This week was the first week of the new change, but I feel like the word change is just losing meaning to me, because nothing actually changed. I'm in the same area, with the same companion, on the other side of the Ward, the same two other missionaries, etc. The only news is that I'm now in a tiny District. We're just the Del Maestro Crew! Lote Guasu uprising! Elder Walters, a very young missionary, is the District Leader, and he's doing really swell. He's a great guy and a wonderful missionary.
The work this week is stabilizing as I'm getting more stable internally. This are still rough in the companionship, but I realized that I need to be emotionally stable and strong for myself. I've been focused on keeping obedient for myself and keeping myself worthy, but I finally realized that I can also be happy or at least at peace for my own self, that that is not something that I can place on a circumstance or person outside of my control. I realized that last Monday doing some extra studies with P-day time, and the result let me to an understanding that the true peace, happiness, and emotional stability that we seek in our lives doesn't merely come from living the Gospel in the big outward facets. Living the Gospel in the big and important ways gives us security, often improves our situations, and lets us know where our future lay, but I had all of those things and yet could feel distress, sorrow, angst, or anxiety. Studying it out, I realized that the peace of mind and heart that the Gospel brings comes from having the Holy Spirit as our constant companion. There are some really wonderful talks about how to invite that Spirit into every second of our lives, and reviewing those, I was able to make some changes. The result has been fairly dramatic, and mainly resulted that I'm much less dramatic. I love this work and love the Lord. He is so kind and merciful and, though we cannot force the Spirit to be with us, He will always be there to guide us as we bring our thoughts, desires, and actions into His divine will. I love it so much.
Speaking of the work, we've continued to find people who seem quite prepared. Especially one family that we taught where the Mom of the family was really interested in what we had to share and is really Christian. We'll be seeing what'll happen with them this week. I have hopes!
The Montiel Orrego family is still coming to Church and they're ready to take the next step up to do vicarious work in the temple. I'm so grateful to God that He blessed us to help that family come back into activity. The Gospel is beautiful and when others come to see it for the second time, it rings deep within them.
I feel a lot of hope for this change. Nothing is concrete so far, but I feel like this week we're going to have some solid baptismal dates and investigators.
Today, we had an awesome zone activity with crazy games. It was kind of a minute to win it obstacle course. Five stations, and two teams of five people. The first team to get everyone through every station wins. Station one: thread a needle (more people got stuck on that than you'd think....... It was by far the longest). Station two: pull a coin out of flour with your mouth. Station three: Eat two fruits as fast as you can (choose from a selection of bananas, pears, apples) Station four: Drink a bottle of soda as fast as you can. Station five: Blow a balloon, tie it, and sit on it.
The last man has to eat and drink everything the others left. I was the last man. I never ate two apples and one pear so fast in my life.... I finished off the apples in only three bites.....
It was great fun! I love zone activities and love spending time with good friends in the mission.
One thing I've missed in the Mission is cooking pizza from scratch, but tonight we have a gigantic Family Home Evening, and so I made pizza dough early this morning! It still turns out well. :)
That's this week! I hope that you area all doing well and can have an enjoyable week! Have lots of faith in God and keep worthy and inviting to His Spirit!
I love you all!
Sincerely,
Elder Harris
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