Hey family!
It is hard to believe and say that today officially began week two here in the new area. I emailed you all last week and pressed send. My email said that it went through but I guess that for some odd reason it did not. I pray that it made it through this time. If it did not, I am going to have to call the mission office and see what they can do about getting me a new email address. It would be sad if I lost all of the old emails though! My language study consisted of writing you all a letter in pure spanish so that should be coming in the mail here pretty soon. I hope dad still has the ability of translating it so that you can understand what it is that I was telling you all about.
If not, I am going to kind of recap here in this email.
Over the course of the last week, I have done a ton. I have not even come close to meeting all of the members of the ward here in Mesa. The Ward's name is the Liahona 4th ward. It has 300-400 members and they are all pretty active. This list of less actives that we recieve every week is actually quite short. I would say that it is about 20 members or so that are inactive. Not too shabby for a ward with hundreds of members.
My favorite experience is the last week occurred on Sunday Evening. We had an appointment with a couple who are some progressing investigators. The husband has wanted to be baptized for a while now, but it is only just recently that the wife has become involved in the Church. Their names are Moises & Graciela. They are in their late twenties and though they call eachother husband and wife, the reason Moises cannot be baptized is because he and Graciela are not actually married. The miracle of this all is that as of recent the two of them told the Elder's here before me that they just decided to get married. Also, both of them want to be baptized. So, we might get to do a wedd-ism here in the next few weeks! The reason that this was my favorite lesson of the week is because of where we did it. We did it here in Mesa at the Temple! We took a nice long walk around the temple and talked about what goes on inside the temple. They had their 1 year old son, Moises Jr., with them and they asked if he could come in. In return, I asked, "well, do you want him to live with you forever?" The mother answered, "Of Course!". I told her that was the answer to her question as well. I could really see them digesting everything they heard and saw. I wish we could teach every lesson on the temple grounds. The spirit is so strong there and everytime I walk around it everything just slows down and makes more sense.
After the lesson outside the temple, we went next door to the visitor's center. There is a man named Emilio and he has two daughters -- Estrella & Flor. We met the three of them in the visitors center. We watched "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" with them and I do not know why, but this time was especially strong for me. Something I have really been desiring and searching for as of late is a firmer more profound testimony of the First Vision. While watching the part where he was praying, I just was filled with peace and warmth to the point where I could not fight the Spirit and just started crying like a small child. The one daughter, Estrella, said to me when she saw a tear, "why does that make you sad?" It was hard to have he understand that in reality it made me oh so happy. After studying and praying and doing many other things to recieve a firmer knowledge of the veracity of the first vision, it finally came. It was not on my schedule, but on the Lord's. Part of "ask and recieve" is "seeking to find". I can now say with 100% of my heart that I know of a sureity that God and Jesus Christ appeared and spoke with Joseph. I believed it before, but I know it now.
Being at the temple is for sure my favorite place to be here on the mission. In some regards, I was somewhat disappointed when I got the news that I would be being transferred to Mesa. Phoenix was hectic, exciting, and fast paced. My area in Phoenix was gigantic. Here in Mesa on the other hand, everything is calm, easy-going, and quiet. My area is about 8 blocks by 8 blocks. It is mostly trailer parks and apartments and it is chock full of people who speak only spanish. Once again I have been blessed by being placed here in a great and alive part of the mission. The work is like wildfire here. We teach 3-4 lessons a day and I meet someone new daily. Cars always honk and people always wave. As a missionary here in the city of Mesa, you feel a lot more welcome and accepted than in Phoenix. Yeah, I can not say I live on the most dangerous street in Phoenix, but I can say I am surrounded by some of the kindest and loving people I have every met.
