Hi!
This week was great. I probably say that like every week, but it´s true. I wouldn't be happier anywhere else in the world. I am coming to realize how well the Lord knows each one of us, and how everything that happens to us is for a wise purpose. Last Sunday we had a ward activity where we went out visiting less active members with other members of the ward. After the activity we received a referral of a woman who another missionary and member had contacted. We visited her this week. She told us she had lost her job because of a sickness, but didn't really want to tell us what sickness. After a little bit she gathered herself and told us she is trying to face her problem and decided to tell us she is epileptic. I could tell she was embarrassed about it and definitely in the "why me?" phase of her trial. We shared our testimonies with her and some scriptures came to me that I had forgotten about, that honestly probably strengthened me more in that moment than her. We all finished feeling the spirit, and she said she wants us to come back and keep visiting her. God knows what investigators need us, but He also knows what investigators we need! I love teaching, because when I really focus on the investigator and what they need, not just sharing a lesson, we all end up being taught by the Spirit.
We're also teaching a 40ish year old lady named Leila who has a long story with the church. Basically everyone in her family are members of the church except her, and when i jokingly said to her that she escaped the missionaries before, she started thinking and said to us that it just wasn't her time before, but that she knows that now it is! She wants to be baptized soon, but wants her semi-rebel son to be baptized with her.. so, we're trying to trap him and catch his interest so they can both be baptized! She's gone to church three consecutive weeks now!
Other great moments of the week: In our ward mission activity this week we had a family feud activity! I kept score and changed the team names from team a and team b to "team Gadianton" and "the Nehores" Only a few of them actually got it... I was secretly testing them to see if they are reading the book of mormon... :)
We have had some problems with the computer system of the church when we do transfers for missionaries- they show up in wrong areas, so we spent a lot of time calling support people in the area, and i ended up talking with a guy in Provo! In English! It was so hard and awkward- I have gotten so used to talking on the phone in Spanish (that's basically all i do anymore) But after all we got the problem figured out and everything is working now.
I am now the unofficial chorister in our ward..
We did an exchange with the zone leaders from the Dorado zone here in Chiclayo, and i got to work with elder Insaurralde! He was my second companion. It was awesome to be back together and remember the good old days, and see how much we have both progressed in this last year. I now have officially worked in every single zone of the mission!
Sunday i played prelude music for sacrament meeting, directed the hymns (a sister missionary plays the piano-she's better than me :) and gave a talk. I talked about preparation- how the purpose of life is to prepare ourselves for eternity, and the church's key role in that process. It didn't turn out how i wanted it to, but it went okay.
Thursday we did a leadership training meeting for all the zone leaders and district leaders in the Chiclayo area. there were 60 in all, and that turned out great. I always got bored in those meetings when i was on the other side, so i try to make things more exciting for them. I like doing interactive activities and relating them to something. This time i thought of another game and related it to how we as leaders can help the other missionaries focus on their goals and achieve more than they would alone. We assigned other zone leaders to teach about district meetings, companionship exchanges, and reports. It's just a basic training meeting we do every three months mainly for the district leaders.
And the best part of the week... I FINALLY got the card from mom and dad!! the second one with dad's name on it. Thank you so much for all the work that went in to that just for my silly mistake. But i love the pictures and scripture mastery cards too! I think i'm going to give one of the cards to Anthony, who we baptized a few weeks ago.
A thought for the week from my talk on Sunday:
This week we received an email confirming that Elder Pino of the 70 was going to visit our mission, and that he was going to come to the office and also inspect some rooms as part of his tour of the mission. I immediately thought about how dirty our room is (six elders in a room is bad news) and i thought of how i need to read Elder Pino's talk from the last general conference and maybe fix up some other things to be ready for his visit. President Risso commented that a visit from a general authority really isn't any different from a visit from the Savior Himself. When he said that i started thinking about how i would feel if Christ were coming to visit the mission next week. And then, what would we do if we knew His second coming was next week? Would there be people to forgive, plans to change, last minute hopes of getting to know Him better? After meditating for a while, i realized the importance of ALWAYS being prepared for whatever comes. We don't know when Christ will come, or when it will be our time to pass from this mortal life, but we do have the church and the gospel to constantly keep us prepared so that in those great days we can be ready! I hope we can all live in such a way that we truly become the sheep of the Good Shepherd, and in the day that He calls us we can recognize the name by which we are called and be accepted into His fold forever. (Alma 5:38) Oh, and after all, Elder Pino isn't coming this week. It's going to be in October or November. So we're going to Cajamarca tomorrow with president and sister Risso!! Road trip! :)
I love you,
Elder Hatch
PS I want to send pictures of Anthony's baptism but they're on elder Chuiz' camera and he's not here right now, so I'll see if i can next week!
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