Zarahemla Week 42

The Zarahemla District!

Greetings from Montréal! We have received our transfer calls... And I will be staying, yet again, in Zarahemla! This means that I will have spent my entire mission on the island of Montréal, and exactly half of my mission in the Zarahemla ward! I feel like I have become one with the members, it's so fun to be with them. They are like my family! Elder Ramos Chen is already leaving, which is sad, but I will be training a brand-new missionary! I don't know anything about him yet; it will be a mystery until I meet him this Thursday. But I'm excited to spend my last transfer training! It's going to be fun! Here are a couple of cool experiences we had this past week.

The other day, we had a bit of time left before needing to be home, so we decided to do a little bit of metro contacting. We got on the metro, and were finding Latinos, but we had a feeling that we needed to get off at a particular station, and turn around and take the train north. We got off, we went to the other side of the tracks, and got on the other train. At first there were no Latinos, so we decided to walk the length of the train to find someone who spoke Spanish. We walked and walked and walked, and then we found Julio! Elder Toledo and I had found Julio last transfer, and he was super cool; he even had a baptismal date for a while. But, some things happened, and he dropped us. I recognized him and said hello, and he seemed very happy to see us! He apologized for dropping us before, and said that he just had a lot of things going on at the time and wasn't in the best place emotionally or spiritually. He said that he was actually interested in us coming back, and invited us back the next day! It was cool to see that although we judged incorrectly that he was no longer open for the gospel, the Lord corrected our decision and put him again in our path! It was a great experience.

This week, we started teaching Blady, who moved from the Dominican Republic a while ago. He's super cool and is so very humble. He came to church on Sunday, and we met him before to discuss the Restoration of the Gospel a little bit. It made so much sense to him, and it was clear that the Spirit testified to him that what we were sharing is true. It really showed to me that when we are humble, the Lord can actually teach us. If we are prideful and unwilling to learn, the Lord cannot do much. Every single person that I have taught on my mission who were truly humble received clear and specific answers that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, etc. On the flip side, rarely do I see a prideful person receive answers. It takes humility and sincerity to receive direction from God, and Blady is a perfect example of that! It's a pleasure to teach him.

We had a sad experience this week that turned into a profound learning moment. Horacio, who was ready to be baptized last Saturday, last minute decided not to be baptized only hours before the service. Elder Ramos and I were crushed, primarily because we love him and care for him so much, and because we know of the blessings that he will be missing out on. On contemplating and reflecting upon this, the Spirit helped me realize that now I understand a fraction of what our Heavenly Father experiences and feels when he sees his children reject the blessings that he freely gives them. I strongly believe that experiencing this type of divine disappointment is part of the process of us becoming who God wants us to become. Although it is very saddening to witness, we are able to take solace in the fact that we worked as hard as we can, and did everything in our part to allow specifically Horacio to receive these blessings. But, as always with missionary work, we cannot force anyone to accept these things. It is always up to them. It's a privilege to be able to use these experiences as opportunities to grow. It reminds me of a scripture in John 17:3 which says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." In order to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ, I believe we must learn to experience, in part, the suffering that they have felt. Reading about God's suffering in the scriptures is one thing, but experiencing that suffering (a fraction, of course) is another. Experience isn't just the best teacher, I believe it is the only teacher.

Well I apologize that this turned into a sermon, but I am grateful to be here in Montréal, and to learn more about God and Christ through experience. Although we do sometimes have difficult moments, the positive far outweighs the negative. I am enjoying my time here a ton! It's been the best experience of my life! I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week.

Elder James