Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Time Flies When You're Busy

Happy December everyone! It certainly doesn't feel like December with the heat here. No snow, a few houses have Christmas lights, but I'll be celebrating Christmas no matter what. Yes, some stores put up Christmas decorations this past week. So I'll get to my news of the week:

Tuesday- Not too much to report on, we had a district meeting, and we pulled names out of a hat for a Secret Santa gift exchange.

Wednesday- Painting! A brother in the church asked me and Elder Lugo if we could help him paint the inside of his house. He has an illness that prevents him from working so Elder Lugo and I gladly put on some "civilian" clothes and got to work! Funny how my family asked the Elders in Westminster to paint two weeks ago and here I am, being asked to paint. So family, be careful what you ask the Elders in Westminster to do because I gotta do the same thing hahaha. Later that evening, we helped Emily and Melissa with homework. They needed help with English and math. Emily is a less-active member who we thought was an investigator a few weeks ago. Melissa is her neighbor. Both are about 13, 14 years old. We've been trying to reactivate Emily and teaching Melissa.

Thursday- We continued painting from yesterday. Since there's only two of us with brushes, it takes a while to paint a house. We still didn't finish and we ran out of paint. Later that afternoon, we taught Josefina. She's 72 years old and we've being focusing on the Plan of Salvation with her since her husband passed away. We extended the baptism invitation and she accepted! Our challenge with her is that she easily forgets things, so we always have to review what we taught the last time and then move on slowly. Then that night we had our weekly ward mission meeting.

Friday- Weekly planning session with my companion, and then lunch with the Fam. Guerrero Gaxiola. The mother, Banesa, still wants to be baptized on the 12th, but her children, Diego and Alejandra, aren't sure about it. They're having doubts and concerns and fears so we're trying not to lose them. Prayers needed here. Then, we visited Teresita and Flora, a mother and daughter. Teresita is 88 and just got baptized last year. Flora is about 54 and she got baptized with her mother. Teresita said to my companion, "El gringito esta bien gordito, verdad?" And she was being totally serious. My companion and I started laughing because she just called me fat. Note to my family, I have not gained any weight. Well afterwards, we visited Emily and Melissa again. Emily broke her arm at school, and she said the bones were poking through the skin. So we offered a blessing for Emily and Elder Lugo and I gave it. 

Saturday- We had a zone meeting, then we ate lunch at home. The family who was supposed to feed us forgot to tell us that they were going to Mazatlan for the weekend and they weren't home. So they called us and apologized and offered to help us with another meal any other day. After our lunch, we visited Angel and Helen, then Luis Angel and Carlos. Luis Angel and Carlos are two kids that live on the same street as the Fam. Lopez Madrid. But we never formally talked to their parents about teaching them so I told my companion that we we're going to talk to the dad since he was outside the house. Wow, the dad is really Bible-smart. He said that as long as we taught about Jesus, that we can teach his children. We decided to invite him to listen to a quick message (the beginning of the Restoration) and he accepted. He was really attentive and receptive. He would be an excellent member of the church if he got baptized. So after this first lesson, my companion and I are going to teach the father too with his children.

Sunday- Church, lunch with a family that lives really close to the church building, then we went to the Christmas devotional, which was being broadcasted in Spanish at the Tamazula stake center. We had some technical problems but I really enjoyed the parts that I did hear. 

Spiritual thought: Alma 34:31-34
This life is the time that we have to prepare ourselves to meet God. We need to constantly be doing something productive spiritually and temporally. In this scripture, it says that we need to repent and soften our hearts. To apply this to our lives, we need to repent, humble ourselves, pray always, attend Church every week, for all 3 hours (only in emergencies should we leave Church early), and we can study our scriptures and do things for school, etc. So this week, I want everyone to think about the things they do, and ask themselves whether they're just wasting time or preparing themselves for the life to come.

Anyways, that's all I have for this week. Be diligent! Study your scriptures, pray often, and choose the right! Thank you for all the prayers! I know I'm receiving extra blessings for your prayers.

Remember the Reason for the Season,

Elder Finkner

2 comments:

  1. I love his spiritual thought for the week. I will definitely be thinking about this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love his spiritual thought for the week. I will definitely be thinking about this.

    ReplyDelete