I must say, this week was quite the week! For starters, I got my new
companion on Wed. His name Is Elder Leandro, He is, like i said last
week, from Brazil, he speaks Portuguese, his Spanish is pretty great,
and his English in entertaining. He speaks really well, and he is a joy!
He is a very funny guy and we are going to get along together great :)
The first day he got here, we had such a great experience. Here is an excerpt from the email I sent the Mission President:
Elder Leandro and I have definitely seen the blessings that come from inviting people to be baptized just in the first week of being together. His first day here, we got home and did a little bit of studies. We Role played the restoration and how to begin teaching to prepare for a couple lessons we had with our investigators. When the time came for the first lesson, we went to go visit Angela. We went with a member, and the lesson went really well. We did exactly what we did in the Role play and at the end, invited her to be baptized. Well, first we asked her if she believed the story of Joseph Smith and she said yes, then we extended the baptismal invitation. She accepted!!! She said she wanted to wait a little bit and talk to her husband, but she accepted. And now we are working with her! It was the first lesson we had with her and Elder Leandros first ever lesson in the field. He was pretty tired when he got home probably due to the long trip here, and then going out and teaching a lot of people. It was a great first day!
The other spiritual thought that comes from this week comes from
our visits to the Hispanic stores that we call "tienditas." We decided
to go to visit and spend the last 30 minutes of the day contacting Hispanics at the store. We went, contacted some people and then were
talking to the store owner. The first thing he said to us was, "oh no, I don't trust you both!" We asked him why, and he went on to tell us how
he saw two missionaries in the store looking at girls for a while and
since then he doesn't trust any of us. It caught me off guard and I began
to think at just how important our calling as missionaries is. People
are constantly observing us and watching us, as missionaries and as
members of the church. after we left the store I asked myself, "What
image do I give others?" As I reflect every day at the type of person I
want to become, I see many opportunities to change and to become more
like Christ. I know that by doing so, those around us will start to see
the light of Christ in us more and will start to see the blessings of
the gospel that come into our lives. I love you all so much from back
home! Have the Merriest of the Christmas season! Much love and joy,
Elder Stonely
Here are some pictures of me using an inversion table :)
