This last week and a half have been so crazy/hectic and so I have not had a chance to gather my thoughts at all or even write you guys a significant email....lo siento. anyways some big news that has happened this last week is that I have received a new companion, Elder Trujillo, who actually is about 8 months younger than me. He is so awesome, and I knew that we would work well together from the start, because I could immediately feel the spirit so much stronger, as the tensions were taken away from the between me and Elder Romero. I am not sure why he was transferred or what not, but the Lord knows all things, and he puts me in places I need to be, as well as others, and I am so happy and grateful that my Father in Heaven is watching out for me. Elder Trujillo has a great work ethic, and loves the work, and he is so awesome...he don't worry ]. I'm glad to be in Springfield still, but I'm changing the appearance of missionaries in our ward to a more positive one, as in the missionaries actually do the work...and i tell you guys what,...its hard work fixing the impressions of the last few elders. Trujillo and I are trying to get our ward now trust us not love us...and I mean, we want to work with them and trough them, not "hang-out" with them. its one more thing on our plate, and there are seriously not enough hours in the day to work and do what we need to do...its awful.
just has a slightly hard time staying awake in the mornings, and waking up, but I'm an example of that, because I have promised the Lord that I will not wake up late on my mission, and I have made this promise since day one of the mission...and only one day did I sleep in, and I felt like crap all day long...it sucked...so never again. but for Trujillo, I just wake him up, and hes fine with that, and he will get it down. He has been out only two more transfers than me, and so he is pretty new as well, and as far as his Spanish goes, I might be a little ahead of him or at the same level, because I only read the the Book of Mormon in Spanish, and he doesn't hardly at all...but no se preoccupen [
Our teaching has slowed a little but Trujillo and I have set new goals, and we are going to be picking up the pace and RAISE THE BAR...because honestly...it can always be set a little higher. As far as our investigators go...not much progression. Sh... is struggling with being taught by Elder YU, the Chinese Elder, because she speaks Mandarin Chinese, and he is native to the Cantonese, and so his mandarin is really rough. We are trying to get Brother H... on the case, and he wants to help teach, because he helped before, since he knows the language, but Sh...'s schedule is so hard to make appointments that work with him and her, and plus, she got denied her Green Card, and so now she risks being deported, even though she is married to an American...its a sticky and heated situation...and hearing a Chinese lady get angry in Chinese is actually scarier than latino ladies yelling in Spanish.
Ro...o is doing ok, he hasn't really gone to church in the last two weeks, but his mom has need help with stuff at work, and they are cna's and what not, and they work in peoples homes. but tonight, hoy noche, tenemos una cita para ensenarle [ tonight we have an appointment to teach him ] and its with the bishop and his family at his house...its great. I'm finally able to teach a legit lesson, but its in English. I'm so psyched to do it....=D=D=D=D=P
Ra...l and B...o is a very bad and sad story...remember how i said Ra... was admitted to Baystate hospital, well we came to visit him, Elder Romero and I, and he wasn't where he previously had been, and so we figured he was back home...it turns out he wasn't. I guess Brother Ne...n , Ra...'s member friend had been calling us to tell us where he was moved, and Romero never answered the phone and never responded to the voice mails...of which I knew nothing until Saturday night...and he had been calling us to come give a blessing, because he was sicker than he had been....and so I called brother Ne...n, who is a less active, to see how Ra...l was doing and to see why he wasn't at church, yesterday...Sunday......and Ra...' had passed away that morning...so a few hours before I called, he had passed away...and because of the lack of attention given to the phone calls by Hermano Ne...n, no podiamos dar una bendicion a [ we could not give a blessing to ] Rafael....and honestly I'm a little sad inside because I had developed a deep love for this man because we had performed a miracle to this man to let him speak again, and to hear of his passing through a phone call when I could have been a little closer tot he situation...I'm just a little grieved...but its the Lords will, and nothing else and so I am happy that he is not suffering in his body here anymore...and I know that he will find his way to Christ on the other side...but for Be...o, we don't know whats going on with him, because he is little slower than most people and so we have to work through the Ne...ns still, and its a very interesting situation.
Anyways to cheer you guys up after that depressing story, and to focus on the good things in life, I found the AREA BOOK, and now Trujillo and I are using it and now we are doing some good work, we have goals to be teaching 14 member lessons a week at least, and to get 2 new investigators this week...we think we have 1 already, who's name is W...e Scott, and he is a contractor, who likes to have the title given him, "Stone Mason"...its kind of funny...but he has some good potential, and his wife is a member who all of a sudden showed up at church yesterday after being inactive for like 15 or so years. but I'm so happy, the work is starting to pick up...and its great.
