This past Sunday we had stake conference. One of the more
interesting stake conferences I have ever been in. President Smith spoke about
how HOY ES EL DÍA! And had all the missionaries stand up and yell it in the
middle of conference. Never thought we would ever do that but it was super
cool. We had an awesome conference with some great talks. Most talking about
how today is the day. The members caught on to the excitement and are stoked to
be working with us now. The members are paddling out to catch the wave! We were
taking the trash out Monday and a member saw us from about half a block away
and goes "Elderes, saben una cosa?! HOY ES EL DÍA!!!" Ha-ha it
made our day.
We did some more service this past week with Maurizio. He is
redoing his mom’s house and asked if we could come. We showed up and he put us
to work. It was actually more like a work out. The homes here are made of brick
and cement. Most of the electrical wiring is outside the walls just pegged on
there with glue or some kind of plastic housing but he wanted to move it all
inside because someone had broken in and ripped out all the copper wiring from
the house. So he gave us hammers and chisels and went after it for a good two
hours. It was pretty awesome. Then after than we were late for a lesson so we
took a jog across our area, changed in the church and threw some water on our
face and then ran a few blocks to our lesson. We had a great family night with
a family that is reactivating and their friends. The lady, who was there, Alma, said that she is
interested in having more of the charlas. She isn’t a member but her son is.
She is going through some tough times in her life and wants to get closer to
God.
We had a lesson with Gustavo this past week and the stake
president came with us. It was great and Gustavo really appreciated it. Then we
had another lesson with Gustavo, his 22 year old son, Marcel, and his 19 year
old daughter Estephani, yesterday and took a girl from our ward with us who is
getting ready to go on her mission to meet his daughter. We talked about the
Book of Mormon and the blessings that come as we read and ponder the teachings
that it holds. We bore testimony and we could see that they felt it just as
much as we did. That lesson was honestly a highlight of the week for me. I
cannot explain everything how it went and what was said but it was powerful. It
was a lesson where you can think back and have a smile on your face.
Oh and Halloween! We celebrated Halloween in the offices. In
the morning we all put our names in a hat and pulled out who we would be for
the day. I pulled out Elder Running ha-ha. Elder Running is such a stud. He has
a change more than me in the mission and is the head financer right now. He
does some of the funniest things in the office so I had a good time being him.
I took a picture and I will send it in the next email so keep an eye out.
ELDER BEDKE GOT ROBBED THIS PAST WEEK!!! So we were walking
in Capurro this past week which is one of the more dangers parts of our area.
It was getting pretty late and we were walking to the bus stop to wait for the
bus when we saw this group of guys hanging out in the street. We didn’t really
think much of it but then as we got closer they all dispersed and made a line
across the street and as we passed they all surrounded us. They had a few
pretty big guys and we fight pretty good but not good enough for the 6 of them.
Then out of no where this guy comes across and pulls out a ..... Just kidding
mom.
What really happened was this: We went into a super market
down here and you have to leave your stuff in a locker. Elder Bedke left his
key in the locker and when we came back all of his stuff was gone. We don’t
have a good story to go with it so I had to make one up. Use what you want when
you tell your friends....haha.
And Elder Bedke and Elder Lamb turned a year old in the
mission yesterday! So we burned some stuff to celebrate! Crazy how time
flys.
So my spiritual thought this week comes from my personal
study this morning. This morning I was reading in 2 Nefi 9, which is an awesome
chapter through and through, when I read vs.45. It really caught my attention
this morning for some reason and I talked about it with Elder Bedke and we got
super pumped. But in vs 45 it says:
45 "O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins;
shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is
the rock of your salvation"
After reading that, it hit me. The gospel is so simple.
People can try to complicate it all they want but really it is so simple. What
we are asked to do is leave our sins behind (turn away), repent (shake off the
chains) and come unto Christ by being baptized, receiving the Holy Ghost, and
persevering to the end (come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation).
It’s that simple. I know that as we do this, we will come to know our Christ
more personally. We will know him as our Savior, as our Older Brother, as Him
who left his celestial glory to pay for our sins, choosing to suffer all,
giving His life that we may take it up again.
I love you all so much. I know the church is true and as we
strive to do our best every day, we will find ourselves making little changes
that make all the difference.
Try a little harder to be a little better. Never give
up.
Till next week.
Con cariño,
Elder Staffieri
No comments:
Post a Comment