Hey dad this was the e-mail I sent last week sorry I don't know what happened!
So this was a pretty normal week! How does Mason always have so much to say in his e-mails?
Funny story. So the English Elders were knocking some doors in this apartment complex and this man answered and they stared talking to him about the Book of Mormon and his neighbor randomly comes out side holding up a Book of Mormon and says in broken english "this is a good book read it!" and then went back inside of his apartment. So naturally the elders decided to go knock on his door and see what that was about. Well he didn't speak much English so the elders called us and gave us his information. So we went over there and you guys, this guys knows more about the Book of Mormon than most members of the church. He told us that he has read it 5 times!! 5 times! He has all the stories memorized and also knows Joseph Smiths whole story. He is a super genius. So we have been teaching him. He has a hard time with accepting a couple of things and doesn't want to come to church because he doesn't believe in organized religion but he is really great and we are seeing progress!
The Gutierrez family is doing really awesome. We taught them the word of wisdom the other night and they just completely opened up to us. Hermano Gutierrez told us that he has had an addiction to smoking for almost his whole life and he has tried to quit so many times but it's hard. And now he has a lot of health problems because of it. But we felt really prompted to promise him that with the help of your Heavenly Father you will be able to quit smoking and you will have the health that you need. They are progressing really well. It's just hard with them sometimes because Hermana Gutierrez was raised in the Catholic church and her whole family is catholic so it's hard for her to change. But they told us that they can feel that this church is true and they are willing to change even though it's hard. We see them almost every night and we have such a good relationship with them.
So as a mission we are doing this thing called "The 40 day fast" It started yesterday. So yesterday we had a mission wide fast and we chose 3-5 things each that are holding us back from being the consecrated missionary. So for example I wrote 4 things down in my study journal that I want to give up for 40 days. One of this things was singing worldly music. Sometimes I find myself singing a song that I liked before the mission and it's not the worst thing in the world but it's all about giving up those little things that might be holding you back so that you can become the missionary Heavenly Father knows you can become. I am really looking forward to doing it and I know we are going to see a difference.
That's about it for this week! I love all of you SO MUCH and I hope you have an amazing fun week.
Con Amor,
Hermana San Juan :)
Orange Leaf!!!
New Years Resolution: Eat Healthy
Nice stockings! Great story about the man and the BOM. Sheesh!! I resolve every new year to eat healthy--and I think each year I've gotten a little better, but I'm far from where I want to be. I do love my chocolate chip cookies (and pretty much anything else sweet)! I also decided to do 100 push-ups a day. When I started I could barely do ten at a time (and these are GIRL push-ups!), but now I can do 25 (and it only took a week or so to build up to that). So four times a day I drop and do 25 push-ups. It's kind of a nice little challenge and gets my heart rate up for a few minutes and is making my arms stronger. Baby steps. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you already know this, but Uncle Jack died this weekend and his funeral is tomorrow. I will miss him, but I'm sure grateful to know we'll see him again. I imagine Cherie met him when he arrived. It will be fun to see my cousins, etc.--one of the good things about funerals. Anyway, take care and keep up the good work!!
Love,
Julie (and Tom too)
P.S. -- Melissa and Jeff have been living with us since December 1, and just moved back in to their newly-remodelled house last night. It's awesome!!