8:25 pm
Made it home! And it was hotter in our house than
outside. I still have salt all over myself, because all my
sweat dries and leaves a lovely white powder in streaks down my arms and legs
and mixes with my bug-spray applications...I think I look like an alien! But I
am definitely consuming large quantities of water (something along the lines of
3-4 liters, sometimes 5), and I'm doing alright, so don't worry. But it really
is very hot here!
In District Meeting E Santiago gave us the example of how
we present the Gospel to others. If I
wanted you to read something, and threw it at you and it hit your face, you wouldn't
really want to have anything to do with it, or me. But if I talked to you
first, and showed you what it was, and explained what I wanted you to do with
it so you could understand the meaning of it, you would probably be a lot more
willing to read it and understand it. Same thing with the Gospel. We can't just go
around throwing it at people, it needs to be presented, just as Jesus did when
He established it. Like the great quote, "Teach them not so they understand, but so they don't misunderstand." So that was kinda a funny visual to imagine
us tossing copies of the Book of Mormon at people and yelling at them to read
it...doesn't quite work that way. So we'll
apply that in our finding and teaching and be more focused on our
investigators, and become "Preach My Gospel" missionaries! Good
stuff, there, I would suggest that preparing missionaries should read that
through and the scriptures it provides, and maybe go on a few visits with the
missionaries in your area, I wish I had done that before I left.
But I
love the promise in D&C 24:12 and 1 Nephi 3:7. "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open
his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and
night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not is not known among
men." And thus "I will go and
do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no
commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them
that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." The Lord
always gives us a commandment and a way to accomplish it. He doesn't ask us to
do things that are impossible to do...they may not be possible to do with our
own strength, but with the Lord, we have the ability to do all things. Pretty
neat!
Back to life in Honduras, we ran some hospital
trips for a lot of today, and guess who was one of the sick missionaries? Deby! Well, actually, that's not her name,
she's Hna Velazquez, but she was the character Deby for CRE practices back at
the CCM about a month and half ago...so that was a fun blast from the past!
She was having some knee problems, should be alright. But yeah, it's fun to run
into old friends in places you'd least expect, although I'm starting to expect
just about anything on a mission here!
Also, I discovered that Michael is Miguel in Spanish, it's
so fun to figure out the different versions of names. It appears that
"Andrea" is a fairly common name down here, I think I've met like 5
of them, so whenever someone calls them I always turn and try to find whoever's
calling me, and then I remember that I'm actually Hna Mower, and I smile a
little at myself.
Also, I'm getting back into the swing of using a little
keypad phone again, it's been a while since 7th grade! Each companionship gets an area cell phone,
so I'm in charge of that, as Hna Robles has a smart-phone for sending / receiving
photos of health issues, looking up diseases etc, and emailing Dr. Cragun and
Pres. Dester, so we have 2 phones between us.
But I get to answer calls and text on my little phone, so it's fun to
hit the 4 key about 5 times in a row and then the 2 key, and then the 7 key...thanks
Spanish class for teaching me how to text in Spanish! Never thought I'd ever use that skill.
And Hna Dester is
so cute, I just love her. She actually
does pretty well with Spanish, it's harder for her since she doesn't have the
benefit of immersion, but she can actually hold her own fairly well, despite
what she says. She still needs some help translating some things, but she's
very patient and has a good attitude about it all, she's a wonderful example
for us. They call amazing people to be Mission Presidents, and their wives are
equal helpmeets and support their husbands and the mission. We are blessed to
have Pres. and Hna Dester with us!
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