hola todos,
i
dont know where the time has gone, i cnat even remember what happened
this week!! as i have been sitting here thinking about the people we are
teaching and the experiences im having, two people we are teaching came
to my mind.
we are teaching a small family, luis, sofia, and their daughter emilia. we found them about a week and a half ago and from the first lesson they were super receptive and happy to learn about the gospel. we have been teaching all the missionary lessons and many of the requirements to be baptized. they arent married and luis has 4 other kids from 3 different women, but we feel like they have been feeling the spirit and they are slowly and surly changing as they hear the gospel.
they might not get baptized in three weeks, but i know that one day they will make the right decision to get baptized. everytime we are threre, the spitit is so strong and they are able to understand the message so well, its amazing when your investigators understand and act on what they are learning.
we are teaching a small family, luis, sofia, and their daughter emilia. we found them about a week and a half ago and from the first lesson they were super receptive and happy to learn about the gospel. we have been teaching all the missionary lessons and many of the requirements to be baptized. they arent married and luis has 4 other kids from 3 different women, but we feel like they have been feeling the spirit and they are slowly and surly changing as they hear the gospel.
they might not get baptized in three weeks, but i know that one day they will make the right decision to get baptized. everytime we are threre, the spitit is so strong and they are able to understand the message so well, its amazing when your investigators understand and act on what they are learning.
this sunday i was asked to
speak on missionary work (shocker). i found a talk by elder bednar called
ask in faith and it is an awesome talk. i recommend that you read it.
its from the may 2008 general conference. i spoke about the meaning of
the gospel and what it means to have the fullness of the gospel in our
lives.
sometimes we don't realize the significance of the gospel in our lives. as members we fall into routines and get used to feeling the spirit, or our daily worship turns into a workout and it becomes robotic. what we forget is that there are millions of people that dont have the chance we have to renew our covenants every sunday, millions that dont know where to find real joy and happiness, millions that dont even know if god loves them only because we neglect our responsibility as full time members and missionaries to share what we have.
the gospel is the key to everything. the gospel or the teachings of jesu cristo are the answer to everything. we as members need to be more willing to understand the importance of the knowledge we have and then instead of praying for the missionaries to find the prepared investigators we as members need to talk to our neighbors, friends, family members that arent members and help them understand what we understand. us missionaries cant do this work alone. we need willing members to find their friends that need the gospel and then we need to teach those friends the gospel together.
sometimes we don't realize the significance of the gospel in our lives. as members we fall into routines and get used to feeling the spirit, or our daily worship turns into a workout and it becomes robotic. what we forget is that there are millions of people that dont have the chance we have to renew our covenants every sunday, millions that dont know where to find real joy and happiness, millions that dont even know if god loves them only because we neglect our responsibility as full time members and missionaries to share what we have.
the gospel is the key to everything. the gospel or the teachings of jesu cristo are the answer to everything. we as members need to be more willing to understand the importance of the knowledge we have and then instead of praying for the missionaries to find the prepared investigators we as members need to talk to our neighbors, friends, family members that arent members and help them understand what we understand. us missionaries cant do this work alone. we need willing members to find their friends that need the gospel and then we need to teach those friends the gospel together.
after i shared my
talk i thought a lot about our own family and how not all of us are
able to recieve all the blessings god has becuase not all of us are
baptized members. i have been thinking about our extended family on both
sides, the pachecos and the hatches and i realized that we have a lot
of work to do. we also have some good temple work to do as well! i hope
that we can all find at least one friend, family member, or stranger
that we can share the gospel with.
questions:
2. Did you talk to Elder Mesias about Modesto's baptism? What was his report? Were you able to contact him at all after he was baptized?
elder cardon told me that everything went perfectly and it was a great experience. i haven't been able to talk to modsto but elder cardon tells me that he's doing great and that i don't need to worry about a thing.
3. Which companions will you'll keep in touch with after your mission is over?
elder muñoz, elder higginbotham, elder salas (elder salas is chileno and he said that he can show us around santiago since he will be finishing his mission in april), elder silvera, and all the elders from my ccm group.
4. Whens the last time you took a nap? haha.
about 1 year and 7 months ago.
5. Tell us about the members in Talca.
they are all older but super great. we have a couple of teenagers in the ward too, but the older members are hilarious. they have all been members for a long time now and they are really helpful and they like the missionaries a lot. i feel pretty at home here in talca.
6. what are the ward missionaries like?
we don't have any, actually i have never had ward missionaries in any of the branches or wards i've ever been in.
7. how did you do on your last apartment inspection?
pres warne and hermana warne came to interview my comp and elder williams and elder zamora and they said it was pretty clean. they gave us a 7 of 10.
8. What was the last delicious thing you ate?
there is a restaurant here in the centro of talca called la class. they sell american burges and fries. i had a double bacon cheese and onion ring burger. pretty delicious. i felt like i was back home for a few minutes ha.
9. Are you spending more time tracting and street contacting in your area or with the missionaries in your zone?
we only do divisions with the missionaries on our zone 2 times a week, and the rest of the days we are in our own sector.
10. Have you grown to love the sisters yet:)
not quite. i think once im done being zone leader it will be a little easier to put up with hermanas.
2. Did you talk to Elder Mesias about Modesto's baptism? What was his report? Were you able to contact him at all after he was baptized?
elder cardon told me that everything went perfectly and it was a great experience. i haven't been able to talk to modsto but elder cardon tells me that he's doing great and that i don't need to worry about a thing.
3. Which companions will you'll keep in touch with after your mission is over?
elder muñoz, elder higginbotham, elder salas (elder salas is chileno and he said that he can show us around santiago since he will be finishing his mission in april), elder silvera, and all the elders from my ccm group.
4. Whens the last time you took a nap? haha.
about 1 year and 7 months ago.
5. Tell us about the members in Talca.
they are all older but super great. we have a couple of teenagers in the ward too, but the older members are hilarious. they have all been members for a long time now and they are really helpful and they like the missionaries a lot. i feel pretty at home here in talca.
6. what are the ward missionaries like?
we don't have any, actually i have never had ward missionaries in any of the branches or wards i've ever been in.
7. how did you do on your last apartment inspection?
pres warne and hermana warne came to interview my comp and elder williams and elder zamora and they said it was pretty clean. they gave us a 7 of 10.
8. What was the last delicious thing you ate?
there is a restaurant here in the centro of talca called la class. they sell american burges and fries. i had a double bacon cheese and onion ring burger. pretty delicious. i felt like i was back home for a few minutes ha.
9. Are you spending more time tracting and street contacting in your area or with the missionaries in your zone?
we only do divisions with the missionaries on our zone 2 times a week, and the rest of the days we are in our own sector.
10. Have you grown to love the sisters yet:)
not quite. i think once im done being zone leader it will be a little easier to put up with hermanas.
hope everyone has a good week and make sure to read the talk by elder bednar. love you all!
love,
elder pacheco
