k here's my letter!
Cambio news this week was kind of a curveball: Elder Gomez is out of here to Angol (so glad I'm not him) and they closed our sector and put me and my new comp in Lagonillas, another sector in the zone. It will be a "whitewash" so we will be pretty lost for a while. Up until now there have been 6 missionaries in Boca Sur but they closed our sector so now there will be only 4, And now there will be 4 in lagonillas I guess. Pretty crazy and unexpected news after only having one cambio here in Boca but it's good news too for a lot of reasons. I think they did it mostly because lagonillas is totally a killer ward and sector. My comp is Elder Oxburrough (spellcheck)! I dont know him very well but he is a really nice guy. I'll give more details next week. Ok so this week was pretty busy and good. Obviously now that we are both leaving pretty much all the work we have done this cambio we will be passing to the other elders here but I guess I'll go into our week anway why not. The coolest event is that the previous week we had tought a 15 year old kid on the doorstep and we went back and his whole family was there! His mom turned out to have been baptised in the church when she was 16 , but the dad and the two little brothers aren't members. We taught them a few times this week and they are totally golden. The mom is not very transparent about the fact that she pretty much wants her whole family to be baptized and in the church so that makes things pretty easy hahahah. We had a super killer lesson with a husband and wife in our ward that are the elders quorum couselor and beehives teacher and converts. How perfect is that!?!?! They got really excited about the youth programs of the church and the daughter almost went to a beehives activity etc. They are by far the coolest people we met all this Cambio and im sure that the other elders here will do great with them (DANGIT). I did an intercambio with Elder Meilings comp Elder Cheney from Vancouver Washington and it was really fun. We were in boca and I was really proud to have learned how to get around in such a big sector and to know all the members blah blah blah the irony is now I'm leaving and I'll have to walk around lost for a couple weeks with Elder Oxy hahahaha. welp. Elder Cheney and Meiling are great friends and now I'll be conviviendo with them in lagonillas so that will be really fun and a weird throughback to the Cunco days w Elder Meiling. We also got to go to a baptism there on Saturday and it was really cool to be able to see how Elder Meiling helped the convert through the experience etc and think that I at least had some part in his entry to the mission. It was really cool and me and Elder Gomez were really impressed by the ward involvement and support and the irony of it all is that on the bus home we were talking about how we thought that someday the LZs of san pedro would be switched from boca sur to lagonillas and then opened the door to our house only to recieve the call that exactly that would be happening hahahaha. The Lord knows our hearts. That's the weird thing about being really close to the spirit on the mission. This whole week as we rode around in micros and talked to members etc I couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to leave even though it was totally not the reasonable or probable thing to think. God really does speak to us through the Holy Ghost if we are connected to Him. After that it was a lot of tough goodbyes for Elder Gmez (6 months here) and a lot of kind of awkward "we only kind of got to know you"s for Elder Smith (6weeks here). It was really cool to see how many wakes in peoples lives a really consecrated and pure of heart missionary like Elder Gomez could make, especially contrasted with the kind of lukewarm legacy that I left in such short time (obviously not because of it being me or anything, just becaus of the time here obviously hahaha). It definitely inspired me to try and make those kind of impressions on people in lagonillas now that I didn't have the time to do it here. Honestly the huge weight of thinking about having to fill Elder Gomez's really big shoes here in boca sur was on my shoulders all this cambio, so actually I'm really relieved now to not have to do it hahaha. He was really really loved here. I can already totally see that this is the will of God and I'm happy about this cambia. I will be really sad to say good bye to some people. N. is probably the hardest one to say goodbye to. At least I'll see everyone in stake conferences and intercambios etc. I've been really enjoying my studies lately again. I have been thinking a lot about what Pres Uchtdorf said in conference about how we walk on pathways of diamonds and treat them like pebbles. Our doctrine as Mormons is so profoundly perfect and simple. We do not appreciate the clarity that we have. It has been made very clear to me as a missionary as the mysteries of God have been slowly revealed to me over time. The sad part is that a lot of people do not want to have clarity in their lives for fear of having to act or change. On the other hand the knowledge i know have has certainly served me and the others i have taught and teach and will continue to do so. I love to learn the simple things about the gospel inside and out. As we do that it can become easy for us to help others learn those things in an organic and powerful way. I love being a missionary. Our zone is still making slow and sustainable progress so that's good. Welp it looks like my future cambio will be full of a lot of door knocking, getting lost, and walking walking and more walking. Lagonillas is even bigger than Boca wow. It's going to be so much fun though. Ok thats kind of it. Love you guys so much! Its a bummer to not be at the wedding but its ok. Congrats! Send me a ton of pics please! Love you all so much! Elder Trevor Smith
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Elder Trevor SmithElder Trevor Smith is a Mormon missionary in the Chile Concepcion Sur mission, the same mission where his dad served. Although this is Trevor's own mission, he grew up hearing about the beautiful land of Chile and the loving people that inhabit it. These are the letters from his experience there. Archives
July 2017
|