Smokey with no Chance of Rain

It has been another good week, this one had two team ups and a few lessons. This week I really learned how to speak up and be confident. I missed out on some of the cool lessons we had in Ashton Park but still had some cool experiences in other areas.

First a short explanation, as missionary we cover an area for about six weeks before we switch. During that time we have day long exchanges with other missionaries in the zone. These exchanges used to be for just an afternoon but now they are 24 hours. Exchanges are pretty sweet because you can be super bold and you can just go all out. Usually, the day either goes super well or all the lessons cancel and it you straight bucket (do nothing). Anyway this explanation is no longer short so we'll move on.

My first exchange was with Del Norte which is the Spanish Area. Just a reminder, I speak Portuguese and not very well. This was a Spanish area where every person is a native speaker. Needless to say over the entire day I spoke about four times and only to say my name and where I am from. Even though I said almost nothing all day, the day went very well. They had two planned lessons and ended up with four. That day I learned about just being direct and talking as well as spending time effectively.

My next exchange was with our zone leaders. I went into their area and it was cool. They live in a members home which was very interesting. They had a really nice massage chair that I was lucky enough to use. After that incredible experience I unfortunately discovered I had an upset stomach and spent some of the night ready to throw up. It was probably the Taco Bell I had earlier that day. 

Anyways, after a less than ideal night it was time to serve. Elder Corbin was awesome, he used his time very effectively and had deeply personal prayers. He focused a lot on helping me talk. During lessons he would stop talking and look at me to make it very clear that I needed to talk. It was pretty uncomfortable but very helpful. Soon enough I found my voice and was able to participate in a discussion. We two lessons that day and I helped teach both of them. One of them was a lesson with members. In it we had asked a question and they just didn't answer it, so we sat there and waited. As missionaries we are told that silence is good in a lesson because it let's the people we teach think and feel the spirit. So we just waited and waited and waited. The husband coughed three times but never said a word, not one. I related a lot to Ammon waiting an hour for King Lamoni to respond. After what felt like an hour they gave an answer. The rest of the lesson was fine but they didn't answer questions well.

This coming week we have a lot of solid lessons. The problem is that we are running low on good contacts.

This week I also had interviews with the Mission President, time disappears in that meeting. He asked me five questions and then the meeting was abruptly over. He did leave me an invitation to find the invitations in Preach my Gospel. There is a lot of sweet promises. Most of them revolve around the more I study and invite the spirit the better my mission will go. I can already see this from the missionaries close to going home, their missions are very strong. They make it clear to me that as I prepare and devote myself I can lead a powerful mission.