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Path we walk everyday! |
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Looking at our neighborhood |
Well this week had all sorts of activities which, now that I think that it was this week, seems super long ago. Time is without doubt the weirdest thing ever.
Usually we get out of the house by eleven thirty because up until that time we are doing our studies. BUT. If we have a district meeting or something else we have to leave the house early to catch the train to wherever so we can get there on time (for example District Meeting at 10 in Alverca). So nearly every day this week was something that caused us to need to leave early!
First things first, we usually have district meeting on Tuesday. So, on Tuesday, we get up, exercise, eat, and head to the train station. We show up at the chapel there to find tons of people. Turns out there was a double funeral! That was a suprise. So after we ask the District Leader about it all and the District Meeting was moved to Thursday. We are thinking it may be more economic to buy a train pass. We'll see.
Then we had an awesome meeting on Wednesday with President Tavarez. During Zone Conference things ran late so he wasn't able to share what he had wanted to share so he moved it. He talked a lot on the spirit and taught how to ponder the scriptures and the importance of Preach My Gospel and all sorts of good things. It was pretty great.
THEN thursday district meeting, friday weekly planning, saturday...well we would have gone to that Halloween party but considering how far it was and we had no investigators of ours to take...and the fact that the entire zone would be there to accomodate people, President gave us permission to stay in our area so it turned out nicely. I dressed up for Halloween either way. I wore my Gryffindor tie and put on a sweater and instantly became Harry Potter. It was fantastic.
So Sister Tavarez had the idea, on Sunday there is a day similar to Memorial day when people go to the cemetary. So after church we ran over there to attempt to leave flowers with people along with family history and plan of salvation stuff. It was...awkward... but it worked out nicely in some cases :)
Ivan showed up to church! Very simple and big Russian man. He could probably break me in two without a problem. His home is up in an unfinished building (they have a lot of those). He simply moved in, fit a door on the door frame, inserted some windows, found a bed and bed frame and moved it in, and slowly just started accumulating items for his house! We have yet to visit him in his home. We had a lesson with him at the chapel about the Plan of Salvation though we're unsure of how much he understood but he said he would come to church and...there he was! He told us that he didn't understand a lot and would need to learn more. Ya, I think we can help with that!
Ahh! How could I forget about stealing from the gypsies! This is a fun story. We went back to the first house and really got to work this time. We leveled this hill of what first looked like dirt then turned out to be several layers of trash and who knows what else. We found a bone that looked suspiciously like a femur. And a large kitchen knife... I'm suspicious of Professor Plum in the Conservatory. So we level it all out until its just dirt but there was danger of it all sliding down to the house if nothing was there to hold it back. So we found that there were two stakes in the ground that were pretty tall. If we could find something to wedge between them it would form a pretty effective wall to hold back the dirt. So we try the marble slabs they have. None were long enough. By the trash is a ton of ruined furniture so we go there and find a head/footboard! Perfect! We bring it back and while we are working out how to get it in, this guy comes up to us.
"Did you pay for that??"
"No, we got it over there by the trash."
"Thats all my stuff."
"Oh, our bad, here, take it. We'll find something else."
"Nah, leave it there."
"Are you sure? We can get something else"
"No. Leave it there. Thats my stuff. I sell it. You didn't pay for that."
"...Ya. So...here. Take it back. We don't need it then."
"No leave it there. I don't want it. You didn't pay for it."
"Sir. You can have it back. We are sorry. We'll find something else."
As he then walks away *grumble grumble* "leave it there" *grumble* "leave it there" *grumble* "mine"
So ya. That happened. He didn't want it back. So now its holding back the dirt! It works really nicely though! I'll take a picture of it this week!
We also knocked at the door of a guy we contacted last night. He proceeded to show us his entire apartment and all of his earthly possessions and where he got them and gave us a peice of cake. So he is super friendly!
Ether 6:5-7. I hijacked this message from a Liahona, not sure which month. But I use this scripture to share with people a lot. This is the people of Jared who are commanded to cross the ocean after the fall of the Tower of Babel. They have now built the barges, solved the problem about air and light, and have set forth:
5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.
6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.
7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.
Imagine for a moment what an experience this would be. I imagine it would be terrifying, frustrating, stressful, harrowing, depressing, and who knows what else. I'm sure you can come up with some more adjectives. But there are two things I love about this.
1. The direction of all of this turbulence was towards the promised land. These afflictions and trials, wave after wave, gust of wind after another, were bringing them closer to the reward their Father in Heaven had planned for them. Without these trials, they would never have progressed and never have gotten anywhere closer to their end goal.
2. Now at times the weight of our trials can get really heavy. We end up submerged in the depths of the sea and escape seems impossible. Yet everytime they were in the depths of the ocean what would they do? They cried unto the Lord. They prayed. And, because of their prayers, the Lord supported them, he did not leave them alone in their trials, and brought them back to the surface.
Now that in no way means that the Lord took away their problems. Back at the surface was still gigantic waves and crazy winds. Nor did the Lord say "Well, you passed the test! You won't go under the water again!" No, they reached their lows many times but that didn't take away their faith in God. They did not murmur and say, "hold up, this happened last time. Why are we going through this again?" Rather they put their faith in Heavenly Father, prayed once more, and were brought to the surface.
Find the surface.
Love you all,
Elder Cordon
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We removed the stump in the picture. Oh what a stump |