Boas Entradas!
Oh, man if I have to hear that sentence one more time I think I will enter a coma... ha ha ha. This is the the first week of the year 2013 and I am supper excited to be out on my mission What better way to start off the year than with a member of the 70 coming for a visit! Elder Cook of the 70 came and visited our mission this last past week with his wife and their daughter, who just returned from Spain!!!! That was crazy, she spoke Spanish, but the funny thing was that we could understand her. She related an experience with us concerning the love that God has for all of us. It was really cool. She said it was near the beginning of her mission when she didn't speak that well and she was contacting in the park near her area with her trainer when her trainer turned to her and said that she had to contact the next person (this has happened to me before and it's kinda scary to contact someone without your trainer's help, so I can relate). Anyway, she looked for someone to contact and found this really old couple, thinking they might be a little nicer. She started to talk with them, but the second she mentioned God, this old guy went ballistic and started shouting at her and telling her off. She didn't know what he was saying, but she knew he wasn't happy that she talked to him about God. She felt sad that this man had hardened his heart towards his Father in heaven and wondered how he got like that. She was thankful that she knew that God loved her, but wondered if God loved this man as much as she new that He loved her. She said that the second she had this thought, a warm and comforting feeling came over her and she knew what her answer was. Of course He loves this man and that's all there is to it. It made me think that sometimes to know the reality of something in the Gospel we have to test it or it gets tested in front of our eyes and then our understanding is opened up.
Elder Cook talked about a lot of great things too, Sister Cook talked about loving your companion. I think I do pretty well at that. I'm just not gonna hold hands with him... which is just short of what I felt like was being asked of me, ha ha. But loving those you serve with is necessary and there's always room for improvement. She said when you focus on what is right, instead of who is right, the companionship runs a little smoother. That way, your not trying to prove the other person wrong. The other key is having God be the goal an one of the connecting points in the triangle of the relationship.
Elder Cook spoke more on converting people from the ground up and how having someone there as a friend at all times (members) during the process is invaluable. He told us if we want progressing investigators, we need to be progressing missionaries... always adapting and changing to the investigators needs, never staying one way. Kinda like how a multi-tool can do a lot of different jobs. That is what you need to be like to help a lot of people. Be versatile. It was really cool, because we had a chance to participate in the lesson and he liked to talk to us a lot and get our input quite a bit. He gave me a big compliment before he left that day and it was funny how he just said it. Lately I have been thinking that my opinion didn't matter as much or that I had only a little to contribute in the lessons or just the same thing over and over again. I know that is not how you do it, but people here get impatient with you when you don't speak right which is good, but it's also bad. So anyway, he came up to me after the lesson and he said, "Hey, thanks for participating today! I always knew if I couldn't get an answer from the rest of the group, I could get some feedback from you." I said thanks, of course, and then after that he said, "You know, I like the way you think!" That gave me confidence to let people know what's on my mind a little more and be more outspoken even if it doesn't exactly translate the way I want it too. That's what my companion is for and personal study.
It's amazing how much of a difference in your life something like that can make. So the recommendation for this is to compliment at least one thing to your friends or family members or random people. I never used to believe in doing that kind of thing, but it really makes a big difference, I guarantee you. You will feel a big difference if you do.
So that was really the highlight of the week. Oh ya, I wore my suit. That was weird! ha ha ha. We are still doing a lot of contacts, but we also got two investigators to church and one of them wants to get married and I think we are getting through to him and he is praying to know if the church is true. It is so awesome. I can't wait to meet with these families again.
I am super excited this week for transfers. I might have the opportunity to see more of Mozambique and to be honest, I hope they send me to a place called Tete (tehte). They say it's super dry up there and it's like Vegas hot, so that would be awesome to get back to a climate. Oh, and I did receive the booklet from our ward and it is very nice.... thank you very much :)
I also want to thank you Grandma Proksch for always writing letters. I don't always get them on time, but they mean the world to me when I get them and I haven't thanked you enough for them. It's good to know how you guys are doing up there and I want you guys to know I am getting the letters. They are great ha ha.
I think that is all for this letter. Just remember: God even loves Atheists! ha ha ha ha ha!
love,
ELDER PROKSCH
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