Rachael's Mission

Mexico Torreon Mission October 2015 - April 2017

Rachael's Picture

Rachael's Picture

Monday, February 1, 2016

Week 16 (Are You Making Every 'NOW' Count?)

Dear family and friends,

I'm so glad you guys had such a fun time at the Midway Ice Castles and the Provo City Temple open house! We definitely need to go to all those places when I return home, in what 14 1/2 months? ;) Actually, I can't believe that I have almost completed 4 months and at the same time it feels like it has been an eternity. I don't understand time here. I just live with it and keep moving forward. 

Entonces, mi semana! Well, to be honest it was not a good week according to our numbers, but it didn't feel as terrible as the numbers looked.

Monday

It was a normal P-Day full of cleaning, washing of clothes (arm workout for the century, check), and district meeting which is always good.

Tuesday

Today we had our interviews with Presidente Ramos. For some reason all the Elders took a whole eternity! I swear that the Second Coming was about to happen they took so long!  The Hermanas were only with Presidente for about five minutes each. We basically lost our entire day to waiting. But it was okay because we talked with the Hermanas and Elders and read scriptures. My interview was short and sweet. That night we went to visit a contact named Diana. It turns out she has listened to our messages before and wants to be baptized!! BUT, there's always a but, she needs to get married, and of course, her 'husband' doesn't want that commitment, even though they already have two kids together? I don't understand these people. It's always a work in progress.

Wednesday

Well, it was freezing and raining again today. It turns out I not only bring the rain but the snow as well! It was snowing in Torreon, Durango and everywhere around us, except our area in Gomez Palacio! I still have my water super powers! Everyone is getting wet but me! ;) Today we went to teach a new contact, Brenda and her family. They are golden! She is so accepting of our messages and she and her family have the desire to be baptized! Yaya! We will continue to work with them and hopefully be able to baptize an entire family! I'm so excited for them and their potential!

Thursday

Normal, nothing to report........and I don't really remember what happened today to be honest.

Friday

We have a goal to invite people to be baptized in the first or second lesson and it has been going super well. It is fabulous! It is a filtering system because we are here to bring people to Christ through baptism, not to just teach them and make people feel all good inside-still important but not our main purpose. It helps that they know that they must be willing to act. Today we met a girl named Eneví. She looks 23 and she is pregnant. But NO, she is 17 and is married to a man who already has 4 other children each with different women! The relationships here are INSANE! There are so many things that confuse me here, but then I just say "That"s Mexico for you" and move on because there is no other explanation.

Saturday 

We made some real progress with some of our menos activos in our ward! We helped Lupita really understand that we go to church to renew our covenants and what that means to renew our covenants. With that understanding she was so ready to go to church again!! We also discovered why Angeles was not going to church. She's been reading about other churches, especially the Jehovah Witnesses. All this reading put doubts in her head. People let me just tell you straight up that if you read materials from other churches you are going to get confused and forget the eternal truths that you already know to be true through the Spirit. Why go and read other people's books when the church has thousands upon thousands of talks, books, quotes, etc for us to study and read! You would need more than a lifetime to read everything that the church has to offer. So please read that to fortify your faith. Don't doubt and go in search of the opinions of man. If you don't believe me, read the talk by President Uchtdorf "It Works Wonderfully"! Even if you don't have doubts still read his talk because it is amazing! Please stay true to the faith.

Sunday

I learned about Mexican Standard Time today. It's like Mormon Standard Time where everyone shows up just before church starts, but with Mexican Standard Time everyone shows up at least 10 minutes late. We start with 30 people and end at 130!  I am not going to complain about Mormon Standard Time again. ;)  After teaching in the evening, Cristal gave us sandwiches to take home. As we were eating, I learned that my Compañera has NEVER EATEN A SANDWICH! Who has never eaten a sandwich? That is my Peruvian for you. We received a call tonight that we have cambios (transfers). Hermana Rubina is to go to Torreon and I am to stay in Gomez Palacio with Hermana Gomez! We couldn't believe it! It was so unexpected when Hermana Rubina only has 2 weeks left!

Monday

Well we changed companions so now I am sitting here with Hermana Gomez-my new companion. I think we will get along swimmingly and have a lot of success! I am looking forward to what miracles the Lord will bring us!

I have to say, I definitely feel like Dr. Spiritual! Everyone pours out their entire soul and life story to us! I know so many secrets at this point and have heard so many points of view of the same story that I'm impressed I can even keep it straight! I am going to be so prepared to go into the medical field! It is so funny because I sit there and listen and diagnose and then give them a scripture that I think will help them. I am literally a Spiritual Doctor.

I have been reading the conference talks lately and this quote really struck me as profound. It said "Eternity is composed of Nows". Wow, eternity is the greatest gift of God and this life is part of eternity, so this life is one of the greatest gifts he could ever have given us!  We only have now! Don't let our 'nows' be 'nows' of sorrow, depression, self loathing or sadness. Let them be 'nows' of happiness, growth and filled with the light of the Savior! Cherish our 'nows' and make every 'now' count! You only have so many and you can never get them back. Learn from them. I have really come to realize that sometimes we create our own, unnecessary, problems. Try to simplify your lives. Don't create more work for yourselves. Life is hard enough with Satan already piling on the workload. We don't need to be adding more. 

Well, stay strong! Keep becoming! Cherish the 'nows' and have an amazing week! Love you all! Thank you to everyone that emails me! You all uplift me with your thoughts!

Love,

Hermana Lutze

No comments:

Post a Comment