Hola a todos! <Hello everyone!>
I’ve never had such a cold week here in Puerto Rico, de verdad <for real>. It got down to like 75 or something and we were all rolled up like burritos in blankets during our studies. Oh, and it was raining too for like 2 days straight without stop. I’m pretty sure I’ve never been that cold without actually having snow on the ground. Sounds like I’m acclimating huh? LOL, well, it’s still hecka hot here and we still sweat like pigs and that’s like normal here. No one minds sweat cause everyone’s sweaty ALL THE TIME.
Here I am with a cool scripture story that would be worth like literally 10 minutes to read. You know the story of Enós <Enos>? You know… that one chapter of the Libro de Mormon <Book of Mormon> that is legit one page? You’ve probably seen it but I wonder if you’ve ever studied it? I definitely hadn’t until this last week when we decided to study the lesser-known prophets and teach them in lessons with members and menos activos <less actives>. We’ve both grown a great appreciation for Enós and the great conversion story he had.
I’m sorry I don’t remember the verses exactly, but at the beginning, he’s literally just going out to dink around in the woods and hunt or something normal and mundane like that and just thinking about the words of his father made him feel the need to pray and repent.
1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it—
2 And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.
3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.
4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed (Enos 1:1-5).
I don’t want to put the emphasis on how he prayed for a whole day to receive an immediate forgiveness, but how his father’s influence was such a huge part of his conversion. Literally, his dad had been preaching to Enós for his whole like, talking about the joy of the gospel and the plan our Father has for us.
But being a young kid, I bet Enós didn’t listen to his father. He probably heard the words but didn’t bother to pay attention or let them actually soak into his brain. But while hanging out in the woods, hunting bison or something cool like that, he started to think about his father’s words. They touched him so deeply that he had one of the sickest conversions in the whole Book of Mormon (in my opinion).
Imagine how his father must have felt. His kid wasn’t bad – he wasn’t killing people or spreading false witness (like Alma the Younger) but he was still living in the day-to-day sin that we all need to repent of. His father knew that and he tried to help him, and I bet he kept trying to help him for years and years and years and years and freaking so many years that maybe he felt a little hopeless… but through his efforts and continual charity, even when he couldn’t see his sons cambio <change> in the near future, made it possible for the Spirit to place a thought or two in the head of Enós and bring about repentance.
Let’s not lose hope in those who don’t look like they’re going to change, OK? Let’s continue to love those who need it and continue to hope and pray and teach with charity the things we need to so that one day they can choose to accept the Gospel. We see this a lot in the investigators we have. They listen, but they don’t really listen and they don’t change. But by helping them and using everything we can, one day they will change and be baptized.
It’s hard to drop an investigator because we want to help them now and we want to stuff the gospel into their souls and make them accept it but I fully believe that we must allow them to do it in their time. They must stroll in the woods and allow the Spirit to touch their hearts before they’re going to change. Sometimes that means we drop them so someone else can pick them up again later when they’re ready to repent.
Hope you liked my fun little scripture lesson because it’s all I have. It took me too long to write it in this stinking cold library. Curse you air conditioning!
Well, catch you guys next week with a ton more, maybe… (I’ll try). I have so many stories to tell you guys, like:
1) The crazy lady who preaches the end of the world at us (she says it next weekend at noonish).
2) The homeless guy gave us roses. ROSES guys!
3) The word giligili.
4) Intercambios <exchanges> and finding a boy named Drake who looks like Drake.
5) Hna Peter told me how many pigs I’m worth in her country. And
6) How we found a family of 6 with 4 boys named Angel Luis (hence the title of the email).
Stay tuned to (maybe) hear these stories next week!
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Keep beach city weird,
Hermana Thelin
I forgot fotos!
I made art for Hna Post’s brother’s birthday (we all put something in his b-day card). Yeah, you can tell I went to art school, right?
This is basically what I look like at the end of the day everyday (You can use this for the title pic on the blog Dad).
We are odd people.