Bosh kuwaleek! (Or something like
that. It's Mayan for "How are you?") I'm not quite sure how to spell
it. Speaking of Mayan, the other day the
bishop of the ward in Uayma, a little pueblo that we go to every once in awhile,
asked me to give a talk at the baptism of Carlos. Basically everyone in Uayma's first language
is Mayan but they have the church meetings in Spanish with some Mayan mixed in.
They definitely feel more comfortable with Mayan though because they don't talk
to each other in Spanish, just to the missionaries and to their kids because
they recognize their kids have to learn Spanish. When I got up to give my talk
I told everyone that my Spanish was still pretty rough so I would just have to
give my talk in Mayan. Everyone started chattering and getting all excited, I
threw out the few phrases in Mayan that I know and they were just lovin' it!!
Then I finally told them that I was just kidding and finished the rest in
Spanish. It was good stuff. You should have seen some of the faces of the old
ladies in the ward! Priceless fo sho!
This week has been pretty superb.
On Tuesday we got a call from the
secretary in the mission offices and he told us that I had to go to Merida to
work out some stuff at the immigration office. So, on Friday at 4 in the
morning we took a bus for a four hour ride all the way to Merida. Normally it
is only 2 hours to Merida on the first class bus but because it is the end of
the month and money is tight we decided to take the second class which goes
through all the tiny pueblos. It was crazy how many there were! The thought
that kept running through my mind was the scripture that talks about the people
walking in obscurity and from the truth because they know not where to find it.
I am sure that missionaries have never taught there but hopefully someday we'll
have enough to do just that.
I don't know if I've heard this somewhere else
or this is just what I think, but I feel like if you hear a message over and
over again it is because the Lord wants to make sure you get it. I think it's
because unfortunately I tend to need a bit more prodding than hearing something
just one time. The message that I have heard over and over again these last two
weeks is that of becoming perfect. In the scriptures, Jesus exhorts us to be
perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. Most of the time when we hear
that we just think, "Nah, I'm human. I can't be perfect even if I try. Jesus must have been talking about the next
life, because that isn't something I can worry about today." While that thought may have some good
reasoning, it is not entirely true! An hermano (brother) in our ward gave a
talk two weeks ago about just that and he brought up a good point. If the Lord
is asking us to do something, it is because He fully expects that we can do it.
Sure, we're going to mess up, we're going to definitely struggle with certain
things but He knew that. He has provided
us with tools such as the Atonement where we can fix all those desafios,
(challenges) and one day we really can become perfect. I don't know why, but
I've been thinking about that all a lot lately and I really do believe it. Yes,
we are going to trip and mess up along the way. However, like Nefi (Nephi) we just need to
remember that the Lord never gives a commandment unto the children of men
without providing a way. We can become perfect some day! The key is to improve
line upon line, ¿verdad? (True?) Ah yeah! Call me crazy but I just felt
like I wanted to share that because it has come up a lot for me in the past few
days. A lot of times we sell ourselves short as far as becoming like our Father in Heaven. The great thing
about this gospel though is that we have the knowledge that as God now is man may
become and along with that as man now is God once was. We can do it, with a lot
of time and with hard work! Shall we not go on in so great a cause?
Have a great week and I'll send
another epistle next week!
Con amor, (with love), Elder Jaussi
Sea feliz, sea Mormon (Be
Happy. Be a Mormon)
We eat every lunch with members and
I have to say they are so darn generous. At times I feel bad because they give
us so much and most of the times I can't finish it all. (My stomach is still
adjusting, but getting better!!) As for breakfast and dinner, we usually fend
for ourselves. I have been pulling a Dad and cooking oats every morning in
water with sugar. Good stuff!
The piano lessons haven't really
been happening. I just play in sacrament meeting and that is it with the piano.
I love it though, and I have to tell you how grateful I am that you kept me
with piano for as long as I did it. No one was really interested in learning,
but I'm going to keep offering.
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