[Mason] Buenos Dias

    First off, happy anniversary to my wonderful parents, Bret and Tracie, or Mom and Dad, as I should say.  I know its been a rough last 20 years at least, because that's when it started with me...haha....at least there are no more food bills for a little while, solely food requests?!?

The 4th of July over here was probably the coolest I've ever had in a few ways OK, so hear me out, you will not believe what happened.

makeshift poncho

OK so as you may know, on Thursday afternoon, Hurricane Arthur decided to hit North Carolina, and much of the upper East Coast as well so all of the fireworks shows were cancelled for Friday night and moved to Thursday night, because the weather was forecast to hit Friday not Thursday.  We were all given permission to watch these fireworks, as long as we stayed within our stake boundaries..... the Charles River in in the Cambridge stakes boundaries, and so the classic fireworks show with the concert and all of the fun was there, and we went.  At about 10pm the fireworks were supposed to start, it started a little early, because there was a shift in the weather patterns, but they had to end them early because the Police and Coast Guard ordered a mandatory evacuation, and so we all departed slowly to the T-Stations....so many people. OK so we are standing out side the station which is packed, and everyone is talking and having the time of there lives, and then out of the blue, I feel about 2 or 3 rain drops, nothing too bad, like a small  drizzle, nothing more, but nope it was as if the whole ocean was teleported above us and dropped. We were under water....I kid you not. One of us had a blanket and so we put that up over the sisters and whomever else we could, and we seriously felt like we were swimming, there was no air anymore, it was ridonculous.  People were screaming out, it was like a tsunami hit at the same time as Godzilla and the Kraken arrived, it was MASS CHAOS(Massachusetts chaos) but we finally got into the station, but 3 companionships of elders with us were stopped by the police at the entrance, and had to wait to go in, so they were drenched,....I nearly ruined my brand new tie....it was a nightmare, that would only be worth it, if I wasn't in Proselyting attire, but of course we were.

Anyways, it rained for the next day and a half or so.

So some changes, that I think all of you may be interested in is that here in the mission,  a sister was hit by a car, in a walking area, and so now she needs a car. She is fine by the way, just some soreness and whatnot, she is doing a lot better. Anyways, remember about 3 months ago, when we were asked if the mission could have our car, well esto es lo que paso otra vez. [ this is what happened again ] now, I would give anything to help this sister out, and so I made all of the the arrangements to get her that car that night, and that is what happened. So now, we are in a walking area....where there are no sisters for help, and so, being the Classic Elder Scott that I am, I had an Idea....and that idea was to call the Lynnfield elders, because I know they have bikes in their apartment, but there is a catch, alright, and the catch is that both of those bikes are broken....oh yippy...and so in the mission, we received two broken down bikes, both of which we had to fix with our own money. No hay un problema, [ no problem ] except the fact that my companion's bike doesn't have functioning brakes, and he has no money to pay for them either...it's a nightmare.  I have literally tried to get the rear brake fixed (he doesn't have any attached parts for the front brake) but it is almost like it is stretched out or something. The guys at the shop couldn't fix it either, let alone put it back together after they took it apart, so I had to put it back together again.

So we are on bikes, and so we have a 30 minute ride into Lynn every morning, and back to Revere at the end of the night....it's exhausting....

BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT, AND WE ARE SEEING SO MUCH SUCCESS FROM OUR EFFORTS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!

OK so church on Sunday, yesterday, was phenomenal, because we had 5 investigators there and we have 2 dates right now, that are going to go through, and that is not even the coolest part about my week, OK, neither is the deal with the bikes, because the coolest thing that any missionary could see, is your investigator develop a testimony and use it.

On Saturday, we visited Sonya Cava, and we were blown away by her. This friend of her's walked in, and noticed we were there, and started talking to us and eventually it progressed into a lecture about how her church is true, and how the restoration of the Gospel is fake and how we are a cult, and Sonya runs out of the room, and then returns with her Bible and her Book of Mormon, and starts preaching, and is like, "this church is true, and i will tell you why, and Joseph Smith is a real prophet, and i will tell you why", and it went on and on, and the other lady had enough of Sonya and simply said, que Dios les Bendiga, [ may God bless you ] and stormed off........and well, we should celebrate a bible bash, but we did, we bowed down to Sonya.  It was amazing, and I certainly have never had anyone stand up for me and my beliefs like that before, but clearly we can see she is being converted, it is true.

So this week, I really thought a lot about what it means to be converted, and also a lot about the Law of consecration, and I realized about Friday night, that I'm doing it all wrong, (well not all of it), just my attitude, which is a big part. I  was frustrated all week with these bikes and the fact that we have to pay for it, and I was stressed about the area, and how its going to work out and I also felt like my companion and I were abandoned my the mission to simply fend for ourselves.  My eyes were closed to any amount of good that could have possibly come from this predicament, and and it was awful, I felt like the spirit wasn't there helping me, and it was all of everyone else's fault, not mine right....Wrong. my FAULT 100%. I changed my attitude in one second, because I could see my companion's face, and something told me, not him, but someone told me that it will be fine, and then I agreed. As a missionary sometimes, I feel like I need to be in charge of everything and be in control over everything so that all goes well, and runs smooth. This is not how Gods will works, and it's not how it is done. God intends to let us succeed, but sometimes we have to go along for the ride first in order to get to that success;  not worrying about every detail, and trusting that God will do as he promised, and He will, no matter what, fulfill His promise, because He loves us so much and He IS GOD.  We are the ones that get in the way of it anyways, I have been getting in the way, because I have been trying to do it by myself only.  Being converted means having a deep trust in God, Our Father who is in Heaven, and being willing to literally be a follower of His Will.

       Now Friday night I realized that as a missionary, I am striving to become more consecrated in every aspect of my life, because I promised to live this higher law. It is hard to do, but as a missionary, it doesn't make it easier, but simply makes it more desirable and more accessible. All of time has been dedicated, all of my talents I am striving to develop and use, all of my energy is being exhausted every day. One other thing, that I came to realize, and a reason of why I was lacking the Spirit and my attitude was mal [ bad ], and why I was angry. The reason is because I hadn't consecrated my money, my substance, and I felt as if this is mine, but it's not mine, its God's, and granted I use it and I feel as if it is me that earned it, God gave me the job to earn it, he granted unto me the strength to be able to work for it, so in reality, my level of consecration wasn't up to where it needs to be. I changed it, my attitude, my level of gratitude, my desire to help God in His work, and I have come to the realization that gratitude is where the key lies in anyone's hearts and capacities in the act of consecrating themselves.

Well that is my rant for the day, um have a great week I guess

Elder M R Scott