Here is my address by the way:
Elder Jonathan Pearson
1233 N Mesa Drive #1078
Mesa, AZ 85201
I am healthy, I am losing weight being on bike, and most important of all is the fact that I am loving the work. There are a lot of people to teach here who are ready to hear the message. There are a lot of members who are more than willing to help us out. Plus, every meal I have eaten here has been AWESOME! Probably way fattening though. I love Mole. It is a chocolate chili sauce that goes over grilled chicken and rice. It is the best. Mom, you should try to learn how to cook it for sure. Oh, and here is something that I think will blow all of your worlds apart. I love beans, and I love onions. Onions make my sweat smell awful, but I feel so good after eating them. The best part of all, with eating all of these veggies and such, my acid reflux is slowly decreasing in strength. I still take me pills, so do not worry mom! I am taking great care of myself. I work out hard every morning and I refuse to eat anything that comes out of a freezer. Chicken, beans, and rice are every lunch, and some days dinner, too!
Elder Williams is a great companion. I think my biggest struggle with him is he is too fun! It can be kind of hard to keep up with him and follow him in a lesson. He is really great in teaching kids and there are ton of kids that we are teaching. That is a gift he has for sure. Well, that and being able to get people to listen. I still have not gotten to hear his full conversion story, but it is good. I love him and I hope I stay with him for a few transfers. We are going to have some miracles happen here shortly, this I am sure of. He has only been out 2 transfers more than myself, so we are both kind of young when it comes to being missionaries.
Now, for the frustrating story of the week! There is this man named Rick. He is 59 and very stubborn. He speaks English, and he refuses to speak with sister missionaries because they are not people of wisdom to him. Also, he thinks women don't know the Bible. We have taught him twice in the last week. His big hangup is that he is SURE without a doubt that in Genesis 1 and 2 is tells us that there were people outside of the Garden of Eden before God placed Adam and Eve there. We never get anywhere in lessons because he says he needs to understand every page in the Bible before he takes on the Book of Mormon. He told us flat out he will not read the Book of Mormon until he understands the Bible. We have spent countless hours teaching him and testifying to him. I want to drop him because he flat out said he wants to find a church that agrees with what he believes. He is firm and hard hearted. But, for some unknown reason Elder Williams will not let us drop him. One thing we were taught in the MTC is that Satan will place people in our paths who will let us in the teach them, but they will not progress at all. Satan places these people in out paths so that we can not find those who are waiting and ready. I feel like rick is one of these distractors.
Well, I have limited computer time now, so my emails will probably be a little shorter while I am here. I have to use a library and such so I am limited to one hour. I wish I had more so I could write about every lesson I have had and about every person I have met. But, that is not the way it is.
I love you my family. I hope you all are seeing blessings in your own lives from my service here. I would love for you all to tell me about any of these if you have seen them because President Ellsworth said a good way to see if you are doing what is right is to ask your family if they are being blessed. If they are not, you need to work harder. I feel like I am doing my best -- I am pooped every day. I try talking to everyone. I just hope my hard work is blessing the people here that I love, as well as all of you back home whom I love. I pray for you every day. I think of you when I fast. Every 10 year old boy I meet that bounces off the wall reminds me of Will -- one's name is guillermo (William). Every teenage girl I teach reminds me of maddy. One man in the ward, Hno. Posos, reminded me of Dad. One woman, Hna. Mora, reminds me of mom. I love you and miss you, but I love it here and I need to be here. Keep me in your prayers!
With all my love,
Elder Jonathan Pearson
(Posted By Maddy)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Transfers week...
Today was Transfers!
The AP's are a little bit scatter brained and changed p-day to today for no real fantastic reason. But! I am still alive and here. Saturday night I got the shock of being told I was the one being transferred. Normally they keep missionaries with their trainers for two transfers, I was not so lucky. However, I am excited to now be in the Maricopa Stake in Mesa. I am in a Spanish WARD!!!! With over 300 active members and 9 missionaries serving within ward boundaries. This area is the heart of Spanish Work in the Mission so I am really excited.
