La Torre- Week 60

WHATS UP WHATS UP WHATS HAPPENING??

SO, biggest news of the week.... I got changed! yup.. definitely not happy..... Elder Ventura is still in Nuevo but I am in the department of San Vicente in an area called La Torre.. its in the department of San Vicente in the city of San Vicente... freak changes right? So my new comp is Elder Garner from Las Vegas.. and.... wait for it..........I am a zone leader now.... so that's kinda cool... now we get a cell phone which makes things a lot more convenient. but anyway... pretty ordinary:)

I was really bummed to have to leave my old area... the bomb was having tons of success.. and I left 5 baptisms for yesterday in that area and another 2 for the end of the month and two families for Oct.... stupid... but changes are made through inspiration. So its not like you can go ask president to ask the Lord again... Just look at Joseph Smith and Martin Harris right??

So saying goodbye was hard even though I was only there for about 3 months.. The familia Ramos was awesome... where I ripped my pants (btw, didn't get that pair skinnied... those where original from the states!... but she fixed them perfect... the thing I like about El Salvador is how cheap the labor is... i skinnied and fixed two of my broken pants and it was only two bucks... jajaja) The familia Franco has always been super super nice.. they said that if I ever come back that I could stay with them and they would take me to all the beautiful places of the country. They said that one of the reasons they let us in was because I was such a smiley guy..jaja.. "you can win a crowd with a smile"... the familia Recinos was my cooks familia.. and the bishop was good:) I sent pics of all those families. Saying goodbye is sodding hard... had the death cab song stuck in my head "you may tire of me, but our December sun is setting.... on the back of a motorbike, with your arms outstretched trying to take flight..." don't know why... good song...

This week we had the 15 of Sept! it is the independence day of El Salvador:) lots of parades and stuff:)

Being ZL is pretty cool, there is just a bunch of chores to do that aren't very fun...

GOT MY PACKAGE!! THANKS YOUS!! very cool:)

So my new area is a branch... its not a ward.. But its about as big as the last ward I was in.. It seems like it will be a good branch.. There is someone in the branch that looks exactly like brother McDonald's granddaughter.. remember her? Katherine Elizabeth McDonald.. or Katie McDonald... like, i don't think you understand how much she looks like her... like I thought that it was really her and I was going to ask her what she was doing here???.. it was incredible... ..... ... ...... .. .. . . . . ... wonder what she is doing? married? figure it out for me:) then tell her to write me;) everyone forgets about you! jajajaja.. but I am happy.

We are teaching a Doctor in this new area and she is bien pilas, we taught the word of wisdom and she is already living it.. Something that is very unusual in El Salvador.. Especially when everyone and their dog drinks coffee because it is so sodding cheap... The Lord prepares people in ways you wouldn't believe

Mum, thanks for your letter and the package and everything that you do for me! You are very awesome and I am lucky to have such a great mum like you:) I already read Lectures on Faith... very cool book! Thanks mum! love ya!

Dad, hope hunting went well! Sounds like the week went well! So actually Elder Scurr is in my zone and told me about that whole freak bike accident.. I got your email this morning... I have been thinking about it.. and I will continue to think about it.. but its kinda the same thing as any other passion we have had.. They have always been dangerous.. but we have always done them.. I don't think I would live inside on a couch with my head under a blanket... yeah its a dangerous sport and lots of things could happen... but I´ll keep thinking about it... I mean, that turned into my passion in college. but I´ll think some more.. I love ya dad! I hope all goes well this week with all business changes... I´ll keep praying.

Austin.. keep it real... love ya

Ellie.. véase arriba

Brynn... que seas muy muy feliz siempre! que tengas una buena semana!!!

LOVE YA ALL FAM WHIPS!

TTT

Versalle- Week 59

HELLO!!!! HOW JUAR YOU?

So this week went awesome as normal... I got a lot of notes written down to tell you guys so I´ll just start with my list of stuff:)

SO with the Familia Franco, we are still working with them about once a week even though the husband is only there every two weeks... we started talking about temples with them.. They are very curious and it all works out because we have a temple activity for the mission in about two weeks where we will be able to take investigators to the temple to visit and get a tour of the chapel a la par. so... cool beans!

I had an interview to do in Ciudad Arce... about an hour away.. we weren´t very prepared and we got wet... then we didn´t know that the transportation from Arce to Colòn stopped at 7... so we got stuck our there... we slept in the street and in the rain last night.... nope... that was a joke... we slept over at the ZL`s house:)

Had someone saythis week that the plan of salvation was super deep and just couldn´t handle it... that was a first.. keep in mind that we teach like we teach children.. really simply...jajaja

I have started to get really impatient with evangelical women.. they ask you questions and then they never let you answer their doubt... a little frustrating..

