Hey everybody,
So our living arrangement is normal, it's an apartment with 4 rooms: kitchen, beds, study and of course the bathroom. The bathroom however is very thin and you can't really sit straight on the toilet...never thought I would have to sit sideways on a toilet before...(you said you wanted more information). Within our area (absolutely gigantic) we usually walk everywhere, unless it's really far or if we have no time. But, in order to go to other places (Rioja, Moyobamba) where there are other missionaries, we have to go in a car or in a bus, depending on if we want to get crammed in a bus or if we want to just take a nice car ride.
My comp, Elder Carrillo is cool. He's 18 and is one of those missionaries that had his papers in the week after the announcement [regarding the age change for male missionaries from 19 to 18]...while he was still in high school....haha. he's a little bit lost sometimes and not always very confident but he's a good missionary and now I really do feel like a senior companion because before with Elder Bravo we had the same amount of time in the field so we were really working together all the time, and it's not like one of us ever really had to take charge because we were both doing it. Now, it's a little bit more like if I don't make a choice, say something, talk to someone, knock a door, etc, we just won't do it. He is learning a lot though and he really is a good missionary.
As far as us teaching, we're teaching a lot. Like all the time we have something to do which is awesome and the members are helping a lot here which makes it a lot easier to find more people to teach, but nobody is really progressing. We have a few families that are awesome, they just don't want to make a decision. That's what I've seen more than anything here, people just don't want to make a decision. It's not because they don't understand either, it's just because they straight up don't want to make a decision which is really frustrating because that's pretty much the only thing that I can't change. As missionaries, there are a lot of things we can help people do, but the thing we can't do is make the decision for them.
Yesterday was really tough because it was the first time I finished a week with nobody with a baptismal date. It was also the week with the most lessons that we had ever taught and 2 weeks with a whole lot of new people to teach. I feel like we're working as hard as we can and doing what we're supposed to, we're just not seeing much of results. Like Pres. Monson said, sometimes we just have to put in practice the virtue of patience because maybe there is no quick fix to things. And, like Pres Packer said, sometimes the question isn't if you're doing the right thing but the question is if you're doing the right thing for long enough. So I think that's something that everyone can just remember (myself included) that sometimes you're doing everything you're supposed to and in the "words" of Elder Bednar, trying to be a good boy, do what you're supposed to do, follow the spirit and keep your covenants, but really all that you can do is just keep doing it, even if you can't see that it's helping anything. Just do your part and leave the rest up to God.
Love you guys and I do love being here,
Elder Peacock
PS this week I was teaching a lesson when the drunk, knife-weilding brother came in, kicked a puppy into a puddle of water, sat down and told us that he wants to get baptized....then got up went into his room and started yelling all sorts of profanities....right before we shared the first vision with him. You returned missionaries should understand that that's always when stuff happens haha
No comments:
Post a Comment