Haha
to answer the question about the cigarettes and smoking. They are
right, everyone smokes here. And let me tell you, I´m pretty sure I´ve
smoked a pack myself from all of the second hand smoke haha. I used to
get brutal headaches from smoke, but it´s not as bad now- blessings from
being a missionary. But the worst is when we´re in a home and they are
smoking and you can actually see the smoke in the air... I usually hold
my breath and take quick breaths through my shirt. When we leave those
homes, I usually try to breath out all of the smokes from my lungs haha.
I know it doesn´t work, but it does in my mind.
This
week was incredible and I learned a lot about the opportunities that
the Lord gives us as missionaries and members of the Church to help
prepare people to receive the gospel. The Lord always has a way of
softening peoples hearts, and sometimes this process happens through our
actions. I have three experiences that stuck out to me this week.
1.
We got our hair cut on Thursday. I went in the morning and then we went
in the afternoon for Elder Brown. When we were there in the morning, I
asked the hair stylist about his son that was in a picture and we got
talking about his family. We talked about the mission and what we do.
Anyways, when we went back in the afternoon, we got talking again and he
asked us out of the blue what happens after this life. We started
talking about the resurrection and the plan of salvation. He told us
that his son had died 3 months ago and that he was initially mad at God.
But now he just wants to have peace and comfort knowing where his son
is. We taught him a little bit, gave him a pamphlet, and showed him
where he could find more answers online. It was a testimony that the
Lord prepares the hearts of his children in the right moments.
2.
We got home from church, and on our door the neighbor (and owner of the
home that we rent) had invited us to go over to their home for lunch.
It was awesome. We got their and all of their family was visiting them.
There was about 20 people. We had an asado, empenadas, potatoes, fruit
salad, and we talked a lot to them. They offered us wine and we told
them that we were okay with water. We talked about why we do the things
we do, what we do as missionaries, about the language (a few of them
spoke english) about sports (especially the NBA and Manu Ginobli- he´s
from Bahía Blanca), and about the United States. The Spirit kept telling
me to smile, to laugh, to be happy, and to show them by example who we
were. When we finished eating, I asked if it would be okay to share
something with them. I didn´t share scriptures or anything, but I shared
my simple, but strong testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ. That He
lives and we can have eternal families because of Him. It was an
incredible experience to feel the Spirit and to know that we love our
Savior Jesus Christ. One of them even said afterwards (who was Catholic)
that we focus a lot on Jesus Christ in our Church. I was glad that the
Spirit bore witness of that to him. We left them with a prayer. It was
an experience that the Lord blessed us with.
3.And
the same Sunday, we were walking and we saw a young couple digging out
weeds on a piece of land that they had just bought. They were preparing
it to build there house there. We stopped, grabbed the extra shovels and
started helping them. As we helped them, they asked us a lot of
questions and we were able to share many things with them. In a few
years they will move here to Cerri and I hope that they are prepared to
receive the fullness of the gospel. They were so amazed and grateful,
that they asked if they could take a selfie with us haha because they
wanted to tell their friends.
I
know that the Lord has many ways of preparing His children to receive
His gospel. I challenge each of you to pray for opportunities and ways
to help people strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ. If we are
willing, I promise that the Lord will give us opportunities.
Thanks for all the love and support! Good luck starting school everyone!
Love Elder Bosco II
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