Mother’s
Note:
Rebecca
mentions her excitement about seeing and serving with Elder Hill. In case some of you are new to this blog or missed
an earlier post… Elder Hill is Rebecca’s cousin, his dad is my brother, and he
was in the MTC when Rebecca got her call to the same mission. They saw each other briefly when she was on
her way to her first area, and he was passing through the bus station on a
transfer. They have been friends since
they were children and have hoped for the chance to see each other in
Argentina. His mother and I are always
comparing notes on things going on in the mission. Enjoy the letters this week!
Dear
Family,
We
got transfers, and my companion is going to a small town outside of Chillán. My
new companion is brand new from the MTC. I don’t know who he is yet, but
it is pretty neat that his first ward is this one, where we have a great bishop
and a great ward mission leader.
This
week was another exciting week here in on the Pacific Coast of Southern South
America. Try to imagine a thick morning fog covering the thickly forested
hills, the deep green pine trees cutting into the horizon. That was the view I saw this morning, from the
freeway heading to downtown Concepción.
We were in the car of a member, to drop off Elder Vasquez at the mission
office, it being his 104th week in the mission field. He was another
missionary living in our apartment, and returns home to Guatemala on
Tuesday. Yesterday in Sacrament meeting he gave a talk, and shared
Doctrine and Covenants 130:2 “And that same sociality which exists
among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal
glory, which glory we do not now enjoy”.
I
think that verse is awesome. It made me think of eternal families.
If we do our part by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will be very
very happy for a very very long time. I know that is true, and that if we
choose otherwise, the reverse is true; very unhappy, for a very long time.
I
think that one of the main points of this past General Conference was the
blessings of obedience. The commandments really are to bless us.
They come from God, and along with the Atonement of Jesus Christ, play a
critical role in the Plan of Salvation. This past week being Holy Week,
we made an extra effort to share the Plan of Salvation. We spent a total
of about 6 hours giving Plan of Salvation pamphlets to people who came to the General
Cemetery of Concepcion. We had to obtain written permission from the cemetery,
and we took a document that our bishop signed to help us get in. My
companion and I were so excited, and we invited other missionaries in our zone
to come and help us, because most of the cemetery visitors don’t live in our
sector. We took a big white board and drew the Plan of Salvation out
really big, and made 6 posters explaining the Atonement, the Resurrection, the
Plan of Salvation in general, baptism and eternal families, and the
restoration, and so on. We taped the posters on to a table we carried
from the church. Most of the people came by families, and so we were able
to talk to hundreds of people. My companion has a picture of the posters
and whiteboard set up. I will be sure to
get that to you. The cemetery is huge (it has been around since 1823),
and is conveniently located in front of the church meetinghouse. I know
that missionary work really is the work of salvation. I know that Jesus
Christ lives, and that he is at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints.
I
love you all more than the number of people who need to find the Gospel.
Sincerely,
Elder
Withers
Dear
Family,
This
week was super great....and the biggest update I have is that my time in La Paz
is coming to an end, and I am going to the zone "Rosario Norte"
where Elder Hill serves, the APs, more Hermanas and a ton more Elders.
My area is called "Beltran" and I have another Hispanic
companion....but no idea where she is from. I will learn that tomorrow.
Transfers are sort of a weird mixture of feelings, because it’s
bittersweet. I will miss everyone here in La Paz but I am beyond excited
to have a change. Crazy to believe, but this is really my first time
experiencing a transfer. Last time was because I got my visa and had to
change missions, and that’s a transfer but I feel like that doesn’t really
count. I am so excited to experience a big city, to be in a bigger zone,
to be closer to the mission home and to serve with Elder Hill. Never in a
million years did I think that President would put us together in the same
zone, let alone the same district! I am in the district with all the
leaders, and I am excited to learn lots. I know that everything in my world is changing
though...and I’m excited. Bring it on :)
Okay.....on
to what happened this week.
