07/25/2011

Hola familia, This week went by pretty fast. We worked pretty hard and it was hot, but I'm getting used to it more and more every day. We are starting out both new to this area and so we have to find investigators that we can teach. But we have been teaching some reallly great people and we are hoping that they will progress. I've really begun to understand that teaching someone from the bible (that my comp loves using) doesn't really help much. It just brings up more questions and causes arguments. You truly have to share with them the book of mormon and explain what our message is about if you really want to know if it's true. You really need to read and ponder and pray to our Heavenly Father so you can receive an answer. That's when the spirit will come and you can teach a lot more smoothly and no contentions arise to stop the teaching. Also you can't be controversial. You have to listen patiently to what they are saying and then follow the spirit so you don't hurt their feelings. Then you can help guide them to pray and to gain a testimony of their own. It's kinda rough being the señor companion to missionaries that are older than you. They have worked a lot longer and they have developed habits of doing things that aren't bad but really could be better. It's hard to try and help them to do what would help out more with the work, but it comes when you have patience and do it lovingly I guess, ha ha. But we're good friends and this should be a great transfer. The girl who is going to get married this Saturday is still set on getting married and so is her future husband. It's pretty awesome and they are great listeners and always want to learn more. I pray everything goes well this week and we will be there for them to help if they need anything. But it's pretty poor here and the people live without a lot and are happy too. It shows me how much we are blessed. There are very few homes in my area that don't have dirt floors and aren't made of dirt, wood, or just cement and bricks. But they are almost all believers in God and many go to church or have in the past. It's interesting how it's the middle of the winter now but it feels like its summer ha ha. They tell me its going to get hot in August, so it looks like there's gonna be some good times ahead ha ha. Something that's bad here is that a lot of people are replacing the role of the holy ghost. They believe you can pray to receive answers but you can only receive an answer by reading the bible, and that the bible is correct. But it's sad because it seems like they are worshiping the bible and not God and his son Jesus Christ. This is really sad in my opinion because I know God lives and He loves us and answers our prayers and that He sends his spirit to comfort us and to answer our prayers. I hope I can help those that I will teach come to know that this is true. Have an awesome week. Love, Elder Christoffersen