Hope everyone had a great
New Year's celebration and had lots of fun!
We had a lot of fun here down in La
Paz, people down here really now how to celebrate the new year: with food. Lots
and lots of food. And as the title shows, they don't just party for New Year's
Eve in the night, but people celebrated for days. It was crazy.
Because of the craziness of
the atmosphere down here in this past week, we were not able to find most of
the people we were teaching at home. The streets were pretty much dead! It was
unreal. It was nearly impossible to find people walking on the streets, and so
if our plans failed with the lessons we had planned, we were not able to find
people to invite to learn more either. Ultimately, for our safety, and to be a
bit more productive in finding people in their homes, we spent some more time
with members this week. I ate so much food this week, including, (but not
limited to) lots of rice, beans, chicken, and menudo, pozole, and so much
more. For those of you that may not know (like me when I ate it), menudo is a soup
that contains cow stomach. It´s surprisingly pretty good! I only lost my
appetite a little bit after I found out what it was that I had just
eaten.
In other news, we found out this past Saturday that Elder Padilla
is getting transferred out of the area, and so he is no longer my companion ):
. He is so great, after just a few hours of not being with him, I already miss
him. It was so sad saying bye, but I have a new companion now, named Elder
Islas! He is from Mexico City and has 17 months in the mission. I am pretty
excited to have a chance to work with another missionary and learn from
him.
But anyway, on to the most
important thing of the mission: the blessings and miracles that God gave to us
this week. This week we were walking by after having a lesson fall through, and
we decided to stop by the house of an investigator. It turns out it was her
birthday! She opened the door to us, and she let us in, even with all her
family there! We were able to teach her, along with her family, about the basic
principles of the teachings of Jesus Christ: that we have a Father in Heaven
that loves us, and that He loves us so much that He gave us His Son, so that we
can be guided in this life.
In other instance, just
yesterday, we were walking to church, and we passed a man that was standing on
the sidewalk, and I felt I should have talked to him, but I just said good
morning and was going to keep going. Instead of me talking to him, he contacted
me! He asked us a couple questions, and we were able
to explain our basic beliefs in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. He explained to us that he was looking for that source in life to be
able to have true peace and happiness, and I was able to testify to him that
the only true source of eternal happiness is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
which is found in this church, and then we invited him to come to church with
us (which began twenty minutes from that point). He accepted the invitation and
came with us! And it was one of the most powerful church services I've felt, as
we were able to see members from the congregation testify of their belief in
Christ.
I am so grateful for the
many blessings that God has given me, and the blessings that God gives to all
of His children on the earth. He is aware of each one of His children, and
wants all of them to be happy, because he loves us all! I know that so often we
can feel lost and confused and even unhappy with our lives and the way the
world may be, but God has a plan for all of us. He has provided a way for us to
enjoy increasing happiness! I know that this plan is real, that the fullness of
His plan of happiness is found in this church, and that He loves us all.
Have such a wonderful
week!
--
Elder Daines
"The zone."
"The District."
"My cactus friends and me."
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