This week was fun and exciting. For one, it was the 25th of May! Whoohoo! Except, as a missionary we pretty much did the same thing. Preach the Gospel. We did have a district meeting that day, and I made brownies. De-lsih. and Zarate put on a concert esque type thing with a bunch of booths and what not. It made me think of Broomfield Days. Other than that, it was pretty mild. I do have a couple of good stories, my testimony and then we´ll leave you until next week.
Okay, story time. The first one is quick. We went to contact a reference and knocked on the door. When the woman came to the door she was like " Testigos! No! No more Testigos" and we sat there for a second ".....uh, We´re not Jehovah´s witnesses....." " Oh, you´re not? Oh, good, because I don´t want to talk to them anymore." We actually get that a lot. But we´re not Jehovah´s witnesses, that´s why we have placks that identify us from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So that was funny.
But the best was on Sunday. We had 5 investigators at church! Whoohoo! It´s my record. Don´t tell me if you´ve had more as missionaries because I don´t want to hear it. I´m happy with my 5. We worked really hard to get these 5 people to church. Well, we worked hard for 4 of them. The 5th was a miracle. His name is Adrian, and he´s Evangelical. He was walking down the street and decided to come inside for church. It was great. And he was talking with one of the Bishop´s counselors before church and the counselor told him to talk with the missionaries. So, after sacrament meeting he came up to us and we started talking. And he told us how he really respects women and he wanted some advice because he grew up without any love and he just didn´t know how to show the people in his life that he cared. And it wasn´t very fair to his girlfriend. So if we could help him out...? So, we start talking about the Gospel (right, normal transition) and how if he is looking to change himself, the way to do that is through God, and we started explaining about the Book of Mormon and he inturrumpts us and starts talking to me. Haha, okay, so he looks at me and says, "I appreciate all that you are trying to tell me. But I want you to know that you are here in Argentina for a purpose. (Right, preach the gospel) You are here to find your future spouse." Uh...I´m sorry what? But wait, there´s more. "And you´ve recently had a dream, a really vivid dream. And it scared you a bit. But don´t worry, it wasn´t bad. It was good! You are here to find your spouse." And family, I was doing everything I could not to laugh in this man´s face. It was all I could do to tell him, "well, I dream a lot. Pretty much every night, so I´m not quite sure which one you are referring to." And I didn´t tell him this, but there was a very vivid dream that I had had recently that came to mind.....I was running a Ragnar race with Beez. Except we were swimming and not running. Apparently that´s going to come true, so Beez. Get ready.
I was laughing so hard on the inside, I couldn´t look at my companion, I couldn´t look at our member that was with us. And after a while I just interrupted and started talking about the gospel again because it was getting ridiculous. And then he told us that we had the devil in our church. So we let him leave. I guess he forgot that he entered OUR church first. Oh well. He is a beloved son of God. He will do great things. Unfortunately I did not have the time to tell him that he can´t receive personal revelation for me as he has no stewardship over me whatsoever. Poor Unfortunate Soul. It was pretty dang funny. Alright, I will tell you, because I love you. There were a couple of responses going through my mind. A) Oh you poor crazy nutter butter. B) Riiiight. Actually, if I did want to marry someone here in Argentina it would be pretty easy. I have had a couple of people propose to me. But....they were all drunk. Don´t think it would work out. Darn.... C) ....That´s not going to happen.
But I didn´t say any of those. Because I´m a good missionary. Actually I was just trying not to laugh. I laughed when he left though. It took me a while to get my control back. =) I´m just not perfect.
But I did want to share with all of you how important my mission is to me. Even though I´m not perfect, and sometimes bad things happen, and crazy people talk to me, or whistle at me, or don´t accept the Gospel, my mission means everything to me. I can´t fully explain with words how happy it makes me to at least have the chance to share my testimony with the people of Argentina. The fact that I can, and that they listen makes me so happy. I feel like I am a better person for the testimony that I have. And I wouldn´t change the experiences I have had for the world. I know that God lives, and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. Scriptures change lives as we become closer to God. And we are happier because we know that there is an All Powerful Being who is taking care of us. Yes, we need to struggle, and life is hard. But we continue surviving through the grace and power of God. I was reading in the Book of Mormon recently, Mosian 13:3. It says "Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not deliveed the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, god will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time." This is when Abinadi is talking with King Noah and his wicked priests, and the king wants to kill him because Abinadi is essentially telling him and the world that he is sinning (which, he is). But the thing is, that for all the things that happen, we can tell Satan and the world "Touch me not...for God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time." We each have an individual and defined purpose here on the earth. And while we may not understand completely exactly what that purpose is. We can have the faith that God will not permit us to be destroyed until we have completed our missions. God loves us so much and wants us to be successful. So when bad things happen, just tell satan "Touch me Not." God will give you the power to overcome every trial that satan throws in your way.
I love you all,
Write me back. Have a Good Summer! It´s winter here.
Hermana Reed
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