Time has flown!! Sounds like you guys are getting ready for the holidays!! :) About Thanksgiving, our president literally said "Thanksgiving doesn't exist here, so don't celebrate it..... :(:(:(:( Probably the most sad thing I have ever heard! ;)
It's good that Tyler (Black) is finally heading out to the field! :)
Teaching is great! I finally have found the style that I like to teach in!! With my comp (from Brazil), my Portuguese has gotten super good so I now can speak a lot better! :) Creole still kicks my butt!
A little comparison is like this Creole is a little like this:
Creole:"un sta no bo soc na kada bo toyia"
Portuguese:"eu vou bater voce en sua cada"
They both mean "I going punch you in the face"
Right now we don't speak a lot in church, but our president of our branch has only been a member of the Church for 3 months!!!!!! Imagine a bishop like that!!!! And he is in an area that has never ran normal! So in a sense, we are the president. It's kind of strange, but cool at the same time!
We had one more baptism this week! Dominguez is a bomb!!! He was super receptive and will be an awesome member! Our two recent converts received the priesthood yesterday, too! We also have a few more that are progressing, and a few full families as well!!
This is where we baptize!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now for a quote, or quick story! The Savior knows all of our pains, sadnesses, and feelings of joy! He has felt every single emotion that we have ever felt or will feel. When times are rough, turn to the Lord.He knows you, and He knows how to help you!!! Elder Holland said in a talk about missionary work and the Atonement, that sometimes we ask why is this happening to me? I am trying to be so good! I know this is talking about missionary work, but everyone can apply it to our lives
President Holland:
"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” 16 then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way."
I will just stop here now that the Spirit is coursing through your veins! :)
Love you family! Until next week! :)
Love,
Elder Naylor
