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| Dragon Fruit...Amazing |
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| Temple Bus Trip |
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| Merida Temple Trip with Branch
Hey everyone!! I am so excited to be able to talk you all today. This has been a crazy hard week. Definitely the most work I have done in one week, but it was the best week so far. I am starting to get more used to this lifestyle and really beginning to love these people in an unconditional way. I have a ton of experiences to talk to you all about today. Ranging from funny stories and the most amazing spiritual experiences!! This has been a really hard 2 months for me, but the more I rely on the Lord the happier I am.
So to start with the spiritual experiences today…
A lot of the missionaries have told me the first four months of your mission are what you will end up appreciating the most. The hardest times in life are where you are changing the MOST! It is truly amazing. When life is hard, think about how much stronger you are getting… I have changed more these two months in my love for others and the Lord than ever before, but honestly what has changed the most is my humility. Before my mission, I had the best life ever honestly, but I didn’t see what I truly had. Through this I see people who have NOTHING but still are happy and have the same chance to receive all the Lord has as we do, and I have found so much love for different things. My heart is truly humbled more and more every single day, without the Lord I would not be here. Why would someone leave for two years and do the hardest thing in the world if they didn’t KNOW that this was true!? To all of you who are non members or struggling or members too just know I am here because I love the Lord and want others to love Him too, ALL OF YOU!!
This week was another week filled with blessings of the sick… I think we had one every single day. The people here are truly sick or struggling with different things. An interesting one… a hermana here was literally scream crying at us because of struggles she is having with her family, and being able to participate in a blessing of comfort for this hermana was amazing… and afterwards, she felt peace and so did we. It was amazing.
This week I have had a little bit of tension with my companion. But in the best of ways. He has helped me grow more than ever. I say tension, but we work great together. But he trains me daily and wants the best for me. What I have learned is the more humble we are and willing to make corrections every day, the happier we will be. I was being stubborn, and not willing to change some things, but in life when things are hard sometimes we need to look and see that maybe we are part of the problem too… very humbling for me.
So yesterday was Sunday, and it hit me like 5 minutes before sacrament meeting. Who is going to give the talks…? I mean literally just getting them to show up is hard, WHO IS GOING TO TALK!? So then next thing I know, Elder Meza tells me I am going to give a 10 minute talk to these people. Before my mission I would have freaked out at having to give a talk in English with no time to prepare, let alone give one in SPANISH with no prep!! So I prayed so much for help and strength, and when I got up there I gave a talk that was 20 minutes and I only stopped because Elder Meza told me it was time. I was amazed, I was saying things in Spanish that I had never before thought in English. The words kept flowing out of my mouth and I had no struggle, didn’t even think about the language. I was so thankful for the help the Lord gave me and that he answered my prayer!! It was so amazing. I loved it so much. Best experience with the language yet. Which by the way the language is starting to get better for me! I can understand basically anything, but talking is a little harder for me. But how in the world have I learned so much of the language with only two months!? I try to learn more every day.
So I am now a seminary teacher of the Old Testament… and we actually have kids show up!! It is crazy that about 1 year ago I was a student and now I am teaching something I could hardly understand in English. It is really hard for me to be honest, because the language barrier and hard to understand. But it helps me so much. I look forward to 8pm every night when we can have seminaries and I can teach these kids. We were going to do it at 5am… thankful I don’t have to do that. But we also teach institutes and that is going well. And we lead a choir (still only my comp and I), we have mission prep class, temple prep class, marriage and family strengthening class, and lead all hours of church, and are every ones home teachers! We are trying to change this branch. Everything I said before was not here before we came… we are going to try to make callings and do so much!! Ah the work in this branch is crazy!!
We have a goal to have 8 lessons a day but in Coahuila it is really hard and we usually have about 6 or 7. One day I said, hey lets actually have 8! We prayed for the help to have the necessary people and experiences… we had 10 LESSONS IN ONE DAY!! It was awesome.
On Saturday we went to the temple with the branch. Usually missionaries can only go if they have about 30 names, but we were lucky to go with a branch activity!! It was AWESOME!! I love the temple so much. We taught the whole entire branch (22 people went) family history and how to use a computer, it is crazy, they literally don’t know their birthdays or anything. It has been humbling. But the temple was amazing, exactly the help I needed.
So we had an investigator this week named Fausto and he accepted a baptisimal date and I was so happy, but two days later he said he doesn’t want to anymore. We were so sad. My heart broke. I am trying to find a way to help him. He needs this so bad.
Yesterday my companion and I were biking to the church and both just immediately stopped and had the weirdest feeling to turn around… we don’t know why. But it was crazy feeling.
Crazy other stuff!!
Last Monday we were traveling to Calkini late at night and when we stopped in maxcanu there was no travel… so lets just say after my companion saying we were going to sleep in the street, I told him I would never do that and my mom would kill me and we prayed and found a place to sleep (different missionaries home, actually the sisters home… WITHOUT THEM THERE)
I have found a new love for dragon fruit. This picture is of me climbing a tree to pick one. THEY ARE SO DELICIOUS.
So on Saturday when we went to the temple we were going to leave at 8am. We walked around from hut to hut literally dragging people out to come and still didn’t leave till 9… these people have no sense of time. Church starts at 9:30, when it is supposed to start at 9. It is stressful because I am crazy with time!! This is teaching me patience for sure.
The habanero is literally the hottest thing on the planet. I tried a tiny onion thingy with habanero and died. I stay away from it, no way. The people understand, they think I am weak though.
The people here live forever. Literally some people are 105 years old. They also think I am 22, they always look shocked when I say I am only 19!! They say I have a baby face but a man body and am tall… lol.
It rained every day this past week. I am soaking wet and muddy every day, but it is better than my own sweat!! The people also say it is freezing cold this time of year… it is literally like 97, so hot.
I have a new love for Horchata.
I have been mini electrocuted multiple times every day… the electricity is so sketchy here, but don’t tell my mom!!
Some of these people literally don’t know they live in mexico… they think Yucatan is its own country, and it really is. Different food, not Mexican at all.
One day I got pissed making pancakes because we didn’t have measuring cups and my companion was like no its okay and I said dude we need to measure it!! They turned out horrible and I was so mad… it was connected to the fact that I was feeling not good enough at anything… not even making pancakes. But I felt terrible for hours and realized I cant let the Devil get me through my feelings… I repented.
Our little tank that lets us flush the toilet one hour a day is broken… it has been interesting. Living in the jungle is interesting. But I mean, I am alive and happy, life is good!!
This work is so hard, but I am loving it more and more every day. My understanding of the gospel is growing daily. My humility grows daily. I love you all.
I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. John 14:18
Elder Plowman
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