¡Buenos Días, Familia y Amigos! It's me, Elder InALotOfPainRightNow!
Just kidding. It's not that bad. Elder Bowlby here, reaping the benefits of hard work! A lot of hours in the sun, a lot of attempts at contacting, and a whole lot of people that say they're only available on Saturday in the afternoon! Hm, guess I'm not working hard enough? I probably should have twice as many lumps on my hands. New weekly goal!
The photo above is a night panorama from Tamazunchale, a city just an hour Northwest of San Felipe Orizatlán. Tamazunchale is the land of stairs and steep hills, even moreso than Utah! We had divisions this week and I went to Tamazunchale to learn more about missionary work. I learned a lot about contacting in the street, the work of other areas, and to be cautious of little tiny chihuahuas because they actually don't care that you only brought one pair of pants on the exchange, they will want to urinate on you!
(Luckily for me, I returned to casa dog-pee-free)
As for the work in San Felipe, it's a bit of a challenge for my companion and I. We're working every day for a good 7 or so hours, only taking minute breaks in the shade or to eat lunch with a member. Other than that, it's talking to people in the street, trying to contact people in their homes. So far we've had a lot of people who have said that if they're at home when we pass by they'd talk to us again or let us in, but we haven't had much luck finding people a second time. We've got one investigator with a baptismal date (But to be fair he's been talking with the missionaries long before I showed up), and we've had some issues with correcting the image that other missionaries have set before us. We were talking with someone who was at one point an investigator, but first arrived some lazy missionaries that only wanted to watch TV, and then after them arrived some missionaries who were very strict and used the scriptures to make them feel bad or something to that extent. Most people are very hesitant to let the missionaries talk with them, and for that reason I've just been trying to do my best, offer plenty of service, smile, and speak the language. If I do that
well enough, I've got a bit of chocolate milk mix at home that I can use to reward myself for a long day.The Moon at Night in San Felipe. I think this would make a nice desktop background.)
The family that we played Uno with on their dirt floor is getting a new, concrete floor! Yay! We helped them move some of their things outside so they now have space to lay the concrete. We still play a bit of Uno, quite fun. A recent convert saw me drawing and asked if I could help them draw a picture of Joseph Smith, and of course, I accepted. My expectations were that they just wanted a small picture on maybe a note card, but to my surprise they arrived with a big piece of sturdy drawing paper as big as a table! I'm pretty sure you know what happened next.
This isn't even the whole thing, bits got cut off by the camera. I have no idea why they wanted it, but I was glad I had the opportunity to make it. Mis pobres lapices de color...
Other than that, I tried my first Coca-Cola this week at a members house. Everybody is so surprised that I never liked soda, and long story short, a member bought some for me to try at their house. Still not accustomed to the carbonation... I give Coca-Cola a 7ish out of 10.
I haven't had much time to draw because I've been working so much. Maybe that's the reason why I'm so stressed sometimes? Who knows. Here's a character I scribbled up in the past week. She's a baked goods mascot. I'll leave the task of translating the spanish to you :)
I think the last word is spelled wrong, however. Should be Competencia. Ah, my broken spanish!
As always, I close with a spiritual thought from my study of the scriptures. Alma 48:15-1815 And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger;
16 And also, that God would make it known unto them whither they should go to defend themselves against their enemies, and by so doing, the Lord would deliver them; and this was the faith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; not in the shedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity.
17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.
18 Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were all men of God.
My hope is that I can be as faithful and strong in this work as Moroni in the Book of Mormon, that through dilligence, faith, and the power of Christ... that the powers of hell will have no effect and be shaken silent.
New weekly goal! ;)
Love you all, miss you, and God Bless.
-Elder Bowlby.
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