Hello, friends!
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| San Martín gang rise up (ft. Mr. Worldwide — if you know, you know) |
And welcome to another email! This week literally feels like it barely even happened, so I’m pretty surprised that it’s already Saturday, to be quite honest with you.
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| This photo isn’t high-quality, but President Roden was taking the other picture and I wanted to include him. |
We actually spent time in the office this week! A lot of time. We had to drop in to pay for medication, attend meetings, do presentations, prepare for a mountain of missionaries who will be arriving this next transfer, and have interviews with President Roden. Actually, interviews with President Roden are in the mission home, but if you’re making the trip (I say as if a 20-minute walk were equivalent to the pioneer trek of the 1840s), you’ll often also have something to do at the offices.
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| Hermana González and I have been scouring the clovers here since day one, and she finally spotted a trébol de cuatro hojas! |
One of our many office events was a program called Four Week. It’s basically when all the trainers and their greenies come in to test what they’ve learned in these first four weeks of the mission. Hermana González had the Christlike Attributes station, and I had Area Book. Probably bc no one wants the Area Book station (just kidding I love Area Book haha). Hermana González found a four-leaf clover, which is one of the hypest things I’ve seen happen. Later that day, a bird pooped on me, which is one of my greatest fears. Hermana insisted that this is also a sign of good luck, but I think that’s just perpetuated by people who have gotten pooped on by birds and need to feel better after a traumatic experience.
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| Just me waiting to test people’s Area Book knowledge. |
We aren’t teaching too many people right now, and we weren’t in the area enough to do much finding, but that’s what the next week is always for, right? Even though next week will also be busy because we have zone conference. …
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| The APs dropped off something to us at Parque Calvario, and they were just sitting on that fountain all movie-like. |
I sometimes wonder why it’s so hard to find people to teach, even in the weeks when we’re not in the office most of the time. I understand that not everybody is interested in the message of the Gospel, but every now and then you think about how nice it would be if people who wanted to listen would just appear. I like this verse from Alma 38, where Alma is giving counsel to his son Shiblon:
4 For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that thou wast stoned for the word’s sake; and thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee.
No one has stoned me in Calvario. They’ve just glared at me, walked away silently, or even waggled a finger to say “no’ (shoutout to that lady because that might have been the funniest moment of my life). But rejection is hard! I’m really happy, though, and I think that a lot of the reason is because of the second half of the verse. I know that the Lord is with me.
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| We have daily zone calls in Xela Centro, and I won’t pretend San Carlos Sijo aren’t my favorite companionship. |
I’ve been thinking about patience a lot this week. Why miracles don’t happen when we’d like them to, when prayers aren’t answered how we’d envisioned, when our imperfections don’t simply vanish, no matter how much we pray and work and hope for them to go away.
In then-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “Continue in Patience” from April 2010, he teaches such profoundly good lessons, but I especially love this quote.
“Patience [is] far more than simply waiting for something to happen—patience require[s] actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results [don't] appear instantly or without effort.”
Patience is active! It is not sitting around passively. It’s not just this intrinsic thing you do or don’t have. Like all things in the Gospel, it is something you can exercise and work on obtaining! And that’s why we wait. So we learn to do more, and to be more, and to actually try when we desire something. It helps us do and be better. Patience allows us to become more like Jesus Christ.
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| The michis that live with Hermana Irma (our landlady) and, by extension, us! Meet Biden, Bidina, Buddy and Boris. |
I love you all, and I patiently look forward to the day I get to see you again! To talk, to laugh, to enjoy each other’s company. You’re all amazing, and I hope you have a great rest of your week.
— Best wishes!
Hermana Newton
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