Well family. This week was another great week! I felt so great going through each day and we sat down and realized i hadn't counted all of my contacts each day so i just went with what i had remembered. The wonderful miracle i have been able to see is as i contact more people, try to talk no matter how horrible my Papiamento may be i have the ability to do it. My Papiamento is much better than i thought it could be with just two weeks here. I am able to understand more or less what people are telling me and i am able to teach lessons with my companion.Really this week i feel like my ability to speak Papiamento has increased a ton. I feel like the more and more i try the more the lord allows me to learn the language faster. What a blessing. My Spanish i feel like it is just already another language i speak. No longer do i have trouble understanding people when they talk to me. I feel like it is just a natural thing. I know these blessings are blessings from obedience. Are blessings from work. I haven't sweat as much, smelled as bad, nor enjoyed contacting and talking with people as i do now. I still have more work to do and can improve greatly but i am working.
This week as well i had a huge humbling experience we were talking to a lady that is Jehovah witness. We were talking and asking about the reading we left with her and what she had thought about it and so she just said that it wasn't in the bible so she had some doubts. We kept talking to her and i kept trying to use the book of Mormon to answer her questions but forgot a very important part which my companion quickly reminded me of. As we started talking i was looking for a scripture to share and out loud my companion said...Elder Lets just listen...and i was frustrated. I wasn't trying to fight her wasn't trying to bible bash just sharing a scripture from the book of Mormon. Her heart softened immediately. We started listening. She explained how all the way up until the moment of her baptism as a Jehovah witness she didn't feel good. She felt stressed pressured and just didn't feel like she received an answer.. Then as she got baptized she did. But then she just continued and said she was really just looking for truth and thought she had found it. Then She continued and said... Remember that pamphlet you gave me.... My husband read it took it to work to show his friends and then told me to ask you guys for that book. She told me to pay you for how much it is because he wanted it. Then we gave her one and she asked if she could have her own...she wanted to be able to read it without him taking it. =) When she explained her husband wanted to read it i was shocked. He had started the conversation by saying "I'm Catholic, and She's Testigo" But then how his heart was softened.
I know these things happened by our hard work! I know they happened by obedience. We Taught 16 Other lessons this week! In total Lessons we taught over 25 lessons. WOW!!!
This week was a wonderful week to see peoples hearts softening. There was one contact that started out really bitter towards us and said we had changed the bible and that we don’t worship God. We just talked with him and he started to quiet down and then as we finally ended up the conversation he didn’t want to learn more but oh how his heart was softened. We had many opportunities like that this week. Many!
We also had an opportunity with a member on Sunday she said when she was a kid she was taught that God is only a spirit. So she couldn’t understand that God has a body of flesh and bones. That was pretty hard for her. She has some work to do to strengthen her testimony.
I was listening to the conference talks and something stood out to me so much! President Uchtdorf said “THIS CHURCH IS NOT A SECOND HAND CHURCH! YOU CANNOT RECEIVE THE BLESSINGS BY WATCHING OTHER FULFILL THERE RESPONSIBILITIES!” that’s my translation from the Spanish translation. Not sure if its word for word. BUT GREAT! WOW!
Guess what. I was asked to direct in church again. Then asked to give a talk again. Then asked to teach Sunday school. Then asked to teach priesthood. =) Fun day! I really enjoyed it and it was one of the greatest priesthood lessons that I have been in since before my mission. Not because I taught…but because the spirit guided a discussion just like the manual says it should be. Great!
That was my week. Our Investigator Delia’s Cousin died this week. It was hard to teach her and hard for just about everything but she’s slowly feeling better and better.We had so many lessons.. So much everything. Time is passing by so fast. !!! aaAAAHhhhHH!
I Love you! My Papiamento is in no way shape or form perfect but getting better. But Spanish…Now it is just polishing….=) learning new words from other countries.
Love you all,
Elder Ellis
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