So, last week, I tried to explain everything in a little time, but there is just too much to say, so this week I am just going to focus on one thing and fully explain it. But the food hilight for this week was boiled cow stomach... I got to hand it to these Argentinian people, they really know how to use every single part of the cow. Nothing goes to waste...
But I want to talk about the very best part of the MTC: proselitismos. Every saterday, we are given an area in the city, and the load us up on busses and send us out to prosilite for 10 hours. Last saterday was my first time, at it seriously was up in my top-10 life experiences. At first it was such a huge culture shock. Everything everything everything about Buenos Aires is different than anything I have ever experienced. The people, the cars, the roads, the houses, the smell, the food, the noise, everything. I remember just thinking to myself: what am i doing here? I had no idea what to do, I mean I was in the middle of a foreign city with only 5 days of spanish beneath my belt. And I love my companion to death, but im not sure if he even knew how to ask where the bathroom is in spanish. It took all the courage i had to open my mouth, and for the first time talk to a native about who I was and what I wanted. But as the day progressed, I became more comfortable, untill by the end of the day, I just wanted to stay outside and teach forever. It really gave me a nice taste of how fun and exciting missionary work is. Even though my spanish is so bad, an amazing thing happened, we made 27 solid contacts, and 7 return appointments for the next week!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing for me to be able to feel the spirit work through me as I explained the gospel, and I cant believe that I have 7 potential new investigators, and havnt even left the CCM!
At first I though the people were kind of stuck up and haughty, but as I talked to more and more, i noticed that all that haughtyness disappears straight away, and as soon as you say hi to them, they are so warm and nice and way more open about their religious beliefs than most americans are. it was such a relief to be able to talk to people with out worrieng about them thiniking you are an idiot for trying to explain your church to them... but i want to read a dialogue of everything I said that day, just to see all of the funny things I said on accident (I just realized that I spend 10 hours last week explaining to the people of argentina that I am a millionare from la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias.. no wonder why they were so interested in my message).
One experience was really cool, and I want to explain it. Me and my comp were clapping doors (you dont knock here, you just stand out on the sidewalk and clap), and this one guy came up to me, and we made a street contact with him. As soon as he got the message that we were church men, warmed up with the biggest smile ever and launched into a long, detailed storey about his religious background. He was really good at talking quick, and i am not really good at understanding quick yet, but I was able to grasp the general themes. he explained his religious history and some of his problems. I said Si si si lots of times, and shared what I could about my message. Then he suddenly got real serious and looked way deeper into my eyes than anyone ever has I think, and he told me about some of his serious problems. Even though I really didnt understand most of it, I found myself bearing my testimony about the plan of salvation and the restoration and the atonement and saying all sorts of words that I have maybe only heard once before in my life. he kept on looking at me so intently, and when I was done talking, he started crying and grabbed me by the hand, and said Elder, thanks for the help... when he said this, i was completely taken away. what did he mean thanks for the help? I hadnt really done anything for him exept say a few things. But I gave him a BOM, and a couple pamphlets, and got his info down for the real missionaries, because he lived outside of my area. I problbly will never see him again, but i wonder if i made any real impact on his life. but i hope i did, and i know that he felt the spirit. This experien... time up!
gotta go!
Elder Wilson
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