Tomorrow is Jonathan's 15th birthday! We celebrated it today because it was when we had time. I can't believe that in only a year he'll be able to date! My little brother is growing up! (i'm sure he just loves hearing that)Happy Birthday Jonathan!
So I haven't updated in a while, sorry! A lot has happened recently.
Querido familia,
Wow, so many things have been happening in our ward since I left. I don´t ever remember such events as a school being out do to power outages or a fire destroying so much of a member´s house. It is kind of hard to believe all that. If I were there, I would want to help with whatever I could, and I´m glad that the ward and you all getting together to help one another in times of crisis. It really shows that we accept our covenants of baptism given in Mosiah 18. Give the Piña´s my support. ( A few weeks ago we got the after effects of a hurricane. The city was out of power for a week, and we were out of school! Then just last week the house of a family of 8 in our ward burned down. It's been a difficult thing, but the whole stake has pitched in to help. Luckily, everyone's all right)
And I´m glad to hear that all is well in our family. I hope there haven´t been any more terrible incidents with Grandpa, that he is better. And continue to work hard Jonathan in school. It is difficult to learn, I know that, but the efforts you put forth are very rewarding.
The baptisms went well. I stumbled through the baptismal prayer with Juán, but I made it through and it was a joyous occasion. Elder Nieres baptized Cesia. So I´ve had my first baptism! I can´t wait to have more. We don´t have any baptismal dates planned yet, but I hope we´ll make some this week. It was sad that only Cesia was confirmed on Sunday because Juan was late. One thing we might have to work with is that when it rains here, many don´t attend church. I don´t know how large our ward is supposed to be, but it felt pretty small this Sunday. It wasn´t rainy terribly, but was a little miserable. We need to get more members and investigators to church on sunday, even if it does rain.
That day, we went contacting and door knocking and it was amazing! We taught about half of the houses we approached! That´s about as much as we´ve been able to teach in total. And many of them really seem like they will keep the commitment to pray. We don´t give The Book of Mormon in the first teaching (which I´m not sure I agree with), so the commitment is to read the pamphlet about the restoration and pray about Joseph Smith. One lady, Natividad, has stray children (about 30 or 40) and wanted to know how she could help them. We know that if she lives the Gospel of Christ, her children will see the difference in her and want to know more. And she´ll be a lot happier. She basically asked, “when can I go to church?” Hopefully, we´ll go back today.
Oh, I had my first split this past week so that the district leader could be here to do the interviews. So, I went to another part of town, Moron 2, and spent the day with Elder Willie. It was a great experience. We taught a lot and with the power of the Spirit. We also gave a blessing. I realize that my area, Villa Amelia, is a lot poorer than Moron 2, but that doesn´t matter to me. It is actually better here because there are more people outside in their yards to talk to.
I´ll admit, things aren´t going the greatest with my companion right now. He´s a bit upset with me at the moment. It doesn´t seem to me that we always do the most we can do, or be perfectly obedient as I´d like to be. Also, I like to know where we are going and why and when and he doesn´t really like me asking, especially the when part. So, I asked him about it last night. I try to do it with love, but I´m not exactly the best at that. In order for us to teach and have the Spirit, we need to be unified in purpose. It is hard when I don´t always understand what his purpose is. I want to serve my hardest and help this people the best I can. Have any suggestions about how I can love my companion to bring unity? In what ways can I serve him? I look for ways, but I have a hard time seeing them.
One of the problems is that I still have a really difficult time understanding Castellano. I can get bits and pieces, especially when they speak slower and with some spacing. I try hard to understand, but my mind doesn´t work that quick. I´ll continue to study and listen carefully. I know I´ll be blessed with understanding through the Spirit in my times of need. I´m decent in speaking. My companion says that some of the members say that I speak better Castellano then his last companion, who just returned home. I´m not sure if that is a good thing or not. Well, at least I know I can make my thoughts known without taking an inordinate amount of time. It is still slow and imperfect. But I´ve only been here two weeks? I still have some time yet, but I want to speak and understand like a native as soon as possible.
We had a special opportunity yesterday. Elder Nelsen came. We all had the opportunity to shake his hand, which was particularly special for many of the missionaries. His wife gave a great example in her life of following the Spirit. She learned that if you take a question to General Conference, you always get an answer. She felt she needed to go to BYU to teach, which she didn´t want to do, but she did anyways and was blessed. She also stated that it doesn´t take much to impede us from being all that we can for the Lord. Elder Nelson answered some questions. One question was “This is my birthplace (born here, grew up in Chile), why am I here?” He then spent most of his time speaking about how but unsual means, the Lord accomplishes the impossible. That we are all here for a reason, to do what is impossible for any other to do. Some cool points of his talk were that Christ was baptized at the lowest point of fresh water on Earth and that when Gideon of the Old Testament went to fight against the Mideonites and they had the “drinking” test to reduce their numbers, their ratio became about 1:500 and they defeated their enemies. That is about the same as we are today, about 1 member to 500 others in the world (very roughly). It was great to listen to him.
Oh, I have a lot more respect for the mothers of the world. I had to wash my laundry by hand for the first time last week. And it is difficult and time consuming. I´m going to have to do it again today, and every other week I´m here (at least in Villa Amelia). And also, either I cannot iron or irons really hate me. I burnt two of my short sleeve shirts to a rusty red. I´m going to try to use bleach or something to wash it out. Hopefully they aren´t forever gone. They´re quite important. I think if I use the iron my companion has, instead of the cheap one that was left behind, it won´t burn. Hopefully.
Oh Jessica, this week, “Drake Ranquist knows that Christ suffered for us and gave us the perfect example.”
Thank you for all your support and love. I know that by being here, you are being blessed, a promise of the scriptures and Elder Nelson. I know that this work is the work of God and that we will be blessed and helped to find and teach those that seek and are humble. I know in whom I trust. I know that Christ suffered for us and that we need to repay him in any minor way we can. I know that the church of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God, has been restored upon the Earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. I declare this with faith and joy. I know that the Gospel blesses families and that we´ll be together forever if we are faithful. I can´t wait for that day.
With my love,
Elder Drake Ranquist
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