April 5, 2010
Hey Hey Hey
Last night I couldn’t believe that it was Sunday - after everything that happened this week, I thought the week might never end. It was very busy and wasn’t exactly the smoothest week. We have had to deal with a boatload of problems with a few missionaries in my zone that started late Monday night, but we weren’t able to take care of until the next morning. So...let’s get a wrap up of things that went done this week.
Monday night as we were walking to an appointment we noticed there was no street light on our pension’s block. As we got closer we saw a large group of people in front of the pension’s house, then saw a street light post on the ground in front of the house and I could see my pensionistta crying. That kinda made my heart jump, thinking the worst that one of her children had been struck by the pole - but as we arrived I saw that they were all okay. Apparently a semi truck was backing up, didn’t noticed the pole, hit it and it fell over in front of the house, where two of her kids happened to be playing outside. My pensionistta managed to grab her baby before the pole fell, and luckily her daughter was far enough away already - but she was pretty spooked about having her baby son sitting right in the poles path before it fell. Her husband left to the police station and we stayed with her so she wouldn’t be alone. I have never seen her so panicked, and I thought she was going to lose it mentally. We gave her a blessing and reassured her that everything was ok. She calmed down a lot but was still whimpering and repeated the story over and over by the time her husband got back. She is fine now and there are no problems, but it was an interesting start to the week. While we were waiting with her the assistants called me and told me that two of our missionaries had their interviews early the next morning at 7:30 a.m., which started the second problem.
I couldn’t get a hold of them in their room. I managed to contact some members over there who reported that they had left during the day and had not come back yet - by 11:00 p.m. Monday night. I called again in the morning and they still weren’t there. Sooooooo - that wasn’t good and my companion and I headed out to find them. We went and waited in front of their room and got some information from members, and the bishopric about the missionaries - and sadly enough there were a lot of problems going back quite a ways that we hadn’t known about. They finally showed up to their room at nearly 9:00 a.m. in street clothes. One of them, Elder Aliaga, has 23 months in the mission and has really struggled with rules/obedience his whole mission. His comp is very young and innocent in the mission - but boy did I let Elder Aliaga have it. I was pretty frustrated with him. He did not have much to say by way of response, other than to just say what they did wasn’t that bad. It was not a fun moment. We took them to the institute building, where the President was waiting for them. We talked to him first and then he talked to Elder Aliaga. Later in the afternoon we returned to reque where we helped them put all their stuff together and take them out of their area. The next day we went Elder Aliaga on a bus to Piura, where President will make the final decision about whether to let him stay or send him home. I was kind of shocked when President asked my opinion on what to do. He was talking with my companion and I then asked me directly whether he should let him stay or send him home. I didn’t give a direct answer, but said that he has been granted plenty of mercy during his mission and still never tried to improve himself, always being a problem and negatively affecting his companions. So, it was a pretty rough first day of the week.
The next day was zone conference, which went well, but it was hard to focus, to be honest, knowing that Elder Aliaga will probably hate me for life (and all of his other buddies (group of 5 or so) who were throwing me sharp glances the whole time). That doesn’t bother me much - but it was still rough on me because I had an overwhelming feeling that I was no longer going to have the trust nor confidence of the missionaries in my zone. But the zone conference still went well. Thursday was interviews with President. I haven’t had a real interview with him since I was in the office. Ever since I left, they have been really quick for lack of time. Even before I entered to talk with President, I think he and I both knew it was going to be a bit longer this time. He talked with my companion and me together about things in the zone, what to do and improve, little things here and there that seemed to burden me even more. My companion left and I stayed with President, and after about two minutes I just broke down. That seems to happen to me a lot when I am alone with President Chipman. He reassured me that everything was okay, that the missionaries in my zone weren’t going to lose confidence in me, and more than anything else that he assured me that he trusts me. I felt an overwhelming love during my interview. When I am in his presence, I feel so much closer to Christ. That is just how powerful and spiritual President Chipman is. He has had an amazing influence on me.
So, Elder Aliaga’s companion, Elder Alfaro, has been with us since Tuesday (when Elder Aliaga left) and he is awesome. He is from Southern Peru and is like a classic rock American. He is all into that music, the Beatles especially. He is cool and we have been having fun together. I don’t know for how long he will be with us. I was very happy to get him away from his prior situation, however. He is a really nice, great kid.
The rest of the week went smoother, especially after my interview with President. We found another new family this week that we had a great lesson with. Its hard right now because we are teaching a lot of families, but they are not progressing all that fast and need time. A test of patience, I guess. But their 20 year old niece sat in on the lesson as well, and at the end said, "I have been looking for the true church for a long time and I think I found it now." Some hope for us there. Her name is Brenda. She came to General Conference on Saturday, so that was cool.
Watching General Conference was definitely a huge highlight this week. We were able to attend all FIVE sessions, and I have never enjoyed it so much in my entire life. I was a bit nervous, and even the night before I started praying to be able to understand. My first two conferences in Spanish were very difficult, six months ago I understood a good deal, but thought I would get more - and this time around I really wanted to be able to understand and learn from conference. So I kept praying to understand, and there were very few words that I didn’t pick up in my last conference as a full time missionary. But this was was amazing! Conference was so awesome. I remember thinking as a teenager after the first Saturday session, "Oh man, eight more hours to go." But this time I was jumping up and down: "Oh man, EIGHT MORE HOURS! I love this!" Everything about it made me feel so good. I felt the spirit strongly on several occasions, and it reminded me about how much I love my family. The only thing I had trouble with was the hymns. I love listening to the hymns and the Tabernacle Choir, but here at least, the singing of hymns are kind of a break time to chat with your neighbor, tell jokes and stuff like that. So that bugged me a bit, because it kind of sent away the spirit. (We sometimes forget the Lord’s proclamation: "the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me...") So yeah, I was hoping for more reverence during the songs. The only sessions that had a decent number of people here were the General Priesthood session and Sunday morning (those are the ones that are paid attention to more than the rest, for lack of understanding the importance of the other sessions, I guess). People seem to think the sessions are, Young Womens, Relief Society, Preisthood, General, Young Mens - so they don’t attend all of them.). So during those two sessions there was more irreverence during the music. For me personally, Conference was amazing. It made me sad that so many people missed out - members and investigators. People always put small things in the way of what should be huge priority - hearing living prophets speak! But it was amazing and General Conference will forever be important to me.
So half of this cambio is now past. I sure hope that we can have more success in the second half. Just like I asked in Piura Central about two months ago, I ask that everyone can pray for my companion and I to be able to help the zone, to pray for our missionaries to be able to work hard and diligently. I know with your prayers that good things will happen. This Church is incredibly true, and I echo the words said in conference by President Henry B. Eyring, if I am not mistaken, "the only true church of God on the face of the earth." Have a great week everyone!
Elder "I Feel Good" Royal
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