My new companions name is Elder Williams. He is from Montgomery, Alabama and has the southern accent and all. I am way excited to be companions with him because he is almost as new as I am at being a missionary. He is a convert to the Church. He was in college to be a Pentecostal Pastor when he met the missionaries and was eventually baptized. He has been disowned by his family and he really seems to have a great story behind his coversion. I have not really had time to hear it as we just met up at the mission office a few hours ago in Scottsdale. This is his 3rd transfer, my 2nd. We are not too far apart. We are a very, VERY green companionship. Miracles are going to happen though, I am sure of that.
I was preparing all last week to take over the area back there in Phoenix. I was taking control of the area book and all. But, President Ellsworth threw us a curveball and transferred me out here. I had a great last week. We taught a ton of lessons and found some former investigators that finally found a desire to keep some committments. That was a really sweet experience.
One girl's name was Natalie, she was being taught by the Elders about 5 months ago, but they dropped her because she would never go to church. She utterly refused. But, Elder Hainsworth saw her and decided that he needed to go and talk to her. We spoke with her and found out her history with the missionaries. She told us she had read since she last met with them, and she got an answer to her prayers as to whether or not the Book of Mormon was true. Sure enough, she felt the Spirit testify to her of its truthfulness. I am sad that I will not get to be there to see her progress and eventually get baptized.
As for Celso, an even greater miracle just happened a few days after my last email. We went to teach him on thursday evening, but he was not there. His wife invited us in because she felt bad that he was not there for his appointment. Celso had discussed with his wife, Leyda, about how he is going to be getting baptized. She told us about how this made her interested in our message, because her husband was supposedly not too religious prior to speaking with us. She told us to teach her something. We settled on teaching a 15 minute lesson two. We did so and it could not have been a more perfect lesson. Her mother back in Acapulco died last year and just a few moths ago she had a miscarriage in the 3rd trimester. When she found out her little girl was not bound to hell, she was overwhelmingly happy. We continued to finish the lesson. At the end, we committed her to baptism. She said there is nothing she wants more right now. She has a son, Axel, who is 7, a daughter, Sara, who is 5, and another son, Lorenzo, who is 3. We have a family! A FAMILY! I had been praying for that in every personal prayer the whole transfer. I wanted that more than nothing else. And miraculously with the help of Heavenly Father, I saw my prayer answered.
The most incredible thing is to see all of my progressing investigators being blessed. Celso had no work before he began being taught. Sandra had not a penny to her name before being taught. Elivra was sick and depressed before being taught. Now, Elvira is one of the happiest, most outgoing people I have ever know. Her testimony is blossoming into something very powerful and filled with great joy. Celso and Sandra both got jobs within the last week and they are working so much they have hardly enough time to meet with us. All of these people are being blessed because they are taking the steps of repentance through keeping their committments. I love my mission because of the miracles I see every day.
I went to the Temple with our recent converts, Daniel and Isabel. It was their first time there. They could not have loved it more. After we watched the "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" movie, they asked if they could take a private walk around the temple. They did so. They told us they plan on being inside as soon as possible to be sealed. It truly is incredible to see families making the proper steps towards eternal glory.
I spent the last few days saying goodbye to my many new friends I had made in the Camelback 1st branch. I love them, every one of them. I am pretty sure they will remember me too because I have a really easy name to remember. They just call me, "Person" like, "Persona" without the A. I am going to miss a lot of them. Hno. Curay, the ward mission leader from Peru, he is a great man that has the most incredible family in the world. Pres. Alvarado is as bold a branch president as I have ever seen. La Familia Curiel is just outright awesome. Raul Curiel is a handyman at an apartment complex. Every person he helps there essentially turns into a refferal and at least one lesson. I am going to miss Pheonix a lot. I love the people and their way of life.
