Wednesday, September 18, 2013

1/4 of the Journey

Hello!!!
Hm..I don´t know where to begin!! Things are going well here in Jerez. J and A are doing well. J came to all three hours of church yesterday with S. P isn´t coming to church really, which is frustrating. She does have a brand new baby though. And doesn´t get much sleep. But it´s just unfortunate that she isn´t progressing. I am super close to A, our thirteen year old recent convert. She reminds me a lot of June. And I am super close to A too. P not so much. I just don´t talk to her a lot. But she´s super cool. And I love J and S. They are so incredible. P is also doing really well. He is a champ. He has read the entire Book of Mormon, and also the book Our Legacy. His baptism is on Sunday. I am really really glad that these people are getting baptized. It is hard to set a secure date here in Spain. The trick is to get people from the fecha (date) to the font. That´s what we´re working on as a mission. And luckily our investigators are rocks. They are going to be baptized. And it´s not because we are awesome. Just because God is. When it comes to other people...there are. But not a lot. That´s our problem. It´s so difficult to find someone in this country that actually wants to follow God´s will in their life. You would not believe how many people will tell us that they are catholic and I will be like ¨how wonderful, and now why are you catholic?¨ They usually have no response, so we follow with ¨do you believe that your church is true¨? And at this point half say no and half say yes. The ones that say yes we ask, how do you know, and they just say ¨well it´s what there is!! I have been born in this church, my parents and grandparents were catholic, and that´s what I am going to be!!¨And the ones that say no just don´t really care about whether it´s true or not. The majority of people here don´t care about religion.  The only way to get anywhere is to work through members. Or find miracles on the street like Victoriano :) It´s sad because out of the 8 investigators that we found, 1 of them is still an investigator. And she isn´t really progressing. Anyway. I love this work. It´s challenging, but we aren´t alone. God is on our side. And I think missions are just as much for the missionaries as they are for the people we find and teach. God needs his church to grow, and it grows by having strong new converts, but it grows more by having really strong missionaries (that have been strengthened by the mission) go home and get married and raise really really strong families. This stone cut without hands will fill the world. I really love being a part of this work. I really love these people. And it hurts me to watch them ruin their lives, or not do the things we ask them to because of laziness. I am so glad that I still have 18 months of this. I cannot tell you how deeply I love Jerez. It feels like home to me. The members and people that I have met here. It´s incredible. Victoriano is as strong as ever. He is my hero. He´ll go to the temple to do baptisms for all of his family members in November. Same with A, J, and S. And P will go in December. I am hoping that M and A will go too. And e and r. But I don´t know much about them because they aren´t in my area anymore. 

Interesting news. I received a phone call from President Deere this morning. We are going to be a trio here in the Rez until the next transfer. He is a Peruvian elder that has been visa waiting in peru for the past six months. He is from my group. He should get here tomorrow. I don´t know his name yet. Tomorrow we are going on splits with the zone leaders in San fernando. We´´ll see how that goes. :) Jerez is its own district now, and we will be a trio of elders and a trio of hermanas. Kinda cool. I am excited to learn more from this new elder. I need it. It will be really beneficial for Elder Erickson and I. 

For the first time in my mission, I feel the desire to come back. In the beginning I wanted Mom and Dad to come and pick me up so that we could go to London, but after a while I just wanted to go home like everyone else right away and have a huge airport homecoming. But now all I want is to come back and see these people. It will be hard for me to leave Jerez. So yeah mom and dad, whatever our finances will allow, but I would love to show you guys around all of my areas so you can meet my converts :) I truly love these people. Jerez just feels like my home. This piso, capilla, ward, everything. I have been here for a really long time. You know I really can´t believe how much my feelings have changed about all of this. I really do love my mission. 

It´s amazing how much I have changed. I often don´t feel as spiritual as I thought missionaries were supposed to feel, but when I look at my testimony, I am just so grateful for how much it´s grown. Six months of serving Jesus Christ has taught me a lot of things. I look back on my life and look forward to the life I have ahead and it makes me realize just how dependent on the Savior I am. He really is in everything. I love doing this. My testimony has grown immensely. And how could it not?? Watching a 19 year old boy who has been searching for the truth risk everything to be baptized into the church of Jesus Christ, only because he has read the book of mormon and he prayed to his Heavenly Father to know if it was true, and he was answered. It´s amazing to me. P has come to know for himself that this is the church of God. Victoriano, J, P, everyone. This gospel changes people. I then look at myself and see that it´s been changing me as well. I know it´s true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know it through the only way anyone can know of spiritual truths. The Holy Ghost. I also have a testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon. And the prophets. All of the basic doctrines of this gospel have been formalized in my heart and my testimony. I don´t study deep doctrine a lot, but I do have a testimony of the simple things. As I go through each day, trying to rely on the Holy Ghost and trying to help people come unto Christ, I just feel joy. A tired, exhausted, joy. But I would never ever give this up for anything in the entire world. It makes me want to serve my God with every part of my soul for the rest of my life. I just want to do everything right. All of my callings, my role as son, brother and eventually husband and father. I just want to serve other people. And the only reason I have those desires is because of the work I am doing right now. I am trying to see things with eternal eyes, trying to stop worrying about worldly things. It´s amazing how blessed we are. I hear lots of things about the war that might start between Syria, Russia, and the US. Of course. There is no war that doesn´t directly involve the US. Sometimes I get worried. These times have been prophesied. Wars, rumors of wars, crisis, hunger, sickness, natural disasters, you name it. It´s all happening. But we´re gonna be ok. Heavenly Father loves us so much, and if we do His will, we will always be happy. 

I sometimes feel surreal when I think about how it´s been 6 months. It has gone by so quickly. I know my entire mission will be the same way, and it breaks my heart. I can´t believe how fast it goes. But I am trying to make the most of it. I still have a while :) I want you guys to know that I have a testimony of this work. I know we are representatives of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know this message of happiness is the only thing that can save this fallen world. We carry a light as missionaries that other people need to have. Christ told his disciples that ¨ye are the light of the world¨. Christ is the source of all light, and we as his disciples bring that light to the world. And that light changes people. It causes them to remember who they are, and where they came from. The Plan of Salvation changes lives. I have had lots of doubts, but they are all gone. Every single one. I just realized that yesterday. I hadn´t thought about doubts since the MTC. God wouldn´t make it so easy. It doesnt matter if some things make sense and others don´t, we are meant to walk by faith in this life. There is a reason why the last days are supposed to be the hardest time to live. We may not have to walk as much as the Pioneers (although I walk a ton), but it´s a lot harder to have faith nowadays with the world as evil as it is. And I know with all my heart that Joseph Smith was God´s chosen servant to restore His church again to the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and it came about the way that Joseph said it did. I love my Heavenly Father so much. He has given me everything I could ever want or need, and I will never be able to repay Him. I love this work. Everyone should serve a mission at some point in their life. There really is no replacement. I am so excited for Spencer to start. I love you guys so much. Thank you for supporting me while I am out here. I pray for you always and I hope you are doing your part in this work as well. Go to the temple often, and visit people that need your help!! I can´t believe I didn´t pay more attention to this before my mission. I hardly even knew who the less actives were. I had some home teaching families that weren´t even active, and I didn´t realize what an enormous opportunity Heavenly Father gave me. I´m going to visit everyone when I get home. I hope Bishop assigns me all of the less active families to home teach. I just love this. I can´t even tell you guys. You just have to try it!! Wow. Life is so wonderful. Anyway. Love you 


Elder Sharp

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