Well
this week was pretty jammed packed full of some really good info from Elder
Daniel L. Johnson. He's a member of the Seventy that was born in Mexico and has
spent a lot of time working over there. So he knows how to work with the
Mexican people. He told us a lot of really neat things about their culture and
generally how they think.
But before I get into
that I'm gonna talk about the rest of my week. It was pretty darn hot at the
beginning of the week, but it cooled down and eventually rained on Thursday I
think. It was super nice to have it cool down and not be over a hundred
degrees. Sadly it's back up there again and this week is looking pretty darn
hot.
Daniel is progressing
really well, but he's not actually married, and his wife is still married to
someone living in Mexico right now. So once we figured this out we brought our
branch president over and they spent a long time trying to figure out how that
would all work so they can get married. I guess the fastest it can take is at
minimum a 3 month period, so your prayers on their behalf would be really
appreciated. They’re both still doing super great though. They showed up to
church yesterday in nice clothes for the first time since they began coming to
church. He loves to learn and his natural instincts on gospel topics are
surprisingly accurate. We also met someone else really cool as well. Her name
is Harmosa, or Armosa, you never know because "H" is always silent.
Her and her family have had a rough last few months and they're looking for
some strength in their lives.
Ok, now to get to Elder
Johnson. So the first time we had a meeting with him was on Thursday. So it was
a pretty sweet birthday present. Anyways we had a special Spanish conference up
in Wenatchee which is about a two hour drive from Yakima. It was a super good
conference and I learned a ton from it. To begin we talked about all the
promises and prophecies that have been given to or about the Hispanic people,
since they're descendants of Lehi. Basically that they are going to grow and
become a powerful group of people (or leaders) among the gentile nations (US
and Canada). That was really cool to see and it's something that we can see
right now. There are a lot of Hispanics with really good paying jobs, working
in the government, and such. One of my favorite things I learned from Elder
Johnson was that he said that the biggest difference between Mexicans and white
people is that Mexicans learn by feelings and white people learn by logic. So
he said the best way to teach them is to not beat around the bush trying to
explain things. Be blunt, straightforward, and simple, and then bear your
testimony to them. I've been working on that a lot this week and have seen some
good success. Not that I didn't bear my testimony before, but now I'm focusing
on the testimony instead of doctrinal topics. He taught a lot of really good
stuff but that's what stuck out the most to me.
Then on Friday we got to
have zone conference with him again, so that was pretty awesome. A quote that I
really liked from him was "A logical answer leaves as quickly as it comes,
but when the Holy Ghost testifies to you - it's yours." I thought that was
really cool and it shows just how important praying to know is. So many people
try to reason things out, and with this they may get an answer but it won't
last long. Another thing that he focused on was the importance of teaching our
investigators the nature of God. He said that this is the most skipped over
thing by missionaries but it is easily one of the most important. Then he
challenged us to figure it all out ourselves. He gave us 5 questions that he
challenged us to pray about.
1. Are you really there?
/ Do you exist?
2. Do you have a body of
flesh and bone?
3. Do you know that I
exist?
4. Am I really your son
(or daughter)?
5. Do you really love
me?
He said in order to
challenge our investigators to do this we have to do it ourselves. So that
night I took the challenge and prayed about all of those questions, and wow it
was quite the experience. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but it kinda
felt like my soul expanded each time I asked a question and I felt a
confirmatory "yes" every time. It was such a strange feeling that
describing it sounds weird, but I'm not denying what I felt. What I felt was
the Holy Ghost confirming that the answer to each one of those questions was “yes”.
It was a really amazing experience, one that I will always remember.
Now what kind of
missionary would I be if I didn't challenge you all to do the same? I can
promise you that if you do it, that you will get an answer. I know that because
I did it and got an answer.
Love you all!!
Les amo!
--
Elder Miles
Washington Yakima
Mission
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