Although, I am way, way pumped to be here in Mesa. It has a more homey feel here. I feel like everyone is just taking it easy and living life here. I have my frist appointment here in a few hours to go and teach a 13 year old girl with a date, and her parents. I am excited to see how the new dynamic with Elder Williams goes. We are both pretty even Spanish wise and we both are pretty laid back. I love Elder Hainsworth and I am so grateful for all he taught me, but, I think Elder Williams and I will get along just great. Our apartment is HUGE! We live about 10 minutes from the temple and all. It is good. Plus, my Companion is a convert. That is missionary GOLD!!!! Oh yeah, and it is a bike area. So, I outfitted my bike with some Specialized Armadillo tires and slime tubes. I am not getting a single flat this transfer. I am way excited to do this. I will have lots of stories by next tuesday for sure. And hey, look at it this way, you will all hear from me in less than a week now.
I love you my family. I have been praying for each of you specifically every day. I know it will all work out with chemistry maddy. Maybe it is going to teach you patience and diligence. Just drop your shoulder and run on through. Dad, I pray for you to be safe on your bike every day. It is fairly risky and all. Mom, I pray that you will not have so much pain and all and I pray for you to find happiness in the little things in life. And Will, I pray for you to grow up and be ready to get the priesthood here in a year or so. You are gonna be a little man by the time I get home. Now is the time to start making the right decisions and following the commandments. Maddy, you are going to be a woman by the time I get home. Life is at it's hardest when we are in High School. I grew up a lot there and I learned to be my own person. Keep on keeping on!
I love you all and miss you a ton. I appreciate your prayers and support. I also appreciate the prayers and support of everyone else. I know I would not be having such luck and success were it not for all that I have been taught my whole life. Keep on being the ones I love and life will only get better!
I love you all!
Elder Jonathan Alma Pearson
(posted by Maddy)
The AP's are a little bit scatter brained and changed p-day to today for no real fantastic reason. But! I am still alive and here. Saturday night I got the shock of being told I was the one being transferred. Normally they keep missionaries with their trainers for two transfers, I was not so lucky. However, I am excited to now be in the Maricopa Stake in Mesa. I am in a Spanish WARD!!!! With over 300 active members and 9 missionaries serving within ward boundaries. This area is the heart of Spanish Work in the Mission so I am really excited.
My new companions name is Elder Williams. He is from Montgomery, Alabama and has the southern accent and all. I am way excited to be companions with him because he is almost as new as I am at being a missionary. He is a convert to the Church. He was in college to be a Pentecostal Pastor when he met the missionaries and was eventually baptized. He has been disowned by his family and he really seems to have a great story behind his coversion. I have not really had time to hear it as we just met up at the mission office a few hours ago in Scottsdale. This is his 3rd transfer, my 2nd. We are not too far apart. We are a very, VERY green companionship. Miracles are going to happen though, I am sure of that.
I was preparing all last week to take over the area back there in Phoenix. I was taking control of the area book and all. But, President Ellsworth threw us a curveball and transferred me out here. I had a great last week. We taught a ton of lessons and found some former investigators that finally found a desire to keep some committments. That was a really sweet experience.
One girl's name was Natalie, she was being taught by the Elders about 5 months ago, but they dropped her because she would never go to church. She utterly refused. But, Elder Hainsworth saw her and decided that he needed to go and talk to her. We spoke with her and found out her history with the missionaries. She told us she had read since she last met with them, and she got an answer to her prayers as to whether or not the Book of Mormon was true. Sure enough, she felt the Spirit testify to her of its truthfulness. I am sad that I will not get to be there to see her progress and eventually get baptized.
As for Celso, an even greater miracle just happened a few days after my last email. We went to teach him on thursday evening, but he was not there. His wife invited us in because she felt bad that he was not there for his appointment. Celso had discussed with his wife, Leyda, about how he is going to be getting baptized. She told us about how this made her interested in our message, because her husband was supposedly not too religious prior to speaking with us. She told us to teach her something. We settled on teaching a 15 minute lesson two. We did so and it could not have been a more perfect lesson. Her mother back in Acapulco died last year and just a few moths ago she had a miscarriage in the 3rd trimester. When she found out her little girl was not bound to hell, she was overwhelmingly happy. We continued to finish the lesson. At the end, we committed her to baptism. She said there is nothing she wants more right now. She has a son, Axel, who is 7, a daughter, Sara, who is 5, and another son, Lorenzo, who is 3. We have a family! A FAMILY! I had been praying for that in every personal prayer the whole transfer. I wanted that more than nothing else. And miraculously with the help of Heavenly Father, I saw my prayer answered.
