Week 14

Hola,

This week, I've been trying to be like one of the warriors in the army of Helaman, But more on that later.  

For starters, I want to say that the statement: it only rains in Obregon about five times a year is an alternative fact.  It has rained here almost everyday for the past two weeks and rain here is the worst.  The humidity goes up, there is no irrigation, and no one wants to talk with us when it rains.  Also, it's very hard to dry laundry without a dryer.

On the bright side, Mexican food continues to amaze me.  I can buy a fried chicken pizza, which is better than it sounds.  It's pizza, but instead of being cooked on pizza dough, it's cooked on fried chicken.  America, you need to step up your game.  Right now I'm able to eat foods that should give me instant diabetes and I'm still losing weight!!

As I also said, I've been trying to be like a warrior in the army of Helaman.  Firstly to explain this(because there are many reasons for why I've been trying to be like one of them) I want to explain the difference between a warrior and a solder.  In my mind, a solder is someone that is paid to fight in an army.  He is obedient, gets the job done, but at the end of the day returns home to his life away from the fight.  In other words, a solder has invested his mind into his fight, but his heart is not in it.  On the other hand, a warrior is fighting for a cause he believes in.  His whole being is invested in the reason for his fight, and because of this, he always goes the extra mile.  In other words, a solder is fighting for money or another tangible object that can be subject to change.  A warrior is fighting for a cause directly related to the conflict.

Here in the mission I have the choice to be a solder or a warrior for God.  I can choose to serve my mission with the intent of making family proud, or doing what looks good on a college application, and come home at the end of two years feeling accomplished.  Or I can choose to invest my heart into the work.  I can focus on how what I'm doing is saving people from the jaws of death and damnation.  I can choose to consecrate myself to the Lord.  I can choose to follow the advice of President Hinkley and forget myself and go to work.  The difference is that if I choose the latter option- to choose to be a warrior- the work isn't going to end after two years.

Another thing I want to talk about is the power of prayer and worthiness.  To start this story, I first want to thank my parents and everyone else that has been praying for me since I left for my mission.  This story happened on Thursday, when all of the missionaries were invited to a cultural celebration.  At the end of the celebration, I and about five other missionaries crammed into a taxi, which here means ten year old Cadillac, and started the half hour trip home.  About five minutes into the ride home it started to pour down rain.  And about five minutes after that, the car broke down.  as the driver got out to check the engine, some of the missionaries behind me(because I was riding shotgun) jokingly said that I should bless the car.  As they said that, I felt a prompting that I should do just that.  So I laid my hand on the dash of the car and started to offer a silent prayer.  As soon as I thought the words start the car, the engine started up again.  The reason for why I want to share this story is that at the time that I offered that blessing, I didn't feel worthy enough to perform such a miracle.  We hadn't had much success that day, and I was silently complaining for most of the afternoon to God.  As a result, my heart wasn't really invested in the work at that point in time.  And so I prayed afterwords for better understanding.  The response that I received was a big wake up call.

I was told that  I wasn't able to bless that car of myself.  Rather, God knew that we needed a way home that night, and that the prayers of our families, and the promises that he had made with them were what allowed that miracle to take place.  SO the moral of this story is, keep praying for me when I'm on my bad days.

That's all for now

Elder Gooden

Pictures from this week . . .