So this week I've been trying to be like a lot of people. As always, I'll go into further detail later in my email. It's crazy tho think that I've already completed two months of my mission. Part of me was wishing that I'd be fluent in Spanish by now, and have at least one baptism. But I guess that since it's only been two weeks in the field, I can't get to upset. My area is still probably the coolest area ever. The people here have so little, but give so much of their time and talents to the Lord. The small town in my area, or area 2 as I've started calling it, quechaweca, is an amazing example of this. We had an activity there, and I was just expecting to see a few members and investigators that we had invited because we had been there only two times before. In reality the entire branch of about 30 people showed up and brought five investigators with them. These members knew that if they went to that activity they would hear the word of the Lord through two of his divinely called servants. And what makes the story even more amazing is that before I got there, they hadn't had missionaries there for nearly five months. The faith in that branch is amazing to me.
Being in Mexico is actually a really neat experience. Just an idea about what life looks like hear, each missionary is given an allowance of about 1800 pesos a month. This translates roughly into $100. By American standards this may seam like very little, but in Mexico it is the same salary that a medical intern gets paid. It's part of the reason that buying things in Mexico has been so strange. I've gotten used to the idea somewhat of what expensive looks like here, and have been trying to be frugal with the money that I've been given. But every so often I step back and realize that by American standards, the price has been raised by two cents.
Fast food is actually considered an expensive commodity here. All of the McDonald's and KFC's here are really nice and only wealthy people go there. With the exception of missionaries who have been saving all month to go to Carl's Junior.
As I said, I've been trying to be like a lot of people. With regards to the language, I am trying to trust in the Lord like Enoch did so that he will open my mouth and I will be able to speak with enough power to cause all nature to follow my voice. Or at the very least to open my mouth to speak confidently in Spanish. I've been trying to be like Ammon in that I have been trying to learn a new culture and way of doing things so that the people will understand that I am here to serve them. I've been trying to be like Jesus in my fasting and prayer so that I can perform the miracles God has foreordained me to perform to this people. I've been trying to be like Alma, so as to be guided by the spirit to find the people that will be able to help me the most in my mission. And I've been trying to be like Nephi in documenting as much of my mission as I can so that I will remember all of it.
Sorry if that seems like a lot. Things in the field are a bit different in that I'm no longer here to learn; I'm here to teach. And through my teaching, I have been able to learn so much in bits and pieces, so that I can't focus on just one example from the standard works at a time.
One ting though that I have learned is the sacrifice that fasting is supposed to be. One of my investigators has been seriously ill for some time. To help her, my companion and I decided to fast. Fasting is a bit different when you are in a walking mission in Mexico than it is in Pennsylvania. For one, air conditioning is a happy thought. for another thing, it is so dry here that you can get dehydrated really fast. What I learned though, is that because the sacrifice of the fast is hard, the thing that you are fasting for should be of equal or greater importance. I remember thinking back to all of the times before my mission that I would fast for: blessings that I didn't know I needed. This experience changed my perspective on that. Had it not been for the fact that what I was fasting for was important, I would have given up before my fast was through. Or in other words, fasting for things I don't know I need is not a strong enough source of motivation to continue fasting. The health of this investigator was. And so this might sound like a strange lesson to share, but the take away is that the power of the fast is real. The blessings that come from it are assured. If we have this ability to draw so close to God, and gain so great blessings from it, shouldn't we use this ability to invoke the help of the Lord for our greatest struggles first?
Another example from my own life to give greater clarity: I already mentioned that I would fast for blessings that I didn't know I needed. During this time though, I was in the middle of high school. I could have chosen to fast for help with the SATs, or getting accepted to the right college, or even mission prep. I knew about the struggles of others that I could have chosen to fast for. Instead, because I thought: well it's fast Sunday, I guess that it's time to go with out food for a while, I was robbed of so many potential blessings. We should never forget the meaning of a commandment just because we have read the letter of the commandment. I invite everyone that is reading this email to never punt away your fasts. There are so many people that could benefit form your fasts, and so many blessings you receive from a sincere fast. Just as we should spend time each week preparing for the sacrament, or time beforehand preparing for the temple, we should take the time to recognize the greatest need we have found in our lives, whether it be our own or someone else's, and prepare to fast for that purpose.
That's all for this week,
Elder Gooden
No comments:
Post a Comment