Hello!
Let me just start off by
saying, having a meeting with an Apostle of the Lord is SOOOOO DANG
COOL! So first off, both of the missions in Costa Rica got together for
this meeting. That was cool in itself. I only had 6 weeks here while we
were only one mission, but I still know quite a bit of people from the
other mission. It was really nice to get to see them and catch up with
some of my BYU friends that are serving in the other mission too. So,
back to the meeting. The people that were there: Elder Cook and his
wife, Elder Craig C Christensen from the presidency of the 70 and his
wife, Elder Duncan the President from the area 70 and his wife and both
mission presidents and their wives. When the meeting started we all got
to line up and shake each and every one of their hands. It was soooooo
cool! Elder Cook shook my hand and touched my elbow! He didn't do that
with that many other people so I guess I'm pretty special! haha
They
all talked one by one in a three hour meeting and the spirit was so
strong. Missionary meetings are the best. The most spiritual things I
have ever been to. All of the 350+ people in the room had been called
and set apart to dedicate their lives to serve the Lord. Think about
that for a second. It's so crazy to think about. I could spend a long
time retelling each and every thing that they all talked about, but that
would take too long. The biggest thing that I took away from the
meeting is something that president cook said. He said, "you are the
message." By the way we live, the way we act, the things we choose, and
the things we do, we are representatives of Jesus Christ. People set us apart from everybody else. We are an example of Christ
in literally everything we do. It's a lot of pressure to take on, and
while we can't ever be perfect, we need to always try our best to be.
Yesterday
I got to do divisions with our district leader and a new missionary
named Elder L. I went with Elder L. to work in his area. He's a young Tongan and only has 4 weeks in the mission. He doesn't speak
Spanish. He has really been struggling lately and I was really excited
to work with him all day to try to help him out. I could tell that he
was having problems with his trainer, and he was realllly discouraged.
We started by trying to do all of his appointments that he had set up
earlier, but they all fell through. So we spent the whole day knocking
doors and talking to people. We found a ton of good people and a
couple of not so nice people. (I felt bad because he got bit by a dog at
one house and got a hole in his pants. After I told him that happened
to me all the time in my first area he thought it was funny and was
alright with it.) At the end of the day he looked at me and said, "Thank
you Elder Abel. I needed that. Yesterday I was thinking about walking
away from my companion and just going home. I really was considering
leaving. I needed this. You have made me realize what the joy of being a
missionary is like. I'm going to remember this and try to be as happy as
I am right now." It was so great. I didn't do anything special. It was
just a normal day. By letting the spirit guide me, and just doing my job
as a missionary, I was able to help this new Elder feel the happiness
that comes from serving a mission. It's an experience that I'm not going
to forget.
Today the ward had an activity.
Lots of people came, which is unusual! There was a really nice picnic with
tons of BBQ and lots of music. They played ping pong, soccer, and
basketball. It was so fun to play basketball with them all. A lot of people
in the office don't like playing sports or doing anything
active. I dragged Elder Fuller to the activity and he ended up
playing piano the in the church while I was playing outside with
everyone. This ward is pretty great.
Well this was a little
longer that I expected. Hopefully this makes up for my short ones I have
been sending. And if you made it to the end, thanks. I love you.
Hope you all have a fantastic week! Keep sending lots of pictures!
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| Costa Rica East Mission |
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