HHHHHHELLLO!!!!
Life here is just fantastic. I love Jerez, and everything right now. My companion and I have had some arguments lately, and I think we irritate each other, but I just love that too!! I need to learn to swallow my irritation and love my companions. What an eternal principal. I am just amazed sometimes at how beneficial every single thing a missionary has to do is for the rest of his or her life. I think my eternal companion will be grateful and how good I am going to get at ignoring my irritation and trying to look with love. It is so much better to just let things go rather than lose the spirit in our companionship. I had to get some letters out last week so that they would arrive in time for some birthdays, and my dear companion didn't want to walk by the mailbox on the way home but decided it would be better to just wait for the bus. I was pretty irritated. And he told me to forget about my family and all this stuff and it wasn't good. The spirit definitely left us. We didn't speak till the next morning. But it provided a lot of time to reflect on what was happening. If my letters are late, that is ok. What isn't ok is us not having unity. So after that we have had a few other irritating things that happened, but I have tried so hard to simply smile and say ok. And it is working. I think I will get pretty good at it by the time I get home. What a beautiful thing to learn!!! Wow. I am so fortunate to have this amazing opportunity to learn and grow. I am slowly beginning to see why it is that we missionaries change so much and learn so much.
Anyway. CARD. DONT DO ANYTHING. I have it now and it is fine. So if you haven't done anything with it, that's good. Money issues. I am quickly learning how to budget. My food expenses have gone from 45 euros a week to fifteen. I am getting way better at planning what to eat and buying only what I need. Also I just had a lot of personal growth this week. And it is amazing how much better I feel. I am not going to blow all of my money on european clothes before I leave. That's so stupid. Ugh. Haha. It's unbelievable how foolish I am sometimes. I should spend money on things that matter. And clothes don't matter. I just had a wonderful week, and it's mostly because of thought processes that I have had.
One thing that was interesting was when I was sitting in a members house. This family is a little...weird. Different. But we were in their house and there was this distinct smell that I COULD NOT place. It was so strong, and so familiar. It was a gross smell. After about ten minutes it dawned on me!! Their home totally smelled like the goats did. I don't know why it does. They have birds and a dog but there was no doubt in my mind that their home smells exactly like the goat barn. It was gross, but also kind of nostalgic. Not that I miss milking goats. But it is a part of my childhood that I like looking back at. Hahaha. The other elders think I am some kind of hick when I tell them that I used to milk goats every week.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that no one can pronounce my name correctly. It's Cha-ap. Soft ch, and a british sounding a. Like chaap. And they hold out the ch/sh for a while. It's quite entertaining, actually. Haha. Some people don't even try and just call me "tiburon" which is sharK in spanish, or "algudo", which is sharp/intelligent.
So I am doing really well. I feel a little sick sometimes though. I think it's because I am having withdrawals from Mexican food here. We went to a taco bell and it was a disgrace. I don't even like Taco Bell at home, but this one wasn't even close to Mexican food. There was nothing on the menu that was the same as the states. So sad. I really need a refried bean recipe. Please. I can't go much longer. The first meal I eat when I get home is going to be mexican. No doubt about it. And if it means we go to cafe rio, then great. I am jealous of Tean when it comes to food. The food is good here. But I would be happier with beans and rice everyday. One can only go so long without rice and beans.
About Spencer's papers. Well. I would tell him that GOING ENGLISH SPEAKING IS OK!!!! Really. You get to be effective right away if you go english speaking. Although learning a language is great, I would love to be able to teach and contribute and testify and learn and do everything that we do here in english. It will be four or five months before I feel truly fluent. I dunno. I feel like he should be as honest as he can and leave it up to the Lord. If the Lord needs him in another country, that is where he will go. But if he feels that he is "very confident" about learning a new language, then alright. But it is hard. Very very hard.
