Thursday was great.
During our study time, I asked elder west if he wanted to study in the
entrance building, where there are nice, comfy sofas. He said "Let's see
how cold it is outside." It was burning hot, but we stayed outside. We
then saw élderes Hanks, Perkins, Tauai, and Stevens standing near the
rocks at the front. I started going there, but Elder west didn't want to
from what I could tell (I can understand because we could possibly be
distracted fairly easily). But we did, and sat with Elders Hanks and
Perkins, Tauai and Stevens were a little further than we were. We were
just reading the scriptures, and this Hispanic man passed by, and I
waved and said "Hi, how are you?" He then turned and asked us where we
were going, and after finding that we were going to speak Spanish in the
US, he started talking to us about teaching Spanish people in America.
He got such large tears in his eyes and was almost shaking. His tears
filled the brims of his eyes, literally, I could see it, and they filled
up into little bowls above his puffy cheeks. I'm being so descriptive
because of how amazing this experience was. We gave him hugs twice
during the conversation, and we no doubt all love him like a brother.
Here are the notes I took from what he said.
" Most of the
people you are going to teach will have lost many of their own things:
Their culture, their family -for most of them- and their homes. They do
not want to be here where they are. They do not want to be where they
were. They have learned to read people very quickly, and they cannot or
don't want to trust quickly because they get abused by bosses or just
other people in general. They need to know that you love them so much.
They need to hear the following: "Can we return/ come to your home again
soon?" They need to be able to trust us before they'll trust the
church. They will see us and think we have it made. Love, and then
trust. They will think that we do not care, and are only there to take
advantage of them. In order for them to open their hearts, they need to
trust you. They feel like they've been promised things that haven't been
upheld. They are looking for the truth. They are looking for happiness,
and they have lost trust too often. They want to be somewhere other
than where they've been and where they are. When you just teach your
lessons, and they don't feel that you really care, will they want you to
return? That sounds more like you want something from them.
"I
don't know anything personally about the Lord, and that shows me that
it was never about Him. They need to know it's not about you."
They
need to know why you're serving. What you have struggled with is so
easy for them, but you've both suffered. You have to be their friend.
Are they going to want to hear you again when you've made no friendship
at all? Nope"
Those are my notes from that guy, brother
Molena.
That night we taught Esteban. What we've started doing is, when
we hug at the end of class with hermano Kinghorn or Powell, we pat their
back twice, their head once, and their back once more.
We taught
Patricia Moura again, and while studying outside, I thought the
following "She needs to have the desire to have a relationship with God
if she wants to learn anything from this gospel, and if your only desire
in these lessons is to understand your friends, you won't understand
them because their relationship is real with Him." I asked Elder West
what he thought, and he said "I think we need to open her heart with
scriptures first!" We shared Ether 12:6 with her, and she said it was
very hard to believe in things unseen. She is very kind, but I thought
she didn't really desire to know if God exists, or that He exists, but
that He doesn't. I felt like that was what she looked for. We taught a
little about the restoration, and we were running out of time. She asked
what happened to those who died during the apostasy, and we explained
that God would give an equal chance for everyone to accept it. She said,
as we left "I feel something every time you say "I testify" or "I
know". On Friday, we taught Patricia Moura again, and we didn't finish
the restoration- again. I've noticed something a little sad, that she
has worn the same clothes every day. She's from Uruguay, and we ended by
giving her a Book of Mormon, and asked her to read Alma 32. It's that
chapter that compares faith to a seed.
On Saturday, I learned
the following quote "If we knew who we truly were, we would have no
desire to sin!"
For our dorm room, we have a password to get in (Mis
ojos ya perceben la gran gloria del Señor) and someone knocked on our
door. Elder Tauai ran to it, and cracked it slightly ajar, said "Que es
el passwor- Hey, President!" It was our branch president, hahahaha. Face
palm. Also, on Saturday I got my flight plans too.
On Sunday, Elder M.
Russel Ballard spoke! It was awesome. He mentioned Louisiana, and he
loves the people there. He has 45 grandchildren and 75 great
grandchildren! He said "I wish I knew when I was your age what I know
now. I'd be dynamite! He said "The Lord Jesus Christ comes to know you
as you serve." That was the second apostle in a row!
Last week D. Todd
Christofferson taught on Tuesday. We studied for most of Monday, and on
Tuesday we taught Patricia Moura again, and she did read chapter 32 of
Alma! She wanted to know how it was that in order to have hope in life,
faith was necessary. I told her that if you have faith in something,
you'll have hope that it'll happen. I told her that Heavenly Father has
faith and hope that she'll see Him again, and live with Him, just as I
have the same hope for when I come back from my mission, that I'll see
my family again. She explained that she missed her father, and she
started crying. The Spirit was in the room! We took a skype lesson with a
member from Argentina and she said we answered her prayers and started
crying, and grabbed a roll of toilet paper as tissue. I'm sure miracles
happen as a missionary! That was my miraculous week!
Oh, also my flight
plans say that I'm flying to Arizona first, and then a 3 hour delay at
the airport, and then off to Bakersfield. I guess we'll have a lot of
time to talk to people, then.
I love all of you, and thank you all for
your love and support!
Love,
Elder Daniel J. Sant
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Gracias!