Act and Not be Acted Upon and AAAAAAAA......P

July 18, 2017

Well I was gonna keep it top secret but looks like Elder Stones spilled the beans hahaha. I am now one of the assistants to President Nelson, my companion is Elder M from Bolivia, and we will be working in the Heyotlipan Ward! That's why I didn't write yesterday, we were greeting the new missionaries, saying goodbye to the old missionaries, and getting everything set up! Elder M is very hard working and he means business, lots to learn from him. This week my pday is Tuesday, but after today it will still be Monday. I am pretty nervous haha but also very excited! Yesterday we went to President Nelsons house (not even in the misión boundaries) with the missionaries who are heading out (Elder P, my dad went home today). Lots of things should be very different now. 

This week we were able to baptise L and S, the two girls in the picture, and their parents are going to get married in August so that they can get baptised too. Such a great family! The dad works everyday except for Sundays, so it's hard to teach him, but he has been reading the Book of Mormon on his own time, and he told us yesterday that he can now say he knows the Book of Mormon is true because it answers his questions when he reads it. It was very sad to say goodbye to them, even though I was only in the Ward for 6 weeks, I feel a lot of love for them. Pretty powerful. Elder A also had changes, so two new missionaries are there now, Otto Comins boy Elder Allen is one of them! I honestly feel very happy about the work we did in Amalucan. It was known to be one of the hardest wards and zones in the misión, with the smallest area to proselyte, but we didn't listen to what they said and just worked hard! Big lesson there. Also the zone is leading the whole misión right now in baptisms in July! 

The culture of the misión here is changing and I am loving it! Should be a very crazy few months here!

Great to hear about everyone getting married though!

Love you all, 

Elder Lethaby

July 24, 2017

It has been a very weird, crazy week. 

We prepared and gave over 8 hours of training this week, went to the Noche de Salientes (not sure how to say that in English) which was in Presidents house which is very nice and not in the mission boundaries, and I learned a lot of things that we do here that I never even thought about who prepared all that stuff before. It's honestly a lot of fun though! I got to see every one of my companions from my whole mission this week and they are all doing great! Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing anything because we have just been in the office doing things on computers every day, but we have also had a lot of fun, and spiritual experiences. 

That's a lot of things that I didn't expect! Congrats Lance! And Niki (Tagg) and Shane (Cuckow)! And everyone! 

Sounds like things are going good though.

From what Elder Al and S are saying, the fam we baptised last week is going good, they get along with them just as well as we did! 

The white shirts are a miracle (his shirts still look white!)! And now we have a real washing machine and everything! Like the kind where you just push buttons. We also have a lot of cockroaches in our house though :(

I think the main thing I am learning here so far is how to be autosuficient (spanglish?). I still have my companion, but now there isn't a senior or junior companion, there's no district leader to call, and president is a very busy man haha, so I am learning to think for myself. I think before the mission and on the mission we often have a lot of questions like, do I have to talk to my bishop about that? Or does that count as a new investigator? Or is it ok to see that movie? We always want someone else to draw the line for us, we always want an answer of yes or no, and in this process we stop taking advantage of our personal agency. We honestly just have to think about what is the will of the Father in these situations, and do it! We have to get to the point where we think in the same way that the Father thinks, and then the answers will be clear. It's something we are trying to teach in the mission, like I shared in the scripture last week I think, we are to act, not be acted upon. (2 Nephi 2:26) I invite everyone to try to think in this way, to be independent but not selfish or prideful, but to be able to discern the good from the bad. 

That's what has been on my mind, hope it helps someone! 

Have a good week,

Love you all!

Elder Lethaby

Questions Answered:

What service did you give your companion this week?This morning I washed the dishes that they hadn't washed the whole week last week hahaha.

What have you learned to cook??:( oatmeal

Favourite scripture of the week?2 Nephi 2 26, are we people that act? That make things get done? Or just wait and let things happen and hope they're good things?

26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are  redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

What have you learned about your new Bishop, and how can you help him best? (Note: asked before we knew he was transferred)I can't help him much now hahaha because I'm not serving in his Ward now, but he seems to be organizing and training the leaders of the Ward more.

Did you get my letter with the stickers in it? Robyn Mulligan designed those, and sells them…also the patches.

Ya it just got here and they are really cool, Elder Barfuss was hyped too!

Will you travel to most parts of the mission with President Nelson?

Yup! In a few weeks we are just going to go to zone conferences all week with him, and sometimes if he wants to go on divisions with other Elders he will bring us along. 

What do you think of Sister Nelson?

She is one of the most impressive women I know. She does like 1000 sit ups every morning or something I heard, like literally. Has a hard time with the language, but everyone loves her a lot. Big fan. 

Scripture of the week?

2 Nefi 15: 25, and also the whole chapter. But I like this verse a lot because I was feeling kinda disappointed in myself this week but it helped me understand the atonement. 

 25 Therefore, is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

What cheers you up when things don’t seem to be going the way they should?

This week we weren't able to teach a single lesson with investigators (we had appointments but had to cancel), so I was feeling a lot of that this week, like I'm working hard but I think now that my work has to be focused differently so it feels like I'm not doing much. The scripture above helped me a lot though. 

Strangest thing you saw this week?

The streets at 1:00 in the morning, that is a weird sight. 

Mom saw this sign…You can’t please everyone…you’re not an avocado! Hope you’ve learned to love them! Avocados I mean!

I love them a lot. :)