Week 50: Apparently I'm Hispanic??

Helloooo

Get ready for a bunch of random stuff...

We've started volunteering at the coalition center here where we help immigrants by giving them food, hygiene kits, covid tests, bus tickets, etc. We were just thrown into it and it was really stressful cause we had to switch between jobs really quick and we didn't know what we were doing but we figured it out pretty quick. People kept talking to me as if I knew Spanish and I would talk to them as much as I could but I still barely know any Spanish so I just kept saying "Lo siento, no hablo Español". People actually do that all the time here though haha. They think I'm hispanic and assume I know what they're saying hahaha. 

We went to a small town named Brackettville about 45 minutes out of Del Rio and we found 5 new people to teach in less than 2 hours! One lady (Elizabeth) told us that when she saw us she knew she needed to talk to us because of an experience she had about 10 years ago. She said that missionaries knocked on her door and she didn't want to answer but then she had a strong feeling that she needed to talk to them. Unfortunately by the time she had enough courage to answer the door they were gone. She said that she made a promise to herself that if she ever saw missionaries again that she would talk to them. We all felt that God crossed our paths that day and we're so grateful for it!

Oh and funny story... when we were in Brackettville we were walking down the street and we asked this white bearded man that was sitting in front of his house if we could read a scripture with him and he slowly shook his head, stared us right in the eyes and said, "Just keep on walkin" in a wild west cowboy kind of accent and it honestly kinda scared me for a second but then we couldn't stop laughing about it. I love the people we come across in Texas haha.

Yolanda and the Castañeda kids came to church!! Aaahh I'm so happy for them! To be continued in another email...

Do y'all remember Rudy from Summerglen?? Probably not... but he's getting baptized! Sadly I won't be able to make it but I'm so happy for him. 

We started talking to this guy named Gene that was formerly taught and he had us over for dinner. He's kinda weird and his steaks were not very good... but we didn't tell him that haha. 

Ummm that's about all I remember from this week.

Lately I've been learning about how to recognize the Spirit and do God's will and these verses in Moroni 7 stood out to me: 

"16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him."

Sometimes I worry if I'm doing God's will and I wonder how the spirit speaks to me. This scripture helped me realize that anything that is good is from God. Something our mission president has told us is that God will not guide us in every single decision we make. He wants us to make choices and if we choose to do good then we are doing His will. I have learned on my mission that if I'm not feeling guided by the spirit to use my best judgement and I will receive impressions along the way. Don't delay action because you aren't receiving answers. God has given you the gift of agency so that you can make choices and learn! Guidance from the spirit will come as you try your best to do God's will. 

- Elder Christensen

Pictures

1. New hat who dis

2. Volunteering at the coalition center!

3. 

4. How many dogs can you spot?

5. Sunset in Brackettville

6. Brackettville