The most incredible thing is to see all of my progressing investigators being blessed. Celso had no work before he began being taught. Sandra had not a penny to her name before being taught. Elivra was sick and depressed before being taught. Now, Elvira is one of the happiest, most outgoing people I have ever know. Her testimony is blossoming into something very powerful and filled with great joy. Celso and Sandra both got jobs within the last week and they are working so much they have hardly enough time to meet with us. All of these people are being blessed because they are taking the steps of repentance through keeping their committments. I love my mission because of the miracles I see every day.
I went to the Temple with our recent converts, Daniel and Isabel. It was their first time there. They could not have loved it more. After we watched the "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" movie, they asked if they could take a private walk around the temple. They did so. They told us they plan on being inside as soon as possible to be sealed. It truly is incredible to see families making the proper steps towards eternal glory.
I spent the last few days saying goodbye to my many new friends I had made in the Camelback 1st branch. I love them, every one of them. I am pretty sure they will remember me too because I have a really easy name to remember. They just call me, "Person" like, "Persona" without the A. I am going to miss a lot of them. Hno. Curay, the ward mission leader from Peru, he is a great man that has the most incredible family in the world. Pres. Alvarado is as bold a branch president as I have ever seen. La Familia Curiel is just outright awesome. Raul Curiel is a handyman at an apartment complex. Every person he helps there essentially turns into a refferal and at least one lesson. I am going to miss Pheonix a lot. I love the people and their way of life.
Although, I am way, way pumped to be here in Mesa. It has a more homey feel here. I feel like everyone is just taking it easy and living life here. I have my frist appointment here in a few hours to go and teach a 13 year old girl with a date, and her parents. I am excited to see how the new dynamic with Elder Williams goes. We are both pretty even Spanish wise and we both are pretty laid back. I love Elder Hainsworth and I am so grateful for all he taught me, but, I think Elder Williams and I will get along just great. Our apartment is HUGE! We live about 10 minutes from the temple and all. It is good. Plus, my Companion is a convert. That is missionary GOLD!!!! Oh yeah, and it is a bike area. So, I outfitted my bike with some Specialized Armadillo tires and slime tubes. I am not getting a single flat this transfer. I am way excited to do this. I will have lots of stories by next tuesday for sure. And hey, look at it this way, you will all hear from me in less than a week now.
I love you my family. I have been praying for each of you specifically every day. I know it will all work out with chemistry maddy. Maybe it is going to teach you patience and diligence. Just drop your shoulder and run on through. Dad, I pray for you to be safe on your bike every day. It is fairly risky and all. Mom, I pray that you will not have so much pain and all and I pray for you to find happiness in the little things in life. And Will, I pray for you to grow up and be ready to get the priesthood here in a year or so. You are gonna be a little man by the time I get home. Now is the time to start making the right decisions and following the commandments. Maddy, you are going to be a woman by the time I get home. Life is at it's hardest when we are in High School. I grew up a lot there and I learned to be my own person. Keep on keeping on!
I love you all and miss you a ton. I appreciate your prayers and support. I also appreciate the prayers and support of everyone else. I know I would not be having such luck and success were it not for all that I have been taught my whole life. Keep on being the ones I love and life will only get better!
I love you all!
Elder Jonathan Alma Pearson
(posted by Maddy)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
6 weeks in Arizona!
