It's Wednesday! And P-Day! Whaaaat!
First of all, as the subject line states, yesterday I completed FIVE months of being on my mission! I'll probably say this every months, but it's weird how fast and also slow time has gone. But such is the nature of a mission, I'm told.
This week, we worked like normal on Monday, and today is our P-day, because we got to go to the TEMPLE! In our mission, we can only go once every six months, so it's a very big deal. We got up this morning at 4:30 so we could get here on time, because even though we aren't technically that far away, the traffic in Guatemala City is HORRIBLE. But luckily we arrived with enough time to go to the distribution center and eat some breakfast, and then we went to do the session in SPANISH, which was bizarre but cool. After we write (we're in the family history center of the temple right now), we're going to go eat lunch, and then we're going to the zoo. Such fun! Many missionary! Wow.
One of the best things that happened in the past week is that 8 of our 11 converts came to church! Our retention is usually something like 3/11, but this week, almost EVERYONE came. We were so happy and it was so great to see them taking the sacrament and interacting with the other members of the ward. Converts really need a lot of love and support, which seems obvious, but if there are recent converts in your ward, BE THEIR FRIEND! (That's my first petition for this week.)
This last week, there was almost no change in our conditions--we're still looking for new investigators, knocking doors, and doing what we can to find people to teach. Only towards the end of this week did we start to see some of the fruits of our labors--we found a few investigators who (shockingly) don't attend any church, which is INCREDIBLY rare here. Almost everyone is either Evangelical or Catholic (and the Evangelicals are a lot meaner than Catholics). But we contacted one family who we're going to teach later this week, and we had a lesson with a woman named Melissa who told us she's waiting for God to guide her to the church where she feels happy and where her kids will grow up with a knowledge of the gospel. We were kind of like "well....here we are....." and it was just a testimony to me that God really does prepare people.
Some people are not yet ready to listen to the gospel, but others are. It's hard to find them, but they are there. My invitation to you all (which we've also extended to the members of our ward here many times) is that you can make a list of all your neighbors, friends, and family members who aren't members of the church, and pray to know who among them is ready to listen to the gospel. Then talk to the missionaries in your ward or area and help them talk to the people that God indicates to you are ready! Seriously, the missionaries need your help. It doesn't matter where you are in the world--the support of the members of the ward or branch is invaluable, and the investigators who are the most willing to listen are almost always references from members. So that's my second petition for you all this week. I'm sorry to be such an annoying missionary, but we really all have to work together if we want missionary work to be successful.
Okay, I'm done being annoying for now. Have a good week!
Love,
HC
