Pretty crazy that we're already in 2018, no? Nikki would know, but in the MTC, they give you this card that had your start date and your release date on it, and I remember being in my room at the MTC, and looking at that card, and thinking "Fah, 2018 is so far away!" And now we're here! How crazy! Not gonna lie that last night, I couldn't avoid the thought that coming home is getting close... I'm not trunky at all, but its just crazy to see it actually coming closer. I remember starting December with Elder Popa, and now December's over! I think when we finish January, I'm still going to feel like I've got some time left XD You just don't accept reality as a missionary! The other day, I was filling out paperwork, and one of the forms asked for my age, and I put 18, AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE! I just kept filling it out, and a couple minutes later, I was like "Oh wait, I have 20 years, not 18" XD Coming home is gonna be like waking up from a sweet dream...
Aaaaanyways, now that weve passed that super trunky moment, I hope you guys had a great New Year's Eve! It was funny, because Elder Ekblad told me that he always passed New Year's in a party with his friends, and was a bit surprised when I told him that I pass every year with you guys :) I wouldn't give up that bucket throwing, merengue listening, puzzle building (even though I never help XD), fiesta for anything! This year is going to such a crazy year of my life, but I've got a good feeling
This week is pretty much a blur for me... It's coming back to me little by little... I remember that at the start of the week, the gringos finally arrived to the mission. They seem like good missionaries :) We spent Monday welcoming them and getting them settled in (Christmas Day... thus my 2 hour late Skype call), Tuesday training them and the Trainers Training (which is one of my favorite trainings to give, because we do a sick practice). It was really weird because I always gave that training with Elder Popa, but this time I gave the training TO Elder Popa. So that was weird XD Wednesday and Thursday were spent shuttling the newbies to tramites and the terminal to get them out and to their areas. It was nice to get to know them, and like I mentioned before, they seem like really nice people.
One of the trainers is currently living with us, so we've got a trainee also living with us, which is fun. He's a gringo, but we don't speak English to him at all, and he looks confused the whole time! It's nuts to see a kid fresh out of high school. It makes me see how I was, and how much I've changed and grown here in the mission. Family, just get ready to get to know me again, because I'm the same old Elder Jimenez, but at the same time no. We'll just have to see...
The rest of the week was spent doing changitas for Presidente. We were able to come up with a plan in which the office elders can actually keep an area up and running. The plan is that we're all going to work in the same area, and keep a really clean Area Book to coordinate our efforts. It's nice, because even if Elder Ekblad and I find an investigator, but then we leave for a month (like we do every transfer), the other oficinistas will be able to keep teaching that person. So we're excited for that!
I have 2 big experiences that happened this week. We'll start with the mas o menos negative one, that ended up being positive. So, we were contacting in our new area, and had a couple of really sweet contacts, when we run into a man, and stop to contact him. We were offering to show a video, and he said "I'm a Christian Preacher, and am not in accordance with several of the beliefs of your church, for example the belief of becoming gods. I believe in Jesus Christ, so if it has to do with any of those beliefs of yours, I prefer not to watch" The video was Gracias a El, so it wasn't anything too crazy, and he decided to watch. After showing him the video, we asked him what he thought, and he proceeded to give a 1 hour, Bible based lecture. The worst part though was that he tore us apart! Usually, the pastors down here know the Bible a bit, but they base themselves 90% in 2 scriptures that are super easy to see why there's a flaw in their teaching, but they don't let us explain it to them because they just talk. All the other times I had run into preachers, it had been really easy to shake off the doubt that they tried to instill in me. However, this man was different. His knowledge of the Bible was INCREDIBLE. Essentially, in an hour, he picked apart several of the main points of our doctrine (he knew our doctrine super well, because he had studied with other missionaries various times, and had done research. The guy would threw around words like "Pearl of Great Price" and "Doctrine and Covenants" and that's when we knew he was legit), reciting literally more than 30 different verses of the Bible, and using them in ways that actually made a lot of sense. His doctrine was super sound. And the worst part was that he actually asked us great questions, and gave us time to think and talk, but we didn't have anything. Add on top of that, and I'd say that this is actually the worst part, but I actually felt love on his part. Most of the other preachers come and they just want to tear us apart and make us feel bad, but I felt that this guy was actually worried about our salvation.
After that contact, I felt like trash. I noticed how much of the scriptures I don't know, nor understand. I felt bad because I'm a missionary with 21 months in the mission, but my knowledge of what I'm teaching is still totally novice. I feel like I failed the scripture that says "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men". I was sooooo unprepared to meet that man, and I felt bad because sometimes, one is in the mission, and feels like they already know kind of everything, and you get comfy, and even though I still study every day, my studies are not well planned sometimes, and sometimes I come out of them without having learned much. After the contact with the pastor, I noticed how horribly unprepared I still am, and the worst part was that he gave me a new, terrible feeling: doubt. His doctrine was soooo sound, and everything he had said made sense. That was on Saturday. All Saturday night and Sunday morning, I felt depressed, because I was seriously questioning if I was in the truth or no. If all of this turns out to be a mistaken path, would I be able to change my beliefs? All my life I've been taught to believe these things, and I even feel like I have my own testimony, but if it all were a lie, would I be able to tell? Could it be that all this is a suuuuper sinister scheme of the adversary, to lull us into a mistaken path by making it seem like the right one? I couldn't stop thinking. However, after thinking, and praying, and more than anything worrying, at the end of Sacrament meeting yesterday, an inspired thought came to mind. "That man contradicted everything I believe using the Bible. However, there are thousands of churches in the world, all of which have other doctrines, and other men that also know the Bible cover to cover, that could easily Bible bash with that man, and also continue contradicting what I believe. So you'd have endless beliefs, all contradicting each other with the same book, and all at the same time contradicting what I believe, and like I said, all using one book: the Bible. Any man that believes that a God that loves us enough to sacrifice his Only Begotten Son to save us would then turn around and give us a book that has to be followed correctly to gain His salvation, but that also causes a ton of confusion, and that, according to all the other churches on the planet, only allows the 1% of the people who magically have the right interpretation to be saved is not a very logical, nor wise, nor spiritual man. It makes a ton of sense then, that to accompany that book of instructions, God would give us "the second witness" to help us find the correct path, and as the Book of Mormon says, that the Bible and the Book of Mormon will grow together, support one another, and put an end to the contention and false doctrine." The thought was enlightening, and I believe that the promise that President Monson gave last April, that the Book of Mormon would help us to conquer fear and doubt, was made reality for me to end 2017.
Due to the HUGENESS of this letter, I'm going to save the other experience for another time. But I just want to let all of you know, that entering into this new year of 2018, I want you all to know that I KNOW THAT THE BOOK OF MORMON IS THE WORD OF GOD! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior! He loves us! Take the New Year's goals that actually mean something to you, knock, and HE WILL ANSWER, and He will help you make 2018, and all the coming years, the best years of our lives.
FAMILY: I hope y'all can finish reading this letter by 2019 XD It was awesome to see you guys on Christmas, and we'll be seeing each other soon :)
MOM! Keep up the good work at school. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!
Love, Elder Jimenez :)
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