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| Hump Day August 19, 2016 |
This week I want to dedicate my email to what I have learned in 1 year. So let me start!
In 1 year I have learned:
- How to be patient when the ghetto computers here give my camera a virus and erase all my pictures. And when the Internet is super slow and I cant talk to my family.
- How to clean all of my clothes in a bucket scrubbing them for hours, and make them whiter than a washing machine can!
- How to truly clean a house... the way my mom would clean it!
- How to sleep in a hammock.
- To be used to a life without air conditioning whatsoever. And be used to sweating all the time.
- How to take a shower with cold water, a bucket, and a cup.
- How to eat a whole habanero pepper in one meal.
- How to eat a tortilla with literally EVERYTHING. Instead of giving us forks, they just give us tortillas.
- How to travel with a bus system, and be used to being squeezed into a tiny seat without complaining. (sweating the whole time, by the way)
- How to truly talk to anyone. Let me be honest with you... something I found out about myself is that before my mission I did enjoy getting to know people etc, but I was always super nervous and had a lack of confidence in my ability to keep a conversation going. Maybe people didn't realize that about me, but deep inside when I was getting to know people I was always freaking out, but now I know how to talk to anyone about anything :)
- How to walk literally everywhere without getting too tired.
Now let me talk about what I have learned in 1 year spiritually:
- How to be patient with myself, with others, and with God. Before my mission I was probably the most impatient person I knew with anything. But really in the mission I have learned how to be patient in the way God is stretching me and molding me as His son.
- I learned what it truly means to be a Child of God.
- I learned that God does not love me because of what I have done, or because I am perfect, He simply loves me because HE is perfect.
- I have learned how to feel the healing power of the Atonement in my life. Before my mission, I knew how to apply the Atonement in terms of healing sins, but never understood what people said, that the atonement was something that made them feel better when they were sad. In my mission I have truly understood the way Jesus Christ suffered not only for my sins, but also my struggles, feelings, and emotional sufferings. When I started my mission in Coahuila (my first area), it was the hardest, most difficult, and saddest month of my life, but every day i literally felt Jesus Christ carrying me. Because He suffered below all things, He is in the perfect position to CARRY us on His shoulders.
- I have truly learned why we are here on earth. Honestly before my mission, I didn't understand it too well. We had to leave Gods presence to come here and feel what life is without Him and have opposition. It is like this... how can we know that pizza tastes good if we eat it every meal of our life? We must eat vegetables sometimes... that's just how life is.
- Why a savior was necessary.
- How to give a baptismal interview, and look into the eyes of the people and see their soul. I had the chance to give 2 more this week. Amazing experiences.
- The effect of alcohol (or any addiction) on people and their families.
- I learned about marriage. How most people here aren't happy in their marriages. I learned what I can do and not do to have a happy marriage. Be charitable, loving, and patient.
- I learned how to not only recognize the spirit, but follow The Spirit. I follow Him in everything. Something I almost never did before the mission.
- I have learned how to truly study and enjoy it. I literally LOVE to study the scriptures. I have learned so much. I have read The Book of Mormon 5 times in English, and 1 in Spanish this past year. I have read Doctrine and Covenants, and now want to start The New Testament. I also have read countless talks. I literally love learning.
- How to love my family SO much more. I loved them so much before, but to think about how much I love them now. wow. 1 year without them. 1 more to go. Worth it to be with them for eternity. Every single one of them. Mom, Dad, Chase, Chelsy, Madison, Greg, etc.etc.etc.
- How to trust in the Lords timing.
- I have learned the importance of the sacrament.
- I have learned how to be a secretary of a branch. Also how to be in a disciplinary council, and help others apply the atonement in their lives.
- How time is not a thing to be counted, it is something to make count!
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| Berta at baptismal interview |
I have learned more than anything, that after one year of serving my mission, I can use the second year to serve The Lords mission :)
Well let me tell you a tiny bit about our week. Turns out the girl we were gonna baptize this week has actually been baptized before! We felt we needed to search the church records and called Salt Lake and turns out she was baptized! Just forgot haha. But this week we are going to baptize a girl named Viviana. She is 18 and wants to go on a mission already! She is super great :) She is the girl I said about 2 months ago that we didn't know where she lived but we followed the spirit and found her on the first house we tried! Also the zone is improving so much. Remember our goal of 700 copies of the Book of Mormon in 6 weeks? well we have given out 746 in 4 weeks. 2 more weeks and we can get way past 1000 :) I love this work so much! I hope you enjoy the pictures of me burning a shirt at my year mark, and us eating a pizza in our hammocks to celebrate :)
Elder Plowman
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