🛰👨🏻🚀🧸🛰 Mission Countdown: 9️⃣...
Date
August 20, 2024
Area
Las Vegas, Nevada
Companion
🛰👨🏻🚀🧸🛰 Mission Countdown: 9️⃣...
I had the perfect opening line to start with, but I forgot it. I mention this so I'm not the only one haunted with the knowledge this email could have started better. You're welcome!
Sometimes I feel like I don't include enough "missionary stuff" in these emails. Ive probably mentioned that before. There is more to being out here than wrangling snakes, cattle, and chickens. Maybe a donkey or three. (those just make for good photos and theyre easier writing material).
But the more spiritual, sensitive side of the mission isn't what I usually include, but not because it doesn't happen. On the contrary, a mission is filled with all sort of examples of tender mercies and miracles. However, it's often very discreet, and oftentimes our investigators have their strongest spiritual moments when we aren't there. It's the spirit that really converts to the Lord, not us. So, it's kind of hard to find material to write about.
There are those special occasions where we get to be a part of an awesome spiritual experience however, and I feel to share one of them that happened this week.
Since before I've been here, there's an investigator named Debra we are teaching (Somehow I keep teaching multiple Debras, kind of interesting) and she wants to join but with a full lifetime of non denominational Christianity behind her, she sees it as just another church. And she's heard anti-lds stuff her whole life, which she doesn't believe but just the fact it exists concerns her. So progress is there but slow and steady.
So I felt like we hadn't done much, especially because she barely speaks when we ask her questions. But in our last lesson with her, she said a prayer at the end that I won't share too many details about because it was a very special and spiritual experience, but it immediately brought the Holy ghost and she started crying during the prayer, it was a powerful moment where her heart was softened and I knew she was feeling the spirit.
Alsp this week, I went to Baety for exchanges with Elder Bravo (he is from Chilé!) for a day! It's a small mining town north of Pahrump, just shy of Death Valley. Highlights included;
- Fixing toilets and moving rocks for Gary the landlord
- A potbellied pig trying to chew my shoes (while I was wearing them!)
- A super spiritual lesson with a 20 year old dude named Joseph who's been through a lot of hard times, but in that humility I believe the gospel will be more open to him!
- Donkeys (known as Burros locally) everywhere! They're basically like giant rats there, getting into garbage and being a nuisance. And, they do have a habit to... "procreate" in the middle of the street, which was highly unsettling and I wish I could bleach my eyes.
We also are teaching someone new, a guy came to church the other week and said he wants to get baptized! But he wants to got to another ward, and the other elders there just sent him to us without asking which ward he wanted to be in, so it's kind of an awkward situation but it seems like he really does want to get baptized! His name is Jim.
📣 HEEEEYYY YOUUUU GUUUYYYSSS!!!!
It's time for things I've learned on the mission, #9:
Become A Perpetual Optimist!
Look, life can be a lukewarm sprite sometimes, there's no getting around that. It just happens. But the Lord teaches to look forward with an eye of hope, hope being the key and one of the three things along with faith and charity that Moroni says we need to enter into the celestial kingdom.
I'm a recovering pessimist! I used to be pretty negative without realizing it. Still am sometimes to my chagrin. (does that mean I'm being negative about being negative? Man this positivity thing is hard!)
But what I've seen and learned from meeting so many people in so many different situations whether they're struggling physically, financially, spiritually, is the power of a positive attitude. I've seen both sides as well, I've also seen in the same circumstances the degrading effect of a negative attitude.
😡📉 A bad attitude will only make a bad situation even worse.
😁📈 But a good attitude will not only make you feel better but uplift those around you!
I'm no expert on a positive attitude though, I'm more of a positivity apprentice at the moment! But I do know that true positivity in the fiercest trials will come from Christ.
When you're in the dark, look towards he who is the light of the world!
