One Month Down

Yesterday marked one month down on my mission, which is crazy to think about. If the other 23 months go by as fast as this one, I won't even have time to think about home. Our weeks are exactly the same, so the only things that change are what we learn in class. I have two experiences I want to share this week. I think the best part of the week is when we teach real people, in an activity called TRC. We have had some interesting experiences, but yesterday's was the most powerful. It is pretty intimidating when we sit in a room with a Latino/Latina and they start talking really fast in Spanish. I understand them, but my mind is racing to keep up. This week we taught a lady named Carlota, and she was a real investigator. We had an assignment to teach people how they can receive revelation through the Book of Mormon, but once we started talking to Carlota, we found out that she knew nothing about the gospel. Most of the time we are teaching members, or less active families, but today it was a real investigator. Before we could teach Carlota that she could receive revelation through the Book of Mormon, she had to understand what the Book of Mormon was. Considering we only have 20 minuets, its difficult to give a detailed enough explanation where someone understands, but at the same time it has to be simple enough so its not overwhelming. Lead by the spirit our tongues were loosened and we were by some miracle able to teach her about the Book of Mormon. What made this lesson so significant was that it was real. She was real, the lesson plan was made on the spot, the spirit was real, and the Spanish that came out of my mouth affected every aspect of what she thought about the church. In the MTC we just practice teaching our instructors, so it's just a little bit fake, but Carlota was real. At the end of the lesson, after she prayed, probably for the first time, she gave me her bead bracelet which had been woven by an artist in Mexico City. 

The second experience I had this week was when I decided to start Jesus the Christ, and if you know anything about this book, its a brick. It's definitely intimidating, but I figured that if the Lord can help me learn a new language, it wouldn't be very hard to read a book in my native language. When talking about the role Christ, James E Talmage, the author, stated that, "The mortal probation is provided as an opportunity for advancement; but so great are the difficulties and dangers, so strong is the influence of evil in the world, and so weak is man in resistance thereto, that without the aid of a power above that of humanity, no soul would find its way back from where it came." It is this simple truth that I have come to understand over the last year. That the idea of creationism is just as crazy as evolution. That the idea of a preexistence is just as crazy as life magically starting. That the idea of exhalation is just as crazy as life ending after death. And that the difficulties, trials, and struggles are for the purpose of the advancement of knowledge. That man is the most tempted of all of God's creations, and that there needed to be someone sent to show us the means whereby salvation may come. That through His perfect example, that man can return to our origins and dwell with the supreme being that created us, this world, and our purpose. I add my testimony to that of James E Talmage, that I know that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Holy One of Israel, the Foreordained, the Chosen, the Redeemer of this world, and that through him we have received the fullness of the gospel compiled into 531 pages, called the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

 

This our evening instructor, Sadami Diaz, this guy is such an amazing teacher. He connects with all of us so well. He was also challenged to an arm wrestling match by Elder Collins. 

The MTC is really beautiful

  

                                                         

This week we had to say goodbye to the rest of our zone. 8 of them left for California, and now our district is the only one left in the zone. I wish them the best of luck and I'm really going to miss those guys, especially Elder Collins 

 

With love,

Elder Haddad