Last
Sunday I was sitting next to a family in church quietly waiting for the meeting
to start when a member from the Branch Presidency asked if I could give a 15
minute talk after the sacrament. Ha.........sure. Every talk I have
had to give up until this point I knew about before hand and had time to
prepare for it and write the things out in Spanish that I couldn’t remember how
to say, and this time I had about a 2 minute warning. It went well
though. I talked about the importance of Easter....and how as we reflect
on the sacrifice of Christ, it should compel us to become more like him.
We shouldn’t only reflect on the Atonement and Christ (though we do need
to do that too.....we should always do that) but we have to DO something.
Put in to action our thoughts and reflection of the Savior and work to
develop the attributes of Christ. Refine ourselves and put to use the
gift of the Atonement so that we are ready for Christ to come again. That
was the message that was in my head that I tried to get across.....and I hope
everyone understood it :)
I’m
not really sure how, but somehow the mosquitoes are still alive and still a
nuisance. It is really starting to cool off and they still aren’t dying!
I am ready for mosquito season to end anytime now. They are honestly worse now than they were in
the summer. I come home with at least 2 or 3 new bites each night and
have a rotating cycle of at least 20-25 on my arms and legs.
This
last Friday we had family home evening with the branch and it was pretty fun.
I put to good use all those years of scavenger hunts and scripture
reference puzzles we did at home to find the Easter candy, and we made one up
for the branch members to do. We divided them into 2 teams and they had
to solve the phrase by finding each letter in the scriptures. Finding the
reference, counting the lines, and the letters to get the one they needed.
We learned that these members are dangerously competitive, and that we
need to have a few activities with scripture masteries or something to help
them learn where the different books are in the Book of Mormon. We gave
everyone a piece of candy, put in the DVD "To This End Was I Born"
and overall had a great activity. Next week it’s the Elders turn to come
up with an activity :)
Contacts
this last weekend were a dream. Here in Argentina Easter weekend is from Thursday to
Sunday, so everyone was focused on Easter for 4 days, and most were at home
with their family. And everyone was insanely kind and nice, way more than
normal and it was awesome. If only it could be Easter weekend all the
time to help the world focus on Christ!
The
other day these 2 old ladies stopped us in the street and tried to ask us a
question.....but neither one of us could understand what they were saying.
Their lips were moving, but all that was coming out was a jumble of
noises. I think they were from France or Italy or something, and I have
no idea what they were doing here in La Paz.... and their Spanish was pretty
bad. I switched to English for a minute to see if that could help, and it
did! They spoke perfect English and they were surprised I could speak
both. I was surprised how weird it felt to speak English though. My whole world for the last 6 months has been
in Spanish and it felt strange to speak in English. Lots of progress has
been made since the beginning of my mission. Spanish and I didn’t start
out the best of friends but we get along alright now.
Our
investigator Alfredo is still incredible. We had a lesson with him this
last Wednesday, and this time his 11 year old son Francisco was there. He
was such a cool kid. The whole time he was listening intently and when we
invited Alfredo and his family to church on Sunday and a baptismal
service on Saturday, Francisco went and found a piece of paper, wrote all
of the notes down...and stuck the paper on the fridge. Sweet.....a
secretary! It was awesome. Alfredo made it to the Baptismal service
(for the Elder’s investigator), and he already knew more than half the people.
Thank you La Paz for being a small town!! :) Alfredo loved to see what the baptism
was like and is excited for his own baptism on May 10. He is marching along nicely in the Book of
Mormon and is progressing well. He is so fun to teach.
This
week really was a great one. I love being a missionary. I have
loved my time here in La Paz, and I am excited to meet and work with the people
in Beltran!
Thanks
for writing me, through Dear Elder and email. I love writing each Monday,
and I hope you know how much I love you all! I love you more than all the
miles I have to travel to get to my new area! (It’s about 7 hours in a
bus........sweeeeet.)
Hermana
Withers
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