Week 19: Letter Home

Dear Friends and Family,

So this week, I learned that I really don’t like Lamb’s heart. It’s edible, but it’s kind of weird the texture. My companion however loves it and so she ate all of mine! Love it when things like that work out.

This week, we did a lot and my patience has been tried a lot. My goal was to improve my patience this week. It may have been better to put that goal for a less stressful week, but too late. We taught a lot of people with trials in their lives and met some people that were a little bit rude or didn’t know how to stay on topic. It was a bit difficult to always respond in a polite way, BUT I feel like I did pretty great with my goal!

So John is a friend of a member who is super excited. His dad said that he believes that he’ll get baptized soon after his son if all goes well. John recently started reading his Book of Mormon and loves it. We left him the book the other day and when we returned, he goes that book that you left me is great! I read it and I just feel so satisfied afterwards and I actually understand what is happening and can retain the information. He said that usually when he reads things, he can’t retain the information super well. He’s super excited and is planning on being baptized Nov. 24^th!

Then we are teaching Stephanie. She’s got a bit of a different religious background. She thinks that God exists but isn’t quite convinced. She wants to believe, but she LOVES science and so when she thinks about all of the theories, she says it is often hard for her to believe in religion of any type. She also is the ex-girlfriend of Jose Luis who got baptized a few weeks ago (which btw, he is doing great! He loves the church and is always SOOOO happy. Before, he was in his room a lot and now, he is ALWAYS with the members playing sports or karaoke or whatever activity they have. He just says that he truly is a lot happier now. He’s preparing to receive the Priesthood in a few weeks.) But back to Stephanie, she met sister missionaries in Arequipa and is super excited to have us visit and calls our landline whenever she has a question. That is one thing that is tough. We don’t have cellphones which is odd because most missionaries now have cell phones. It makes things difficult to plan sometimes.

Then Jonas!!!! We met him yesterday. He came to church with a member and I noticed he already had a book of Mormon. We talked a little bit and then I found out that he wasn’t a member and wants to know how he can be baptized!! He loves reading his book of Mormon and the Bible! I just met him yesterday but hopefully next week I’ll have more to tell you!

We also have been trying to find a lot of the members who haven’t been to church in a long time. We are having a lot of success with these people! A lot of them simply don’t have a lot of support from their family and so we are working with their families and a lot of them are super receptive to listen and learn.

Well, I had to give a talk in church yesterday. Grace had been on my mind a lot. I shared that we are saved by grace AFTER all that we can do. I feel it went well. However, what I really loved was Elder Morales’s talk. He shared a story. There was a boy who was sick and he went to the doctor’s and through analysis of his blood, they found out that his blood had the cure to save thousands of other people. The doctors talked with the parents and asked if they could take his blood to save other people. The parents thought a long time about it because it would mean to give the life of their son to save thousands of others. After a long time and talking with their son, they decided they were willing. The son always was looking for ways to help other people. Many people were saved from this child’s blood and the people wanted to remember him. So every week, they got together to hold a service to remember Him. They met every Sunday in the church. Over time however, people got busy and forgot about the blessing, the miracle they had been give through this little boy and stopped attending the service of gratitude. He then compared this to Jesus Christ. It really struck me of why I go to church every Sunday. It is to remember my Savior. The Savior of the world. There is nothing too important that should keep me from this. I encourage all who believe in Christ to remember Him more often and those who don’t believe in Christ to study His life more and pray about it. I know that God answers prayers and if we have a desire, he will help us with that desire and give us knowledge.

That is about it for now. I love being a missionary! I have 2 more weeks here in this transfer and hopefully I get one more transfer after that! But we shall see. I send my love to you all and hope all is well.

Love,

Hermana Carly Jo Lang

carly.langmyldsmail.net

It poured the other day! How do you like my attractive outfit?