Anyways I'm doing great, the Spanish esta progresando, y cuando estoy leyendo El Libro do Mormon, no necesito traducir o leer despacio ahora, [ is progressing, and when I read the Book of Mormon, I dont need to translate or read slowly now ] and what not. the natives here say that I'm doing amazing for a greenie learning Spanish. and I really don't believe them. but anyways the car is fixed, and because of the snow storm, the transfer meeting was delayed until Saturday anyway, and we pretty much did nothing on Thursday...because the whole mission was red-dotted, or nobody could drive...and in Springfield zone, that means you are screwed. I ended up getting invited to play poker that night with a member in Chicopee so we walked...and it was easily a 30 min walk...and it was freezing, but we made it and played...and I won the whole game...it rocked. I'm talking like, I had all of the money in my hands at the end, nobody could even bid into the game...it was great. [ missionary life is changing I guess... ]
I want to talk about feeling the spirit for my message this email. and recently I have started to notice that members that are less active are starting to have the same reasons, because they start to doubt their testimony or they feel that the spirit is not with them anymore because they aren't feeling those huge impulses like the other members may be having...and these members begin to become further from the truth and from God and from all that they have know to be true and have felt to be true. and one thing that has been on my mind is feeling the spirit and the promptings of the spirit and why others get these giant impressions and I don't. and for the members that feel this way and for those of you who are reading this email have ever felt this way please listen. the spirit works in mysterious ways just as God does...if we have grown up all of our lives in the church, living these gospel standards, and knowing what is expected, why would we all of a sudden do we need the Spirit to tell us in a loud voice, NO DON'T DO THAT, YOU KNOW BETTER, or things that are similar to this. the spirit has no need to give us these major feelings, because he simply needs to bring back to us the recollection of saying our nightly prayers, or you shouldn't be here right now, or you should don't use that language. the spirit can simply bring to our minds the memories of our moms saying don't forget to say your prayers or it reminds you though what your read in the strength of youth pamphlet...the Spirit does not abandon us, He trusts us and so does God...we need not worry if we are feeling the spirit or not if we are doing the things we were taught when we were younger, and if we are keeping our lives in harmony with the gospel....I know what this is like...people often would say that the "spirit told me to ...." whatever it may be....and i always thought, how is this possible...how can you hear that...and i have tussled with this thought process for a long time before i left on the mission...and not until i was out here did i understand...that the spirit trusts me and so does God, to make the right choices, and God knows that i dont need a shove in the right direction, i may simply need the recollection of my angel mom saying did you say your evening prayers, or even my Dad saying remember who you are a few times...and honestly, the spirit works like this in me. and being guided by the spirit is different for everybody, but we mus remember that if you are being lead by the spirit, it is only to do good things, never evil, and that is one way we can know. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are One in Purpose, and part of this purpose is to lead us in doing good works and just works, and we need not worry about feeling the spirit for he only dwells in holy and good places, and if we seek to do good, we will be lead by the spirit. I know that the Spirit leads us to do Good, because that is his purpose and by doing good we will become closer to our Father in Heaven, and he will bless us with so much more, including an added measure of the spirit in our lives if we so desire, to seek out more chances to do good...
Ro...o is doing ok, he hasn't really gone to church in the last two weeks, but his mom has need help with stuff at work, and they are cna's and what not, and they work in peoples homes. but tonight, hoy noche, tenemos una cita para ensenarle [ tonight we have an appointment to teach him ] and its with the bishop and his family at his house...its great. I'm finally able to teach a legit lesson, but its in English. I'm so psyched to do it....=D=D=D=D=P
Ra...l and B...o is a very bad and sad story...remember how i said Ra... was admitted to Baystate hospital, well we came to visit him, Elder Romero and I, and he wasn't where he previously had been, and so we figured he was back home...it turns out he wasn't. I guess Brother Ne...n , Ra...'s member friend had been calling us to tell us where he was moved, and Romero never answered the phone and never responded to the voice mails...of which I knew nothing until Saturday night...and he had been calling us to come give a blessing, because he was sicker than he had been....and so I called brother Ne...n, who is a less active, to see how Ra...l was doing and to see why he wasn't at church, yesterday...Sunday......and Ra...' had passed away that morning...so a few hours before I called, he had passed away...and because of the lack of attention given to the phone calls by Hermano Ne...n, no podiamos dar una bendicion a [ we could not give a blessing to ] Rafael....and honestly I'm a little sad inside because I had developed a deep love for this man because we had performed a miracle to this man to let him speak again, and to hear of his passing through a phone call when I could have been a little closer tot he situation...I'm just a little grieved...but its the Lords will, and nothing else and so I am happy that he is not suffering in his body here anymore...and I know that he will find his way to Christ on the other side...but for Be...o, we don't know whats going on with him, because he is little slower than most people and so we have to work through the Ne...ns still, and its a very interesting situation.
I know this church is True, and I know that Missionary Work is Calling given from God, and that only through the Spirit, can we know the truth of all things
With Love,
Elder Scott
Trujillo
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