Another week of work here in Tazumal. What a week! We have hit the famous “last rains” of the year and are entering into summer. So of course, it has been a deluge for the last three days. I finally donned the smurf blue rain poncho I promised myself I would never ever put on…. Nothing like a good lesson in humility! But it is all good, I sure do love the rain!
I was hoping that we could use the damp weather to our advantage, hoping that the sight of two soggy missionaries would soften the hearts of the people and let us in…But the Lord has seen fit to try our faith and dedication this week…. I am not sure why it is that when we try our hardest, the work toughens up a little bit. We have found some amazing people, had spiritually charged lessons, committed them to baptism, and then they disappear completely and we can never find them again. The earth has swallowed them up, as my comp says. She has such a great sense of humor, no matter what we can always find a reason to laugh. I have come to notice that when we leave a house, the local preachers and religious neighbors are very quick to also visit and try to break up any foundation that we placed with our investigators. I don’t think I have ever fought harder to try to teach, than in this area, and I am grateful for the chance that I have to strengthen my own testimony.
We have been trying our hardest this week to give our all to the Lord and his work. In our companionship studies we have been focusing on the Atonement and how it applies to us as missionaries and how we can help the people we are visiting come to understand it better. As we have done so, we have felt a greater urgency to share the gospel and we have a greater love for the people we visit.
On Friday night we got an email from our Zone Leaders, saying that they needed us in the stake center on Saturday to participate in a missionary activity. So we got all our stuff together and when to the Stake, excited to contact investigators and to teach…. well it was not that type of missionary activity. They had called all the RMs in the stake and all the young men and women who are preparing to go on a mission together and were trying to animate them to serve the Lord. They wanted me to share my testimony on… well my mission. It was really nice, the spirit was definitely there, but at the same time, it was an awful slap in the face of the reality that my mission is passing super quickly!! The worst part was when they had a mother with a missionary in the field come up front and talk about her son coming home in January (love you mom!)
Yah, so it was a little rough, but I gotta shrug it off and run through the finish line! No time to be baggy/trunky!!
Sunday came around and sadly, we did not have any investigators come, but after two weeks of conferences, what a beautiful blessing it was to be able to participate in the Sacrament. I am so grateful for the atonement of my Savior and that it has the power to purify, sanctify and fortify.
I’ll just close with my meditize scripture this week. Helaman 3:35
No obstante, ayunaron y oraron frecuentemente, y se volvieron más y más fuertes en su humildad, y más y más firmes en la fe de Cristo, hasta henchir sus almas de gozo y de consolación; sí, hasta la purificación y santificación de sus corazones, santificación que viene de entregar el corazón a Dios.
I love you all so much and I am thankful for all your prayers and support!
Hoorah for Israel!
Love, Hermana Hipol
