How Can we Live With God if Our Houses Aren't Clean?
This week was pretty solid, we had zone conference which took a lot of time. And of course because of zone conference we had extra Elders in the apartment. We still got a few good days of work in.
Also, one day we went super duper far away to visit an investigator. He comes to church practically every week so we decided it was time to pay a visit. It took super long time and the chapa we got on wouldn't take us the entire way because it was too far. So we ended up walking super far to get there. But it was a really solid lesson and he gave us some corn! Corn is a super big crop here and my comp was trying to convince me that they have more corn her than in the states but I knew that wasn't true because I have been to Iowa. The corn was a little more firm than the corn in the states but it tasted pretty good and it didn't even have salt or butter. Anyway it was a super long trip but ended up being pretty fun.
So zone conference was this week and it was my favorite so far. Probably because I understood this one the best (so far). The training for once felt like they weren't repeating information from last zone conference and I understood the spiritual messages and what they told us (with exception to one, I'll get to it later).
The highlight of the first half was definitely the health training by Sister Moraes. It started super spiritual and was just really incredible talking about the opportunity we have to be here and the great efforts the church takes to get us here, how it is our purpose here to learn and grow and that the mission is the best opportunity and how the holy ghost strengthens us to do this. It was super cool and I was really enjoying the rising spiritual focus. Then right at the climax she dropped this line "How can we live with God if our houses aren't clean?" I was stupefied. I looked around to see how the either missionaries were reacting and I could tell some of the Americans hadn't understood as well as I had. But I could tell some were just as surprised as me, I almost laughed (which probably would have gotten me killed). The rest of the talk was good, explaining the importance of being careful what we eat and why cleaning is important. It has been my favorite health training so far, mostly because the others have been a lot more direct "clean your house" or "take dox (malaria pills)." So zone conference was pretty good.
So in general I understood about 85% of what people were saying until we got to President's closing remarks. I don't know why but I understood almost none of it. It was like the Gift of the Interpretation of Tongues was a switch and it had just been flipped off. I tried really hard and managed to get a couple of good principles out of it. He talked about being an example and how spiritual power comes from our actions not from our calling. It was super solid.
One of our work days we were with one of our members. He has his mission papers in and is just waiting for a call. So he wants to work a lot with us before he goes. So we had our first day with him today. We had planned a pretty good day and he was well prepared as well. Then all of our planned lessons fell through. Like all of them. We had even made plan B's and those fell through too. It was spectacular. We managed to get a few good lessons and ended off pretty solid. Still it was certainly a good example of what missionary work can be like some times.
Sunday was pretty eventful as well. Our ward was watching general conference and as usual our chapel was totally full. Also because of the extra time people were using the bathrooms at the church. Well, somehow at the same time two (out of three) bathrooms broke and started flooding water everywhere. We managed to get the water off but some of the rooms had a solid layer of water. Well there was also this kid there. I had talked to him a little before and he was really hard to understand. He talks fast, quietly and in a slightly weird accent so I could never understand him super well. Well, these bathrooms flooded and he asked me if I knew how to clean up the water. I didn't understand super well so I said "not really but I can learn" and he replied "okay you will learn right now." Quickly I was given a mop and enlisted to clean up the mess. All while the rest of the ward was watching conference. We did eventually get it all cleaned up but it was certainly a bizarre Sunday experience.
Anyway it was a pretty good this week. Working here certainly has a lot of challenges but it is always fun. Anyway, until next time.
Also, one day we went super duper far away to visit an investigator. He comes to church practically every week so we decided it was time to pay a visit. It took super long time and the chapa we got on wouldn't take us the entire way because it was too far. So we ended up walking super far to get there. But it was a really solid lesson and he gave us some corn! Corn is a super big crop here and my comp was trying to convince me that they have more corn her than in the states but I knew that wasn't true because I have been to Iowa. The corn was a little more firm than the corn in the states but it tasted pretty good and it didn't even have salt or butter. Anyway it was a super long trip but ended up being pretty fun.
So zone conference was this week and it was my favorite so far. Probably because I understood this one the best (so far). The training for once felt like they weren't repeating information from last zone conference and I understood the spiritual messages and what they told us (with exception to one, I'll get to it later).
The highlight of the first half was definitely the health training by Sister Moraes. It started super spiritual and was just really incredible talking about the opportunity we have to be here and the great efforts the church takes to get us here, how it is our purpose here to learn and grow and that the mission is the best opportunity and how the holy ghost strengthens us to do this. It was super cool and I was really enjoying the rising spiritual focus. Then right at the climax she dropped this line "How can we live with God if our houses aren't clean?" I was stupefied. I looked around to see how the either missionaries were reacting and I could tell some of the Americans hadn't understood as well as I had. But I could tell some were just as surprised as me, I almost laughed (which probably would have gotten me killed). The rest of the talk was good, explaining the importance of being careful what we eat and why cleaning is important. It has been my favorite health training so far, mostly because the others have been a lot more direct "clean your house" or "take dox (malaria pills)." So zone conference was pretty good.
So in general I understood about 85% of what people were saying until we got to President's closing remarks. I don't know why but I understood almost none of it. It was like the Gift of the Interpretation of Tongues was a switch and it had just been flipped off. I tried really hard and managed to get a couple of good principles out of it. He talked about being an example and how spiritual power comes from our actions not from our calling. It was super solid.
One of our work days we were with one of our members. He has his mission papers in and is just waiting for a call. So he wants to work a lot with us before he goes. So we had our first day with him today. We had planned a pretty good day and he was well prepared as well. Then all of our planned lessons fell through. Like all of them. We had even made plan B's and those fell through too. It was spectacular. We managed to get a few good lessons and ended off pretty solid. Still it was certainly a good example of what missionary work can be like some times.
Sunday was pretty eventful as well. Our ward was watching general conference and as usual our chapel was totally full. Also because of the extra time people were using the bathrooms at the church. Well, somehow at the same time two (out of three) bathrooms broke and started flooding water everywhere. We managed to get the water off but some of the rooms had a solid layer of water. Well there was also this kid there. I had talked to him a little before and he was really hard to understand. He talks fast, quietly and in a slightly weird accent so I could never understand him super well. Well, these bathrooms flooded and he asked me if I knew how to clean up the water. I didn't understand super well so I said "not really but I can learn" and he replied "okay you will learn right now." Quickly I was given a mop and enlisted to clean up the mess. All while the rest of the ward was watching conference. We did eventually get it all cleaned up but it was certainly a bizarre Sunday experience.
Anyway it was a pretty good this week. Working here certainly has a lot of challenges but it is always fun. Anyway, until next time.
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| Portrait at Zone Conference |
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| Walking the long road from where the chapa dropped us off |
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| Beautiful countryside on our way to the investigators house |
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