Thursday, May 14, 2015

Week 3- Oh no, Chase has poofy hair!

 
Hola!
I can't believe its already been a week! This whole week has been a blur! I feel like a lot has happened... when in reality I haven't really done all the much. Its the same every day. Up at 6:30. Study. Breakfast at 8. Gym till 9:20. Study spanish/ Book of Mormon for 3 hours. Lunch for 30 minutes. Spanish for 3 hours. Dinner for 30 minutes. Spanish/ lesson training for three hours. Study. Bed at 10:30. Rise and repeat. (unless I have to do service which has consisted of cleaning toilets at 6 AM for over a hour twice a week) 
Even though my schedule can seem really monotonous at times, I do feel like I'm getting a lot out of it! I had a really interesting experience a couple of days ago. My companion and I were a little late to class...(but its okay because I wouldn't have this experience without being late... so it was kind of like a little blessing we were late?) and a teacher came up to us and asked if we could teach a quick lesson to an investigator. So we went with her and ended up teaching an 18ish year old girl named Crissie. Crissie is from Florida and she came to Provo to live with her Mormon brother for a couple of months. While she was here she wanted to learn more about Mormon church... and the best part is SHE SPEAKS ENGLISH! So my companion and I start getting to know her and teaching her about Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon, and near the end of the lesson she starts getting teary eyed and asks if we can get a Book of Mormon for her! It was such a cool experience! I can't wait to get out into the field and have experiences like that in Costa Rica!! I also have an investigator that I've been teaching named Raul. Usually the investigators the the missionaries practice on are members who are just acting to be nonmembers, but my companion and I agree that Raul could very easily be an actual nonmember. Our lessons are not the best since we can only teach in Spanish... but we try really hard and they are getting better! He definitely is a tough cookie to crack though... Hes a hardcore Catholic who reads the Bible every morning and goes to church every saturday. We have been getting him to read the book of mormon in addition to the Bible and he seems to be progressing. Yesterday I asked him if baptism would be a possibility and he said that he would think about it... so thats a good sign I guess! One thing I've realized is how great all religions are... there is some truth in almost all religions, my purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto christ by accepting the gospel in its fullness. We dont ask people to change their previous beliefs for the most part... just to add to them.
I dont really have any other major updates... my hair is getting long and poofy but I'm scared to get it cut here because they only use clippers. And I dont think I'm mentally prepared for a buzz cut. 
Things are good here, I love how I can totally forget about real life and focus on growing my testimony of the gospel. The branch president challenged out district to reread the whole book of mormon before we leave the MTC... Im a little behind, but Im getting there! I forgot how informative it is if you just start at the beginning and read through it like a novel. There are so many truths in each chapter and I have found so many scriptures that I can apply both to myself and my investigators. I encourage you to read the last chapter of 2 Nephi... I think its chapter 31? I dont have my scriptures with me. The testimony that Nephi bears at the end of his writings is amazing. I really like it because it isnt really any different that how ours should be! We can come to know the truthfulness of the gospel just as much as Nephi did! That had never really crossed my mind before... This week I have been thinking about that a lot and have been striving to strengthen my testimony of lots of different things before I leave for the field. Once I'm out there I only have my testimony to rely on (well kind of... not really) but you know what I mean.
I will send pictures later!
Les Quiero!
 
Chase sent this message to Elise and I thought it was funny; "Guess what? Im wearing my polka dot socks, a costa rica soccer jersey, my running shoes and a ctr ring I found on the ground. I am quite the stylish missionary. Oh and I also just got my hair cut. Its super short. But I still look dope. And i just took a 30 min nap and finished the book of jacob. Today is a good day."




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