I started studying Isaiah.. holy sod that's hard... especially in Spanish. When president Eyring came for the dedication of the temple last year, he said, "There is something special about Isaiah" So I am figuring out the special stuff.. or trying to anyway... jaja!

On Saturday, there was a man and a woman preacher that were preaching right outside our door with a couple of megaphones.. I got a funny video of it... and then we went to go give a nice sharp machete with love. jaja.. I gave them the scriptures: Isa 42:1-2, 2Tim 2:24-5. and 1 cor 11:15 (because the lady was wearing a veil) so that was good.... gotta correct people with love right? jaja

We were eating Sat night with the familia ramos... and I was playing with a hula hoop... then I was telling the kids about what we would do in school with the hula hoop. We would roll it like a wheel and then we would jump through it... so I did that... and WHOOP! pants=ripped... so I call it the Hula hoop rip tear. It was huge! Like that one time mum wore ripped shorts in the mall and stuff.. jaja! but anyway, luckily they had a pair of pants in the house that were my size and hermana Ramos said that she could fix my pants:) it was funny when i saw the 14 year old kid in church the next day~ while i was at the piano:)jaja It was hard not to crack up!

Yesterday we also went into town for the interview of aquel bicho for baptism.. he passed! So with any luck, we`ll have some baptisms this weekend!!!

So, our last interview with the president, we talked about stuff that we can do to be a better teacher. One of my goals that I had was to be a better listener. I wanted to be a better listener for during the mission, but also afterwards. Mum wrote me a few months ago about how she thought that the skill of listening is becoming to be a lost art. So, I thought that I would work on that. Over these past couple months/weeks, I have come to find out that I like listening to people too much. That i love listening to peoples tangents from the lessons and I love listening to peoples stories. Now here`s the struggle, We need to teach the lesson, right? We need to keep control of the lesson. So that's my newest and latest problem that I have as a missionary. But if that's the worst of my problems, then I am doing pretty darn good!

So because the BOMB has really had some success, I started teaching my district about it a bit:) I use a talk from the liahona for my basis, it talks about how teachers can be better teachers.. it mostly is directed towards teachers in their classrooms.. but we apply it to a lot of stuff. It talks about how the lesson is already inside the learner. It has 4 points for teaching for conversion

1. conversion is the aim: inspire them to do something. Conversion is a life long process and it is not about mastering facts, but mastering discipleship.

2. love is the motive: sometimes we teach to "cover" the lesson, rather than teach according to the needs of the individuals. When we teach with love, it helps us teach like the Savior, and according to their needs.

3. Doctrine is the key: doctrine unlocks hearts and minds so that the spirit is poured out amongst all

4. The spirit is the teacher: we should not try to "cover" the lesson, but uncover the lesson that is already inside the learner. (totally true because I feel that I haven't done anything for my converts, they already knew it!) "if we want the spirit to be more evident in our lessons, we simply need to invite them to live a principle of the gospel more fully."

*potential of each learner: gospel learning and teaching is not about learning and mastering facts.. but mastering discipleship. When we begin to acknowledge the magnificent potential of each learner, we begin to see as God sees.

Mum, thanks for your letter! your pretty much awesome. Don't worry about Christmas.. Just get me a cool tie and save the money for when I`m back or for a rainy day.. :) I haven't got the package yet but I assume this week:) I love you!

Pops, Love ya pops! stay riding on the bike and have fun hunting!

Austin; you are such a stud. Way cool you homecoming king guy:) cool that you want the other kid to win and you put that in your slide show:) and what indy song did you use? are those bands cool? love ya bro! have fun!

Ellie; sounds like you are making the greatest decisions! keep making them and keep a mission as an option, if you don't get married really fast:) love ya!

Brynn. I want you to ALWAYS stay happy! just keep those sodding teeth showing all day long! you have such a good life! I love ya! SALU!

Thanks for everything fam! SALU!
Elder TTT

Versalle-Week 58

HELLO!!

