And now, I go to my journal so I can remember what the poop happened this last week.
The Transfers are in, and ELDER SERRATY WILL BE LEAVING MY SIDE FOREVERMORE! *Weeps bitterly*
It hurts, I know.
On
the bright side, I'M GOING TO BE A STEP-FATHER AGAIN!! WOO!! His name
is Elder Peterson...and he's actually the Trainee of one of the Zone
Leaders. Yeah. He's going to be in the same Zone for his second
comp/area. WACK! But dope, nonetheless.
I GOT SICK THIS WEEK! Tuesday
eve, I twas out walking, whenst I felt upon my knecaps a lack of
energy. Mine corpse though filled with life twas now reeling under the
weight of a great nothingness. We retreated to our yonder abode, where I
fell into a light slumber for the space of ten hours. When the
following day dawned, I still lacked wholeness, so I thus aboded in my
abode for the space of another day. It twas indeed a moment of great
suffering and great sorrow.
The dog downstairs
went crazy when we went down to visit Marica (our neighbor), because we
were clad in street clothes in the place of our normal missionary garb.
She didn't recognize us dresed differently! (It should be noted that
the dog is a chiwawa, so the spectacle was more hilarious than
anything).
We made PIZZA! IT WAS GLORIOUS! AGAIN! (I'd make it every Sunday
here if I could...but our oven doesn't work. No pizza is better than
dying in a grand explosion, right? [Did that make grammatical sense?])
And
now, a spiritual experience. For the past little while, I'd been trying
to understand as to exactly why I didn't feel joy here in the mission,
and why the work didn't feel satisfying. I could remember feeling
happiness in the mission before, so what had changed? I pondered and
prayed over this for a while, and the answer came to me during Church
this last Sunday (Church attendance = personal revelation!). I suddenly
remembered two quotes from the past, which tied together perfectly. The
first was of my mother: "Attitude is Everything."
And the
second was from a personal experience that occured in the MTC. When
Elder Hugo Martinez of the Second Quorum Seventy visited us, we, at the
end, shook his hand. When my turn came, he said to me, "The thing that
will make the biggest difference will be your smile."
At that
time, I thought he was talking about that it would make the biggest
difference to my investigators, but this last Sunday, I realized that it
applied mostly to me. Here was the key! The smile! Smile when you're
angry, and your anger melts away. Smile when you're tired, and you're
filled with energy. Smile when you're sad or lonely, and the feelings
break apart. Your mind becomes clear, and you take a fresh, clearer
perspective on the situation. Since that moment, I've felt full of joy
and optimism for the work, and it has indeed been greatly more
satisfying. God answers every prayer! At times, He asks us to have
patience and wait for His answer, but He ALWAYS answers EVERY prayer!
Paz, Amor, Unidad, Serenidad!
-Elder Jonesie
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