as "Leerá...(will you read)" or "Orará...(will you pray)", and we've been doing that for a while. Hermano Powell, our teacher who plays Esteban, was talking to us and Elder Tuaui asked if he had seen Nacho Libre, and Hermano Powell admitted that he hadn't for 4 years, and élder tuaui was like "Mirará Nacho Libre está noche? (Will you watch nacho libre tonight?)" It was pretty funny. On Tuesday, after the devotional at night, we had a discussion about the gospel, and it was really good. Elder Jarvis said that anytime he bore his testimony of the Savior, he cried. And Elder Hadley explained that his brother died while on a mission, and that his other brother didn't go and he had to serve for him. It was sad, but very inspiring. Also on Tuesday we Alma 29:9 and 13 are my favorite scriptures now. We gave some members some real lessons, and one girl was from Guatemala, the other guy was old and talked really old and cool. I think Elder West and I did well. Today was good. I came to the temple today, as we do on every P-day, and I was really down, and I was like "Okay, temple, it's time to heal me." And towards the end I felt far better. I really am glad that Heavenly Father loves me so much. I am really excited to go out and serve real people and change there lives. Three weeks more! I'm super glad I'm a missionary now. At the Sunday night devotional the speaker, Richard J. Maynes, explained that you need to be "sweetly bold". Also, it's comforting to know that Heavenly Father, even now, is preparing people for when I teach them. In Joseph Smith's journal, he wrote, after misspelling words and starting over a lot, "Oh may God grant that I may be directed in all my thoughts oh bless my servant Amen". I wrote that at the front of my journal. Also, I learned that we don't have the authority to baptize people who are not  converts. Elder Holland said something I think is hilarious. He said 'If you leave your mission early unworthily you better not find me in a dark alleyway"! Hahaha. Also I learned that I need to be bold. If I ask my investigator to pray, and they say "no, how about you do it", and they never pray, then I'll look them in the eye and say "Diego, you need to pray. I'm only here to help you, and I will testify that this message is for you, because you're a child of God. Talk to Him." I'm so glad to serve a mission, and I hope to make the grandest effect I can, not wasting a moment! I love you all!