Well time is really flying by, I still can’t
believe how fast it is going!!! I only
have one more week left in this transfer and just hit my 5 month mark! This was the first time that I have gotten
sick since starting my mission. I remember waking up thinking, "Oh no!"
because I HATE being sick. I always feel so unproductive by the end of the day
so I decided to tough it out and still work...which was a bad idea.... because
I ended up sick in bed for the whole next day.
My Dad gave me a good suggestion last week to
improve the work when it is slow and kind of depressing. He told me to figure out ways to make it fun
and interesting and gave me several examples of what he did on his
mission. So we tried a few things. One day we went out and decided that if we
saw a person wearing a green shirt we would have to talk to them no matter
what!! This was way fun because we would see someone and run over to them with excitement
and talk to them. Also, when we would knock doors we went through a scenario of
where the building would explode in 5 minutes and the only safe spot was inside
the apartment of someone. So we would run up the stairs and start knocking! It made our work a lot more effective and fun!
I think because we had such a better attitude the Lord was helping us. We
contacted so many people who were interested this week, they told us to come
back and I think there is a difference that people can feel when we are excited
and having fun preaching the gospel!
Also, for one day we went to the rich area on
top of the hill to see if we could find anyone who was interested in our
message. Man was it pretty! The houses were huge with a sweet view of the ocean
and the city of Tavira! Most of the people were German or English living in
Tavira for the winter. I would make my contact in English but I realized that my
English is really bad. I don’t know how
to keep a conversation going, I think in Portuguese now. It truly has been a blessing from the Lord.
This one guy had no idea what I was saying and went into the house and came out
with 5 euros. I kept telling him, “No,
we can’t accept this, it’s against our rules, and we can’t take it!” Then he
got really mad at me and put it in my hand and said, "No you will keep
this money whether you like it or not!" So we left that area richer than
when we entered. "The gospel really
does bless us!" haha I’m kidding, we took the 5 euros to the church the
next day and gave it for fast offerings!
So something frustrating happened this week
with our investigator Cecilia, who is actually a member and lives way out in
the orange farms about a 20 minute car drive from town. So she’s a member but
hasn’t been active for many years. They lost her baptism papers or records so
she needed to be re-baptized. She had a desire to learn everything again
because she forgot it all!!! So the last 4 weeks we have been teaching her! She
was ready to be baptized and the day of her baptism they called us and told us she
didn’t need to be baptized again. I was so disappointed but then I realized how
selfish I was being. I was thinking about numbers and if "I" got a
baptism. When really it was a blessing that God placed us in her life so she
could learn about the gospel and be active again in the church! The experience made me look at everything we
are doing in a different way. I am not here only to baptize, I am here to be a
representative of Jesus Christ and help people whatever their circumstances
are, through his gospel.
I have been thinking a lot about the atonement
of Christ. It truly is a blessing to view the atonement as a missionary because
you can see how it changes people and helps them with their challenges. I also see it work in my life as I repent and
try to be a better person, a man of God.
Well I don’t know if I am going to get transferred
this next week or not. Either way I sure
am grateful for the things I have learned here in Tavira!
Fica Bem!
- Elder Herrmann
Pictures
1) #1001 never forget
2) The rich area!
3) Found a hobbit home!
4) This was on the back side of the hill!
5) Tavira
6) Ya boi
7 & 8) Chillin on the trax
No comments:
Post a Comment