Not a whole lot happened this week so I'll try to keep this pretty short. On Thursday and Saturday we got to help Barros (a member here) with some contruction. We spent most of those two mornings moving buckets of rocks, making cement, and laying the cement. I love getting to do service like this and thankfully we get to do a lot of it here in Fogo. Last night we also got to help clean the house of a member thats sick. Doing service for the people definitely helps me love the people more.
Last week I asked myself "How am I gonna do this for 2 years?" a lot. I'm pretty much adjusted to the living situation so that's not really a problem anymore but I've been pretty homesick. This past week I struggled with the question of "how do I learn to love being out here?" Last night I got my answer. I'm still learning to apply it but I got an answer. I was reading the Liahona and in one of the articles the author said "The day a missionary starts to care more about the people than himself is the day he starts being happy" (or something along those lines). Then everything started to click. I thought about when Elder Bednar spoke at the MTC and told us to "get out of the way. The mission isnt about you" and actually understood what he meant by that. I thought of Moroni 7:47-48 which teaches:47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ
I've been taking Moroni's counsel to pray to be filled with this love and while I'm not always happy to be here, I've been a whole lot happier. I'm so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I'm thankful for the guidance it provides and for the true testament that it is to the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Hope you all have a good week!
Elder Bennett