Week 95 - RAIN

Hey Guys!

So it's been raining super hard this week. It rains hard literally every day. The good thing about the rain is that it doesn't fall randomly; you can usually hear it hitting the tin roofs as you're walking along. A couple nights ago, we were with our ward mission leader visiting, when we heard the sound of rain pouring about 300 meters off. It didn't quite register in my mind that the sound was rain, until I saw my companion and my mission leader running, and my mission leader shouted in English, "Elder, that’s the rain! RUN!!!" So I started booking it to the nearest house with a balcony. I got there just before the rain hit. There aren't too many gringos who know what the sound of rain on a tin roof is.

We've been doing pretty great. there's a lot to do here in my area. We had a baptism last week, we've been preparing to build a house on Saturday (preparing means cutting out all the plants, hauling dirt, filling plastic sacks with dirt to provide somewhat of a foundation, etc.) AND we've planned a TON of activities for the next 2 months. We've got a big fireside chat about the Book of Mormon (we'll see if we can invite our mission president or someone who's high up so people come) an we're gonna take all the recent converts from about a year ago and onward to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for their ancestors on July 6th. The biggest activity of all is the 22nd of July, where we're gonna host a wax museum based on prophets of the Book of Mormon.

This week was interesting. There have been many moments where we see miracles, but maybe, just for being a missionary or because I've been here so long, I haven't appreciated them as much as I could have. A thought that helped me get through that was thinking about a talk that Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave at the beginning of the conference. He talks about the message of the Restoration and the plan of Salvation, and asks the question: "Isn't that amazing?" We should all appreciate the beauty of the things we have and the things that God has given us. There are so many wonderful blessings that he has for us, but as the Savior has said: " I tell you of earthly things, and ye believe not. Then how will ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" God's works truly are great and marvelous, but oftentimes they appear small and insignificant to the eyes of men. Don't let the little things pass you by. Be grateful for the, every day, I now get on my knees and I tell my Father: "Lord, thank you for letting me be thy servant and one of thy missionaries."

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Love you all! Keep reading the Book of Mormon. If you’re not, READ IT! 

See you soon!

-- 

Elder Jeffrey Reed