Dancing the robot to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck",
- Love you mucho, Elder Rogers
Pics (just animals for some reason. They're probably the most photogenic thing out here, literally.)
- Dog in Baety
- Donkeys in Baety
- Goat in a truck in Pahrump
Sometimes I feel like I don't include enough "missionary stuff" in these emails. Ive probably mentioned that before. There is more to being out here than wrangling snakes, cattle, and chickens. Maybe a donkey or three. (those just make for good photos and theyre easier writing material).
But the more spiritual, sensitive side of the mission isn't what I usually include, but not because it doesn't happen. On the contrary, a mission is filled with all sort of examples of tender mercies and miracles. However, it's often very discreet, and oftentimes our investigators have their strongest spiritual moments when we aren't there. It's the spirit that really converts to the Lord, not us. So, it's kind of hard to find material to write about.
There are those special occasions where we get to be a part of an awesome spiritual experience however, and I feel to share one of them that happened this week.
Since before I've been here, there's an investigator named Debra we are teaching (Somehow I keep teaching multiple Debras, kind of interesting) and she wants to join but with a full lifetime of non denominational Christianity behind her, she sees it as just another church. And she's heard anti-lds stuff her whole life, which she doesn't believe but just the fact it exists concerns her. So progress is there but slow and steady.
So I felt like we hadn't done much, especially because she barely speaks when we ask her questions. But in our last lesson with her, she said a prayer at the end that I won't share too many details about because it was a very special and spiritual experience, but it immediately brought the Holy ghost and she started crying during the prayer, it was a powerful moment where her heart was softened and I knew she was feeling the spirit.
Alsp this week, I went to Baety for exchanges with Elder Bravo (he is from Chilé!) for a day! It's a small mining town north of Pahrump, just shy of Death Valley. Highlights included;
- Fixing toilets and moving rocks for Gary the landlord
- A potbellied pig trying to chew my shoes (while I was wearing them!)
- A super spiritual lesson with a 20 year old dude named Joseph who's been through a lot of hard times, but in that humility I believe the gospel will be more open to him!
- Donkeys (known as Burros locally) everywhere! They're basically like giant rats there, getting into garbage and being a nuisance. And, they do have a habit to... "procreate" in the middle of the street, which was highly unsettling and I wish I could bleach my eyes.
We also are teaching someone new, a guy came to church the other week and said he wants to get baptized! But he wants to got to another ward, and the other elders there just sent him to us without asking which ward he wanted to be in, so it's kind of an awkward situation but it seems like he really does want to get baptized! His name is Jim.
📣 HEEEEYYY YOUUUU GUUUYYYSSS!!!!
It's time for things I've learned on the mission, #9:
Become A Perpetual Optimist!
Look, life can be a lukewarm sprite sometimes, there's no getting around that. It just happens. But the Lord teaches to look forward with an eye of hope, hope being the key and one of the three things along with faith and charity that Moroni says we need to enter into the celestial kingdom.
I'm a recovering pessimist! I used to be pretty negative without realizing it. Still am sometimes to my chagrin. (does that mean I'm being negative about being negative? Man this positivity thing is hard!)
But what I've seen and learned from meeting so many people in so many different situations whether they're struggling physically, financially, spiritually, is the power of a positive attitude. I've seen both sides as well, I've also seen in the same circumstances the degrading effect of a negative attitude.
😡📉 A bad attitude will only make a bad situation even worse.
😁📈 But a good attitude will not only make you feel better but uplift those around you!
I'm no expert on a positive attitude though, I'm more of a positivity apprentice at the moment! But I do know that true positivity in the fiercest trials will come from Christ.
When you're in the dark, look towards he who is the light of the world!
Dancing the robot to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck",
- Love you mucho, Elder Rogers
Pics (just animals for some reason. They're probably the most photogenic thing out here, literally.)
- Dog in Baety
- Donkeys in Baety
- Goat in a truck in Pahrump
0 comments
« Back
Local
Nevada