Week 44: 10 Months


March 15, 2023

Greetings from the land of the pineapples.


There is a ton of dirt here, I have to brush off my shoes everyday or when I walk, I leave a trail in a cloud of dust. The people here are pretty nice, everyone says hello and we can easily squeeze in some contacts in between lessons. Jocotillo is just 2 main roads and a bunch of little offshoots to the sides. After working, all of the men hang out at the tiendas at the sides of the roads, half of them no longer wearing shirts, a lot of them drunk... Elder Marcia is awesome, he works hard and he's really funny too, we have fun everywhere we go. I've also starting trying to cook as of recent. Sometimes it's something a little unorthodox but it usually turns out better than just eating rice everyday.

Spiritual thought:

I was reading, I think in Luke, about when Christ, Peter, James, and John went up to the mount where Christ was transfigured. The Apostles fell asleep after a cloud descended upon the mount, Christ was transfigured to reveal His full glory, and Moses and Elias appeared to Christ to minister what was about to happen to Him. As I was picturing this event in my head, I tried to imagine what it would be like to be in Christ's shoes. Half mortal, half God, the only one of His kind. Prophets of the old testament had just come and ministered how you were going to die, and that the time was close. Your closest friends and confidants lie asleep leaving you with no one to converse or sort out what was to happen. When He descended the mount, he met a man with a child possessed with a devil. He cries desperately for help saying the Apostles couldn't heal Him. Christ makes a comment along the lines of "how long must I deal with this unbelieving generation?" And then heals the Child. Christ was usually around a good number of people, but I imagine that He must have felt very lonely a lot of the time. I know a lot of us have had times where we felt this way. That nobody understands, that nobody really cares as much as you would like them too. And what hurts the most is that you're literally doing everything you can just to help the people in front of you, to give them access to unimaginable blessings. And yet, they always fall short, a lot of them outright reject Him, spit on Him, beat Him, curse Him, betray Him, and in the end, crucify Him. All for the help He was trying to give them.

Try to imagine what that might be like. How difficult that really would be. How much would you be able to take?

When He hung on the cross, He did not swear or curse upon his persecutors, He lovingly petitioned that they would be forgiven, for they knew not what they did.

This is who Christ was.
This is who Christ is.

He did what no one else could, and He did it all without an ounce of malice or ill-will toward anyone.

Who are we to give Him anything other than thanks, and to try to reason that He is anything other than our infinitely loving Savior and Redeemer.

He knows you personally, He loves you infinitely. You are His beloved.

Take His yoke upon you, and find rest
- Matthew 11:28-30

This I share in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

~ Elder Owens

Pictures
Rhinoceros beetle - it's as big as the palm of my hand
This guy was hanging out in our shower.

My cooking...



Guatemalan UNO

We were trying to call our Branch President and he didn't answer by our phones captures some fun screenshots.
We went to a pizza place and wrote our names on a chalk board.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 39

Image
  February 8, 2023 This email is going to be a little bit different this week. I've been writing emails every week and that's really been my journal writing, and this week I want to express some thoughts and feelings that are a little more personal. #1 is that I no longer enjoy speaking just English or Spanish, my preferred language is Spanglish. When I'm tired after a long day I revert to thinking in mostly Spanish - Spanglish. #2 is that these past 2 weeks have been harder. We've had some of the best lessons I've had in the mission and when I'm outside I have energy and enthusiasm and I really enjoy what I'm doing. But whenever I'm in the apartment, I have a lack-luster motivation, no energy, and little to no motivation, especially in terms of getting out of bed. It's like I'm passing the best and worst moments of my mission at the same time. I'm not giving up anything, and I'm still doing the best I can at all times, it's just been...
Read more

Week 26

Image
(Service for some people we just met.) November 9, 2022 Soooo, this was a long week. Long because we've been really busy and hard at work. Now that we've talked to a massive number of people in the area, people are a bit more open to us. We've played soccer with the kids occasionally and we've helped around service-wise as well, so people know that we're normal people, but with a special purpose  . It's been really fun honestly. Spiritual thought: A mission is hard. It's supposed to be. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Grapes are crushed to make wine, diamonds are formed under pressure, olives are pressed to make oil, seeds grow in darkness. When you feel crushed, pressed, under pressure, or in darkness, you're in a place of powerful transformation. It's up to you whether you change for the better or not. I've changed a lot in how I interact with others. Anyone who knew me before, I didn't talk with strangers. Ever. I didn't try ...
Read more

Semana 13, Little Early

Image
August 8, 2022 Surprise, pday is on Monday because transfers were a little funny this time around. Woooooooo.  Elder Jenson and i are staying here but now Elder Jenson is DL (district leader) so ill be getting to help out and see what that's like nice and early in the mission. Literally almost nothing has happened because Elder Jenson and I got sick and have been stuck at the house since last pday. Luckily we're feeling a lot better today so that's good. Story time: So last night I was hardly able to sleep at all. I couldn't sleep until around 4:30. But in the time I was awake lying in bed, I was dreaming, even though I was wide awake. And the whole time, I could feel the spirit present, like what I was seeing was influenced by him. But I would close my eyes and it would be like I was in a dream. I saw myself in this dream. I recognized it as myself, but in the future. I saw myself endure difficulties, but as I had faith in God, these difficulties were made easy. I saw ...
Read more