I was going to go to the Rock of Gibraltar today, but some things happened that it didn't work out. So we are going to go next week. It's the place where all the monkeys are and everything. Elder Pardo doesn't want to go, but this is the only thing I want to do while I am in Jerez!! So he finally agreed. This rich guy from our english class is going to take us. It's about 2 hours away. I want a sweet picture with a monkey on my shoulders. If it works out alright, next week I will send you one!!
When it comes to the work, we are having lots of success. Victoriano will be baptized (we're praying) on the 8th of June. Quincey's birthday!! I haven't told you about him, but we were on the bus a few weeks ago and I had the strongest impression to talk to the old man sitting across from me. Elder Pardo isn't a huge street contacter, so we don't do it a whole lot. But I couldn't ignore it!! It was my first time contacting someone like that in the field. So I started a super awkward conversation and somehow got his address and phone number. We ended up teaching him a week later and it actually went really well. He's a huge catholic, but he has felt the spirit and is super interested. When we walked out his door after the first lesson, Elder Pardo turned to me and said "he was your friend in the premortal life." I was like "what are you talking about??" And apparently the first day I was here I pointed to Victoriano's door as we walked down the street and said "we need to knock that place someday." And Elder Pardo had written that down in his planner. SO cool!! He has had almost all of the lessons now and has been to church twice so far. It's hard because he is so catholic, but I have lots of faith that he will receive his answer and join the true church. I had a distinct feeling that his ancestors are really trying to help him right now. Because they need his help. He is about 60 and has no kids and was never married, but is close to his siblings. Family is important to him. And I just know that his ancestors are there as we teach him, because they NEED their ordinances done. It's amazing to think that temple work and missionary work are exactly the same. So is family history work. It's simply the children of god that have been blessed with the restored gospel laboring to save the souls of the other children who don't have that knowledge yet. We're saving our brothers and sisters, and that's all that matters. I wish members put more importance on missionary work. There is a big conference coming up for all of the ward leaders, and ALL of the full time missionaries in the whole world. And I think it is because God needs us to work together. Please try and help the missionaries in Utah. This work is so important. And it's for everyone. Not just missionaries.
We have other investigators too. A teenage boy and girl that are dating. Pablo and Maria. They are related to a member. We are working hard with them. And Emilio and Rosario. They are finally married and we think that they will be baptized soon. Jose, Ana, and Jose jr. are just wonderful. So much faith. They have been taught for like four months. We are just waiting for them to get married so they can finally be members!! And others. The work has really picked up in Jerez. There wasn't a ward mission plan when we got here, but we finally launched ours last night. Basically the work is going well. I can't wait to finally have a baptism. I want to see someone be converted!! I wish every member of the church had to serve a mission. It is the biggest blessing and growing experience ever. I still don't feel like a contribute a whole lot. I teach but it is so simple and Elder Pardo always repeats what I say in better terms and expounds upon it. So I feel a little useless sometimes. But I know that I am learning quickly and will get better and better.
Today we are going to go to the zoo here in Jerez with other elders. I am sort of excited. I would rather write letters or go to Gibraltar, but I am going to have a good attitude about it :) We always hang out with these two other elders on P days, and they don't speak english at all. So I get to learn more. Which is nice. Life is just kind of rolling by. Rolling rolling rolling. So yeah. I loved getting the letters from the young men. Really. It was one of the highlights of my week.
I don't have time left to talk about some spiritual thoughts like I wanted to. Just know that the best part of my life right now is the spiritual growth that is happening to me. I love the gospel. So so much. It literally means... everything to me. Everything that I love in my life comes from this gospel. Everything I care about is part of this wonderful church. Family, purpose, just everything. The gospel is our life. And that is how it should be. It is the most important thing we have. It is so important that members of the church don't take it for granted. We are so blessed.
I love you all so much. The only thing you can do for me is give me a recipe for refried beans. PLEASE. MY life may just be perfect if I had refried beans. And a good recipe for spanish rice. Ironic I know cause I am in spain. But I still don't know how to make it. Love you all. Church is true.
Elder Sharp
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