¡Hola Fonzfam!
So is March almost over or is it really almost the end of May?? These weeks and months are flying by so fast and I'm barely keeping up! But that just means that we've been busy and that the work is hasting. Everyday that we're planning and studying, teaching and finding, learning and praying, we see tender mercy after tender mercy come from our Father in heaven. Here are just a few of the many we've experienced this past week:
During these past couple of weeks we've been teaching this man named Polyn who has been in and out of jobs over the last year. He's been looking for stability in his life and hoping to have found it with the message we've been sharing. Our first interaction started with gifting him a LDM. From there it was hard to get him to read it, but finally this last week he kept his commitment and read a few chapters on his own starting with Alma 40! He even came to church and really enjoyed it and wants to come back this next week! It's crazy what the Spirit can do when we're not around!
Unfortunately Jose Ceja wasn't able to come to church this last week, so we had to drop his date for the 15th. He's still progressing though because he went all last week without smoking and that is huge! Yesterday, he got called into work and so we weren't able to go to the temple visitor center with him, but we did set up a church tour for this Friday. We're excited to get him into the chapel to feel the Spirit and hopefully resolve some concerns he may have that he hasn't shared with us about church.
On Wednesday we met with Jacob again with the plan and prayer to set a baptismal date with him. We've been meeting for a few months now and he's been progressing really well, and so after teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ from 2 Nephi 31, we invited him to "enter in at the gate" to begin his journey towards the temple. He accepted the invitation excitedly and wants to be baptized June 29th! Although I'm not going to be around by then, I told him that I can totally still be apart of the lessons and his journey via video chat after the mission. He has committed to living the gospel and has shared how his life has improved so much.
For whatever reason, my companion wasn't having a good day. He didn't want to talk to anybody and so when we got to the car we tried to talk it out. He was just in an unhappy place, and so I promised him that if he just reached out to someone and tried to help them, then he would forget about himself and feel better. Finally we left the car and walked over to a new complex. As we got to the base of some stairs leading to a set of six doors where I turned to him and asked what we should do next. He just looked at me and said nothing. I was getting a little frustrated but kept calm. I piped up saying that I didn't know what to do either, but that I knew God knew. I asked him if he would like to pray, and he said no because he said nothing was going to happen. So then I made him another promise which was that if he prayed, as an act of his faith, then we would experience a miracle. He rolled his eyes and said that I didn't know what I was saying. He was definitely annoyed with my persistance haha. But the cool thing was that he did pray and after we had felt inspired to go ahead and start knocking on all six of the doors infront of us. We knocked the first door, the second, the third, and then the fourth. No one answered and my companion had a little smirk on his face as if to say, "I told you." Then the third door we knocked on opened and we met Beto. He was from Mexico City and was working as a painter, which he loved. We ended up talking to him for 40 minutes as he asked us questions about how we knew God was real and what He was like. The conversation we had with Beto was definitely something both he and us needed. He left an open invitation for us to come back and talk to him some more. This was so awesome as it was a direct answer to our prayer. Plus my companion was a little happier for the rest of the day:)
Ok, so now I want to shift gears a little. When I left on my mission I was only 18 years-old, and now two years later I'm 20. Of the life I've lived, I've consecrated and devoted 10% of it to my God. It is literally a tithe I've given to Heavenly Father. Elder Robert D. Hales, in April 2013, said, "In the temple we are prepared to and promise to live the law of consecration. Able young men [and women] begin to live this law by seeking a mission call—giving a tithing of the first years of their lives in the full-time service of the Lord. That sacrifice strengthens them to go forward to the highest covenant in life—for many, it will be to be sealed in the temple and begin an eternal family."
Just like how we sacrifice and consecrate our increase to the Lord, we as missionaries sacrifice and concentrate our most important years of our lives. School, careers, relationships, and even family(to an extent) are put on hold. And for what? For the greater blessings that are promised by our Father in Heaven. Not only have I personally seen and experienced God "open the windows of heaven, and pour [me] out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it," but I know my family and friends have too. Those blessings are powerful and sacred. Time is sometimes not an easy thing to share, but choosing to spend it in the service of God is a relatively small sacrifice compared to what His Son has done for us. Think about what you could do to give back and give more to our Heavenly Father. Let's keep it up and have a great week! I love you guys!!!
Con Amor,
Elder Fonnesbeck
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| We took Rosa to the temple this last Saturday to teach her more about baptisms for the dead since she hasn't done them since her own baptism April 2018. |
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| Last night we were able to have a party in the park with different families and kids in the area. We were lucky to have the weather hold out so that we could play soccer, basketball, and other games. |
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