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)
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