Jared passed his 1-year mark and is about to hit 13 months on the mission. He just transferred back to Ciudad del Este, after being in Yaguaron for the past four months. He is excited to eat at Pizza Hut again! He mentioned eating 11 pieces of pizza in his last phone call (the pieces there are cut smaller, but it's still a lot of pizza). Jared had 3 different companions in Yaguaron - Elder Villareal (Bolivia), Elder Schlenker (Canada), and Elder Russell (Chile). His current companion is Elder Cuc from Guatemala. He continues to enjoy meeting and teaching people. He had 11 or 12 baptisms in the last 4 months. On his birthday in May, his companion made crepes and cocido. He also mentioned eating nokis, tortilla chips, and mbyeu. I'm not sure what those are, but he said they were good. Jared made something for Elder Russell's birthday as well, along with singing to him. A couple of things Jared enjoyed doing aside from the missionary work was going fishing and running up Yaguaron Hill (which means he had a companion that was willing to run with him a few times). A few of the hard things were getting rejected, missing the last bus and having to run home in the mud in the dark while it was raining and lightning, and losing his voice for 3 days. He also got to see miracles in the work, of being able to find people and getting permission for a couple of the children to get baptized. He saw faith in action. Here are a couple of those experiences:
In talking about miracles, Jared said, "The biggest of all was that our friend Daniel got baptized on Sunday. I need to brag about him for a second, because his faith to get baptized has been so big. He's been working in Asuncion, a 3-hour bus ride from Yaguaron, and we've been teaching a lot through WhatsApp. He was worried that his job was potentially going to make him work this Sunday, but said he was willing to quit his job to get baptized this Sunday. Getting done at 6:00am in the morning, he came directly to the chapel. He was a little wiped but got a quick rejuvenation in the cold water. Afterward, he described feeling a sense of warmth and peace overwhelm him as all of his worries from the past went away."
He also talked about faith and said, "Faith helps us to pass through hard moments with hope of blessings to come. Never underestimate the great blessing of that hope. It's powerful to change one's life in an instant... We had a hard rejection from the grandmother of the youth that was going to get baptized this week. This young woman, however, is determined to have a strong relationship with our Heavenly Father and continue faithfully until she will be able to make a covenant with God in the waters of baptism."
Jared talked about what he was learning: "I'm learning more about talking with everyone. Sometimes I feel the impression to talk to someone but then think about our visits and lessons we have planned and think we don't have time. I'm learning that it's very important to respond to these impressions. Christ stopped on His way to heal the woman with a blood issue, and I need to as well. It's not even my way I'm on. I'm on the Lord's time and it's His work. That reminds me of a Star Wars quote someone had told me this last weekend. It was surprising to hear it in Spanish when he had said, "El camino este es," which is the Mandalorian quote, "This is the way." It's important to act on every prompting, because every prompting you deny is one less you'll receive in the future. The Lord entrusts His spirit in those that will be receptive."
He's still doing well and learning along the way. We'll see what the next 11 months brings (46.5 weeks left - but who's counting...)
No comments:
Post a Comment