Week 15 (Campestre, Atiquizaya)

First off we got news of transfers this morning. My comp is going far away and I am staying here. That means my training is over. But also I found out today too that I am going to be training a new missionary. I am both really excited and really nervous and don’t know if I am ready to do that. But I know the lord will help me. I feel honored though because It is really rare to train right after being trained, but I also feel a lot of responsibility, I just hope he speaks Spanish haha.

 

This week, their was the family of the brother and sister who were really positive. The brother was reading the Book of Mormon and the sister was positive, but the mom hated us and the church. Well, all of the sudden one day we come and the sister’s whole demeanor had changed. She didn’t want us there she kept saying the Book of Mormon was evil. It was super sad.

Then the family of four we had was super interesting. It is going to be a lot of work with him because he is deep in the apostasy. The 2nd lesson we had with him the first thing he said was, I read the book, and I almost started crying with joy. Then he was like, I read the first chapter, I was like, well that’s still really good. Then he said he really liked it. But then he started talking about how it was an answer to his question about why the people in his congregation weren’t singing and dancing, and why he couldn’t prophecy. Well the next lesson was just awful. We come in and he is watching WWE and doesn’t turn it off during the lesson, and the spirit just wasn’t there, then all of the sudden he stands up and starts walking around likes he is looking for something, then he finds a bottle of olive oil and asks if we believe in anointing, we said um yeah, and he drenches his hand in oil and calls outside to his grandma to bring the niece to him. Well he goes outside and starts anointing her, and it sounded like he was preforming an exorcism. And we are just inside his living room listening to it trying to figure out what is happening, Then the little girl’s friend comes in through the door looking all concerned, and she asks us why he is doing that to her friend. it was really weird. They just need a little more work haha.

Another strange thing that happened was we had an encounter with a drunk man. He is the father of a recent convert who went inactive but just started coming back. We had had two really powerful lessons
with him where he said he could feel the spirit so strong. Well we were coming to visit him and his dad was outside super drunk. We were like hey how’s it going, he responded "DEFENDER OF MEN" haha and we were like what, well is Alex home. "How do you know his name?"  Well we know him. "Alright go inside.. what are you afraid?" uh no sorry we will go inside. and he wasn’t there haha so we come back outside and tell him he wasn’t there. Well he was like "really? where is he?" Uh we don’t know, "Is it alright if I receive your lessons" uh maybe it’s better if we wait for Alex to come, are you his dad?  which he replies "NO... You guys are, He is in a time of life where he is making decisions" then he continues to say "I don’t want to offend you,, but I transport coffee"  well uh that’s great. "I am from the earth.. COFFEE".  Haha it was a really funny experience.

Other than that not lot happened this week, we set a couple of dates for baptism for in December so we shall see. We have been trying really hard to find a lot of new investigators but everyone replies either they already go to a church, they don’t live there, or they work so they are rarely home. Or they just tell us to come back at a certain time and then they aren’t their when we come back. It’s really hard especially when we have days like Friday where all our appointments fall through and then no one lets us in so we end up only having one lesson in the day. 

I know the lord is testing us though to see if we will continue to be diligent. I was reading in Mosiah this week about the people of king Noah and the people of alma and their different responses to trails. The people of Alma immediately seek help from god and he gives it, but now by taking their burdens away, but by making them light. I know I have felt this help during the days
like that where it is just discouraging, but I don’t feel discouraged, I feel like someone is helping me keep walking and helping me not be discouraged. 

Also with the people with Alma we learn that they were super good, because they are the ones who left Noah to be baptized, and the lord said he was pleased with them, but he wanted to test them. So we learn that even if we do the stuff we are supposed to, we will have trails, but they are from good, to test us, and help us learn and grow stronger.

Love Elder Blanchard