"¿Que es lo que sabe?..."Jesucristo"

From: "Tenney, Elder"
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 3:51:06 PM
Subject: "¿Que es lo que sabe?..."Jesucristo"

Hey family!

This week was another great one. 

Funny/awkward story of the week: We went to pick up our clothes from a less active member who washed them for us. In Spanish, sometimes "it" and "she" is the same. The teenage daughter came out and told us the clothes weren't ready yet. "Oh, okay! Then, tomorrow we'll pass by in the morning to pick it up."... she understood it as, "We'll pass by in the morning to pick you up." She then asked  slighly confused and slightly excited, "You're going to pass by to pick me up tomorrow?"..........    ."Uh....no...the clothes..."  "Oh..." "Well have a great day!" hahaha. 

One of the blessings of serving in an area is the blessing to see the people who you taught become faithful members. This weekend Mariana went to the temple for the 1st time. Tears came to my eyes as she told me of how special it was to enter the temple. Then yesterday Victor received the Aaronic priesthood. Ah, I am so happy for them. 

This week was tiring. In the area, the last 2 transfers we have been blessed with miracle after miracle. It has been incredible. We had a baptism almost every week and were finding prepared people every week. Recently, I feel like I am working even harder and my faith is stronger than ever, but we aren't seeing those same miracles. We had to drop a ton of investigators and were left with 2.  Lucas was going to be baptized yesterday, but something happened and we completely lost contact with him. 

So we are left with very little. I was searching for revelation to know where to go and what to do to find the prepared people. As we planned for the week, I felt we should go to an area where we had never worked before, so we planned a day to go to this other area and pass by all the names we had there. I was so excited for it. I had all the faith that we were going to find the chosen people and explode this area. We passed by all the less actives in the area, not one of them came out, but I didn't get discouraged. I was even more excited to talk with the next person. We talked with tons and tons of people. In every moment I was praying to know what this person needs and I followed what I felt. I felt the spirit strongly as I testified to many people, but contact after contact, member after member, there was no success. Finally in the end of the day we were blessed to find someone,  but then the next day he sent us a message saying he didn't want to talk with us anymore...And to add to that, a dog attacked us and I ripped my pants defending myself hahaha. It was super funny. Anyways, I was super disappointed, but not discouraged. 

 At the end of the week, I was exhausted and stressed. I was thinking, "why aren't we seeing the miracles that we saw the entire last 2 transfers? Why am I stressed? This is the Lord's work, I should just trust in him." But I began to question my faith. Why am I stressed and worrying if I have faith? 

Saturday night, we had a lesson with Lautaro, our only investigator, who is 10 years old. He lives with his grandparents who are members, but he needs the permission of his mom to be baptized. He is such a good kid. We were trying to help him open up to learn why he really wants to be baptized so he can share that with his mom. For some reason, he was really timid this day. We asked him several questions and the response, "I don't know..." "why do you want to be baptized?"..."I don't know..." haha. Then finally I said, " Well Lautaro, what do you know?"..."Jesucristo.." he said. Jesus Christ. I just paused...and really didn't have anything else to say, I was humbled by the profoundness of his response. 

Lautaro reminds me of my own love for Jesus Christ. I don't know what it takes to receive all the miracles we need, I don't know where the elect are, I don't know what every person needs, but I know Jesus. And I have faith in Him. The stress, confusion, and frustration I feel in some moments does not mean the absence of faith. Faith doesn't mean we don't experience sadness, opposition, or internal conflicts. Faith is what we choose to do when we face the confusion, stress, sadness, or frustration. 

So I am not worried. I have faith in Jesus Christ. My faith is stronger than ever. I'll never stop asking, searching for, and acting on His inpsiration. I know He lives and that is the most important thing. I love the Savior. I love trials and the opportunity to truly show my faith in Him. 

I love you all so much! I'm so excited to tell you about all the miracles we will see this week! 

Have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Elder Tenney