January 11, 2010

Things are going great! We are working. Like most companionships we have our differences, we need to work out solutions to them.

The mission has helped me see that there are differences in everyone. The challenge is trying to work through them. My companion does some things that i dont agree with, and i do things that he doesn't agree with. One of the main things was the organization of the apartment. or better said lack there of. I have been trying to clean up the apartment and papers that we have. I can tell my companion doesn't like it very much. He had his routine set and i have changed a lot of things 1 materials 2 kitchen 3 paperwork and and for me it works very well now. A system that is fairly organized and everything now has its place. But now to my companion everything is out of place. Funny how life works some times.

I think that is the biggest struggle we have for now. Working as a companionship instead of both trying to go our own way. our own system. hmmm...

As for being here in curacao. The members were excited to see me again. Some. Most… The ones from barber were excited and both invited me to eat. =) This week should be a good one because we have our zone conference. We get to talk with president. Woohoo! Yesterday we were talking to a man that was drinking. He was a very nice guy. We asked us to tell him about our church. My companion started to explain a little bit and he mentioned that god has called a prophet again. The man quickly said that revelation has ceased and there will not be anymore prophets. My companion quickly took offense and told him that he needed to read the scriptures again. Then my companion just stopped talking to him. A situation I have put myself in many too many times. I took it much gentler and talked to him a little bit more and asked him to show me where it said that. And then the man said he wanted me to come back and explain more not my companion. It really made me start thinking. Of course every person is different. I can’t tell someone to do something or believe in my way of belief without understanding theirs why they believe that way. Elder Bednar had us read an article that he will be talking about when he comes to the mission. I LOVE IT. I read it and have been trying to apply it. Its hard when your companion hasn’t read the same thing and doesn’t teach the same way. He keeps answering hard questions I make to the investigators. I know it’s a hard question but I want them to learn not regurgitate. The talk is called Learning By Faith David Bednar. Read it!!! Its great. I am trying to apply it because I want the investigators to learn not just understand.

As far as leadership stuff. I have the leadership skills and techniques I learned before the mission. In marching band and scouts and stuff. My companion has his leadership skills he learned before the mission as well. They really clash. He likes to use our working time to run errands I would much rather wait on certain things till PDAY. But I am trying to communicate better with him. SO things will work out. The work is great I am learning tons. I got to visit one of the recent converts I did an interview for. She was happy to see me and I was very happy to see her strong and faithful in the gospel. It was great!

Well I Love You! Thanks for all. Talk to you next week.