I am having probably the best p-day of my mission so far. We got up at 4am to drive out to a mountain called CamelBack (not really a mountain.....a large hill) to hike it for the sunrise. It was steep and I wuld call it more rock climbing than I would a hike. It took me about an hour to reach the top. About 20 minutes after I got to the top, the sun began to peek over the East Mountains. I took tons of pictures. From up there, I really could see the beauty in this seemingly desolate landscape. The red rocks, the fields of cacti, the sun reflecting off of the red mountains to make a bright orange sunridse. It was really beautiful. It is something I would love to do every single p-day. I will be sure to develop and mail home the pictures here soon. Today was kind of the first time I took a lot of pictures of people in my District/Zone. It was way fun. I feel reinvigorated to keep on working so much harder. It was just a breath of fresh air to take some time out in nature. It really is beautiful here, partly because it is windy and like 75 degrees!
Other news, next tuesday is transfers. I am not 100% sure I will be staying in the PX22 district so I may be going somewhere else. Chances are however that I will stay. Currently our apartment is WAYYYY far from our area. We called the Senior Elder in charge of housing and complained about how it wastes miles. The called us on Tuesday and said they found us a new apartment and signed a contract that is right in our current proselyting area. This probably means I will be on bike next transfer (YES!!!). So, take my current address off of facebook and just put the mission home address -- that is safest.
This week we taught a lot of lessons. According to my planner, we taught about 26 lessons overall. Considering that it is usually zero lessons on p-day, we did pretty good. We are teaching four to five lessons a day. That really does make it all the better. TTI'ing (Teach, Testify, Invite) is good and all to find new people, but it is just a tad bit fruitless because all Spanish people are so nice and seem to have a fear of the word no. All of them commit to appointments, but very rarely are any of them actually there. It gets sad, but luckily there are plenty of people who will gladly take us in and let them teach.
We had a lot of really spiritual, and spirutally disappointing lessons this week. We reactivated (mas o menos) a lady that waved to us on the street and turned out to be an inactive member. We taught her by the dumpster where she was collecting plastic bottles for money. She had been offended a few years back and had really seen the ugly side of some people in the church. We explained to her how it is not the people, but the sacrament, and the covenants we make that make church so important. We made her realize that the gospel is true, but not every member chooses to live by it's principles. That is a really common problem we encounter in less actives because the branch is about 80 people, therefore there are bigger dramatic events when someone does something wrong.
Last night was perhaps the toughest night of teaching we had. Remember Jose and Elvira? Well, we brought our ward mission leader (he is Peruvian and loves the alpaca tie I have -- Hno. Curay) along to try and help us give Jose some reason and inspiration to come to church, to read, and to pray daily. We once again extended the baptismal comittment, and he did not accept. He says he wants to learn more. The truth of the fact is that he has been taught all the investigator lessons frontwards and backwards. IF he wants to learn more, he needs to come to church. With all the love and strength of speaking spanish I had, along with Elder Hainsworth and Hno. Curay, we did all we could to help him understand. We read Alma 32 about how we do not need a perfect knowledge to know it is true. Alll we need to see is good fruit come forth from it. He has seen good fruit, he has felt the spirit. He is just not willing to accept that as his answer from God. His wife is going to be baptized in 3 weeks -- she said she will irregardless of if he is ready or not.
After this we taught a lesson to another woman, Monica, with almost the same story. Her children and husband are all baptized. She has been investigating the church for over a year. She has read the Book of Mormon time after time. She has had strong spiritual experiences. She just will not take the step and be baptized. Like for real, all she would have to do is accept a date and she would be ready to take that next step tomorrow. She too however, "needs to be born". It is super frustrating. Any ideas on what to do mom or dad? We have prayed, and taught, and prayed, and fasted, but nothing. It is really sad. She is being blessed for the commandments she is living, but she just doesn't want to believe more blessings will come if she gets baptized and eventually sealed to her husband. Her Husband, Rafael, is a super strong convert. Whenever she says she will not get baptized, he just looks incredibly sad and down on life. I just hope maybe he can talk to her and express why he wants to take her to the temple.