SO this week went well! Even though we didn't baptize.. I went on divisions with one of our ZL`s......  he did the interviews (in a semi truck) and came out and told me that the investagtor needed an interview from the president.. crap... so the other two siblings didn`t want to be baptized without him, so we are waiting for an interview for him... he was supposed to do it yesterday but apparently couldn´t find the church... but you know... whatever.... so we have to wait a bit on those baptisms... they will for sure get baptized... I will just have to wait patiently.... jajaa. I was a bit frustrated with that situation yesterday... jajaja-

I got my papers renewed this week to be in the country... I walked into the booth to find a girl... then she was like, "whoa, vos hablàs como nosotros! no como los demas!".... jajaja... Translation for you gringos ,"whoa! you talk like us! not like the others.." jaja so that was kinda cool I guess... my comp says I have a french accent... that I don't talk gringo... so that was kinda cool... I like french... the band Phoenix is french:) Today I got my haircut in a place that cuts hair in like the same way that mum cuts hair.. it was nice because it was like a cosmos... not like a hole in the wall place... jajajajaja.. (i am trying something different cutting it short on the sides and leaving the top a lot longer... but she took too much off the top:)) anyway... there is a girl that's in there apprenticing the lady and she thought I was from Spain... nice... 

On Tuesday we had a training meeting with the Pres on planning and goal setting... it was way legit and I learned a lot and we are putting all that stuff in practice. I`ll have to tell you about that stuff some day:) jajaja

The Bomb (aka working with members) has really exploded. I mentioned to you last week that the ward has called a new mission leader and 10 new ward missionaries that are ready to work. They planned an activity for last Saturday that was fulfilled and had success. The object of the activity was to bring people who are not members to know a little bit more about the church and try and get less actives there to help them feel the spirit and get active again. All we had to do was show up with our investigators. We were able to bring two families that we are teaching and they really enjoyed the activity. But that's not even the crazy part. Our wards attendance normally sits around 80. Yesterday, we had 118 in Sacrament meeting. It was very cool to see and I hope that it lasts. I hope that people don't forget what they felt at the activity and that they realize the responsibility to fulfill the commandments of the Lord.

One family that came to the activity was the Familia Franco.. the husband is that guy that I told you about that has always wanted to talk to missionaries but they would never talk to him?... remember? anyway... he came and her daughter... they really enjoyed the activity and he said that he would like to come to Church one of these days... the young women of the ward came and took the daughter to do their mutual activities, which was awesome... sometimes people just say hi and don't include visitors.. but they did:) they are awesome:) But anyway... their daughter is freaking gorgeous. Probably the most beautiful I have seen in the country. (Unless I have the mission goggle effect...) just kidding.. shes 17 and already finishing up her first year in college in law... it was funny in the ward council because we were talking about that family and a few of the returned missionaries were talking about their plans to "fellowship" her... jajajaa-... hope all goes well with all that!

The picture with the flag is me with Hermano Ramos... or the Ramos family... They are definitely such a cool family. (they looked for me on facebook).. they are always willing to give us food and help us out... he has so many toys... from antique cameras to interface mix boards.. to.... other cool stuff... jaja... he said that he is going to get me a cool pair of fake ray bans and he said that if I want, he can get me a real pair for like 20 bucks!... so we`ll see about that... its something that would be cool... but its not really a necessity right?jaja..

One last story; so we have been teaching this lady(the one with the awesome questions) and we asked her how her prayers and reading has been going... she said good.. then we asked her if she had received an answer yet.. then she said "Yes, I must be true or I wouldn´t want to keep reading the book, right?"... very awesome... she came to church yesterday;)

Mum, sounds like Utah was cool! I wish I could get out of the heat for a few...minutes... jaja... I kinda got a little baggy seeing those fotos at the race... don't know why! one of these days I`ll be on the bike again:) you guys look great! I love you!

Dad, funny you should mention that you are using my account for my mission, because I had written down to tell you to use that because that's what it was for! So its good that you are using that up.. that new freedom kit is probably the sickest thing I have ever seen in my existence! jaja... it sounds like the race was way fun and I`m glad that you did so well in it! Sounds like it was a blast! keep riding the bike pops! love ya

Austin,,, keep on keeping on! sounds like you had it all under control last week;) hope the shoulders good! love ya

Ellie, freak you need to serve a mission... I am always amazed when I get you letters! they are freaking awesome! te quiero y salu!

Brynn, stay super super happy siempre! "don't worry, about a thing, cuz every little thing, is gonna be all right" love ya y salu!

I want you all to know that I know that its all true... that I am where I need to be. Thanks for everything and all of you prayers and support! It is well appreciated and needed!

SALU love ya all

btw... got some of my pants fixed and skinnied up:) legit:)

TTT