Fishers of Men

Marko May 11, 2012 2 Comments

Dear Family and Friends!!

It’s been a crazy two weeks almost! The reason I am sending this email today is because on Monday, we had Elder Don. R. Clark come from the seventy and we had a tri-zone conference. It was awesome!

Starting with last P-Day:

We played soccer at North Shore High School all day with two of our districts and one of the English districts. It was seriously so fun! Everyone got into it and had a good time! Especially the sisters. They are asking us over and over when we can do it again!

Jillian and Her Daughter

It’s getting even hotter. We have been teaching a lady from Trinidad named Jillian. She is amazing! She read the restoration pamphlet and the only question she had was the difference between the higher and lower priesthoods. She is doing really great. She believes the Book of Mormon is true, and is committed to a date for baptism with her little daughter. We had to pass her off to the English speaking missionaries after that though haha. But she is sweet!

Knocking

I still love knocking! Afterwards, my shirt is completely soaked with humidity but it’s still really fun! We like to look for loose change on the ground as we walk and there have been some days where I have made up to a dollar.

Cinco de Mayo was pretty crazy down here, as you can probably imagine. We tried to stay off the streets and in peoples houses. Haha we had a hard time falling asleep with all the noise though.

Jackie…

That day, Jackie went out for frozen yogurt with the our sisters and afterwards we met her at the church where we showed her the baptismal font. We talked for an hour and a half and it was super intense with lots of quiet moments and crucial points. She is bent on reading the bible. She really just wants to stick with that and then move on the the Book of Mormon. So… Elder Worrell committed her to read the new testament! I won’t lie, I was a little frustrated. He started telling her about the bible and sharing Bible stories. I talked to Jackie about what she remembered about the restoration and authority. She said it was interesting, but she still hasn’t prayed specifically to know if it’s true. I committed her to do it that night. I asked her about baptism. But Jackie said she knows she needed to do it and it’s a step that would bring her closer to God. She said she would come to church the next day and pray about it during sacrament. She has really gained great faith. From someone who didn’t even believe in God to a person who is thankful for him and has a great relationship with him.

The next day, at church. We get a text from her saying ” Good morning guys, I wanted to let you know that I will be taking a break from church. I was thinking that me trying to understand on my own terms would conflict somehow when I’m also being taught on someone else’s terms. I am thankful for your patience so far, but it’s very important for me to do this. Also, remember, mi casa es su casa.”

We think her brother convinced her. Basically, she dropped us. She still wants us to come by but firmly asked for some time to herself. I was miserable. However, at Sunday school, the Bishop asked us to step out and meet the Fuentes, a less active family and their 13 year old son Salvador who wants to be baptized. We have been teaching him and he will be baptized on the 19th, hopefully by the father!

Elder Clark

Now to the conference with Elder Clark. He talked and talked and I was hanging off of his every word! Blunt and sharp comments like “get your hands out of your pockets!” and “sit down, follow me, stand up, speak up! don’t be so slow!” He was getting in peoples faces, waking up and down the aisles of the chapel, looking into peoples souls it seemed like. But it was awesome, he really got us motivated. We talked about a lot, and I was motivated to help out the less actives especially to fortify the ward. I got to do a musical number on the violin, I was pretty nervous! We had a great rest of the day after the conference. Met a lot of cool people and had good lessons. I caught a lizard too!!!

So it’s been good. Today was our p-day, and we got permission from our zone leaders to go to Baytown, TX and go fishing with hermano Duarte from our ward. The sister missionaries and the elders from Galena Park came with us! We had a great time! The hermano brought his guitar so I got to play for a bit. I caught a couple crabs! And a sting ray!!! What the heck! It was so sweet! We had a great time.

I will add some pictures, and send some more next Monday. well I better get off, we have hour of power to get to! Talk to y’all on Monday! Have a great mothers’ day all you mothers out there!

Love, Elder Viitanen

 

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