In all of this sadness, there is a light (his name is Celso) and he shines above them all. We were not able to teach him for weeks because he did not have steady work, nor a steady schedule. We gave him the movie Finding Faith in Christ (Como Hallar la Fe en Cristo) to watch on his own. An appointment Saturday night to take some recent converts failed to go through due to the mom being sick with a killer migraine. We had nothing planned as backup because these people are the most solid converts to the church in history. Nonetheless, it fell through and we had no backup plan. Elder Hainsworth and I figured we would go give Celso one last chance to be taught. We went over to his home on 32nd St. and Virginia Rd. From a distance we saw him sitting in his house on the computer. FINALLY, we were going to have the chance to teach him again. Herein lays the miracle of the week. He had watched Finding Faith in Christ -- twice. He loved it. He felt the Spirit. He told us, "Yo mire como fue bautizado El Senor. Pienso que yo tengo que bautizarme en la misma manera come Jesucristo!". (I saw how the Lord was baptized. I think I have to be baptized how he was.) This was honestly the happiest moment of my mission thus far. The Spirit had truly spoken to the heart of Celso and he followed the answers that his Heavenly Father gave him. He is being baptized on November 6th. I pray that I am here to see that life changing day. He is coming to church. He reads whenever possible. He always prays. As a result of his obedience, he now has a more secure job. His family is healthy and happy. The next step is just teaching all of them. I love my mission because of humble, loving people like Celso.
As for you all, Dad, I am glad you do not have cancer. It is terrible. A man that was being taught just died from prostate cancer. I am glad you are biking and getting healthy. I love you for the example you set. Mom, I am glad you got to go to Utah to spend some time with my good ol' cousins. I love you so much. A mom is one thing we need on a mission. Maddy, I am proud to have a sister that can fill in most of the way for mom when she is not around. Will, I am proud to have a brother that loves me and tries his best to help my dear mom out. I am truly proud of you all and to call you my family. I am doing and will continue to do all that I can to assure we will be together forever as a family. My testimony of eternal families has exploded here. Like it says in Alma 37, (I think...some chapter around there) doing what is right and living the commandments is really easy. We as humans are the ones who make it hard.
I love you with all the love I have. My love grows for you, and all of the people in the world every day on a mission. Be sure that you too are trying to increase your love every day!
I love you!
Elder Jonathan Pearson
Sorry everybody that I took to so long to post letters. I did not know which one's he was wanting me to post. But I will try to get them up weekly from now on.
(Posted By maddy)
Other news, next tuesday is transfers. I am not 100% sure I will be staying in the PX22 district so I may be going somewhere else. Chances are however that I will stay. Currently our apartment is WAYYYY far from our area. We called the Senior Elder in charge of housing and complained about how it wastes miles. The called us on Tuesday and said they found us a new apartment and signed a contract that is right in our current proselyting area. This probably means I will be on bike next transfer (YES!!!). So, take my current address off of facebook and just put the mission home address -- that is safest.
This week we taught a lot of lessons. According to my planner, we taught about 26 lessons overall. Considering that it is usually zero lessons on p-day, we did pretty good. We are teaching four to five lessons a day. That really does make it all the better. TTI'ing (Teach, Testify, Invite) is good and all to find new people, but it is just a tad bit fruitless because all Spanish people are so nice and seem to have a fear of the word no. All of them commit to appointments, but very rarely are any of them actually there. It gets sad, but luckily there are plenty of people who will gladly take us in and let them teach.
We had a lot of really spiritual, and spirutally disappointing lessons this week. We reactivated (mas o menos) a lady that waved to us on the street and turned out to be an inactive member. We taught her by the dumpster where she was collecting plastic bottles for money. She had been offended a few years back and had really seen the ugly side of some people in the church. We explained to her how it is not the people, but the sacrament, and the covenants we make that make church so important. We made her realize that the gospel is true, but not every member chooses to live by it's principles. That is a really common problem we encounter in less actives because the branch is about 80 people, therefore there are bigger dramatic events when someone does something wrong.
Last night was perhaps the toughest night of teaching we had. Remember Jose and Elvira? Well, we brought our ward mission leader (he is Peruvian and loves the alpaca tie I have -- Hno. Curay) along to try and help us give Jose some reason and inspiration to come to church, to read, and to pray daily. We once again extended the baptismal comittment, and he did not accept. He says he wants to learn more. The truth of the fact is that he has been taught all the investigator lessons frontwards and backwards. IF he wants to learn more, he needs to come to church. With all the love and strength of speaking spanish I had, along with Elder Hainsworth and Hno. Curay, we did all we could to help him understand. We read Alma 32 about how we do not need a perfect knowledge to know it is true. Alll we need to see is good fruit come forth from it. He has seen good fruit, he has felt the spirit. He is just not willing to accept that as his answer from God. His wife is going to be baptized in 3 weeks -- she said she will irregardless of if he is ready or not.
After this we taught a lesson to another woman, Monica, with almost the same story. Her children and husband are all baptized. She has been investigating the church for over a year. She has read the Book of Mormon time after time. She has had strong spiritual experiences. She just will not take the step and be baptized. Like for real, all she would have to do is accept a date and she would be ready to take that next step tomorrow. She too however, "needs to be born". It is super frustrating. Any ideas on what to do mom or dad? We have prayed, and taught, and prayed, and fasted, but nothing. It is really sad. She is being blessed for the commandments she is living, but she just doesn't want to believe more blessings will come if she gets baptized and eventually sealed to her husband. Her Husband, Rafael, is a super strong convert. Whenever she says she will not get baptized, he just looks incredibly sad and down on life. I just hope maybe he can talk to her and express why he wants to take her to the temple.
In all of this sadness, there is a light (his name is Celso) and he shines above them all. We were not able to teach him for weeks because he did not have steady work, nor a steady schedule. We gave him the movie Finding Faith in Christ (Como Hallar la Fe en Cristo) to watch on his own. An appointment Saturday night to take some recent converts failed to go through due to the mom being sick with a killer migraine. We had nothing planned as backup because these people are the most solid converts to the church in history. Nonetheless, it fell through and we had no backup plan. Elder Hainsworth and I figured we would go give Celso one last chance to be taught. We went over to his home on 32nd St. and Virginia Rd. From a distance we saw him sitting in his house on the computer. FINALLY, we were going to have the chance to teach him again. Herein lays the miracle of the week. He had watched Finding Faith in Christ -- twice. He loved it. He felt the Spirit. He told us, "Yo mire como fue bautizado El Senor. Pienso que yo tengo que bautizarme en la misma manera come Jesucristo!". (I saw how the Lord was baptized. I think I have to be baptized how he was.) This was honestly the happiest moment of my mission thus far. The Spirit had truly spoken to the heart of Celso and he followed the answers that his Heavenly Father gave him. He is being baptized on November 6th. I pray that I am here to see that life changing day. He is coming to church. He reads whenever possible. He always prays. As a result of his obedience, he now has a more secure job. His family is healthy and happy. The next step is just teaching all of them. I love my mission because of humble, loving people like Celso.
As for you all, Dad, I am glad you do not have cancer. It is terrible. A man that was being taught just died from prostate cancer. I am glad you are biking and getting healthy. I love you for the example you set. Mom, I am glad you got to go to Utah to spend some time with my good ol' cousins. I love you so much. A mom is one thing we need on a mission. Maddy, I am proud to have a sister that can fill in most of the way for mom when she is not around. Will, I am proud to have a brother that loves me and tries his best to help my dear mom out. I am truly proud of you all and to call you my family. I am doing and will continue to do all that I can to assure we will be together forever as a family. My testimony of eternal families has exploded here. Like it says in Alma 37, (I think...some chapter around there) doing what is right and living the commandments is really easy. We as humans are the ones who make it hard.
I love you with all the love I have. My love grows for you, and all of the people in the world every day on a mission. Be sure that you too are trying to increase your love every day!
I love you!
Elder Jonathan Pearson
Sorry everybody that I took to so long to post letters. I did not know which one's he was wanting me to post. But I will try to get them up weekly from now on.
(Posted By maddy)
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