Week #15: General Conference in Guatemala

This week was largely focused on General Conference.  I actually liked the fact, that no matter where anyone was on this little old Earth, it was General Conference weekend and you had the opportunity somehow, some way to hear a living prophet and apostles of Jesus Christ give us counsel and words of wisdom to better our lives.  It was comforting to know that my family was doing the same thing I was the last couple of days.  Although it looks like I missed out on the BBQ.  :P

Literally everything that we did this last week was focused on bringing people to conference. Between the lessons with members about bringing people to conference and the investigators we invited ourselves, we taught somewhere near 70-ish lessons. A lot of work and a lot of walking.

I finally bought an umbrella and even use it and I bring it with me everywhere, so at least in that end I am a lot less wet.  Only took me a couple months to realize that this rain we are experiencing isn't a scattered shower.  It is here to stay.

We finally had our first consejo de barrio in the rama La Verde. We have a lot of ideas for this branch but its going to take some time to get it all going and like all things in the gospel we have to work on them poco a poco, praying all the way for help because we know here in la verde that nothing would get done without the hand of the lord pushing his work along in some way or another.

There isn't too much to say about the work of the week.  It was a long week filled with a lot of lessons and following up on commitments.   Out of all of the investigators that we taught and the challenges we gave to individual members, families and the branch in general we only managed to bring 16 investigators to conference. Which is a really good stat for the area but when I compare it to the work, the lessons and the amount of blood sweat and tears that went into challenging so many, our goal was more.  Sin embargo, we were second in the zone only behind the zone leaders who actually have two little padawans working with them right now.

Conference was a roller coaster of a weekend. On the first session of the first day of conference the viaje fell through and so we had to desperately make arrangements to bring people to the session and even had to pick them up and go with a group ourselves.   As the sessions drew on and it was time for the Priesthood Session the viaje was actually late so we ended up having to make our own way over to conference again.  Throughout this whole ordeal I am fighting sickness yet again and trying to understand what is being said by the translators during conference added to the heachache. The Spanish they used was super fast and formal and very different from how the people speak here.  Maybe the accent was a bit different too.  It seemed like I took a step back in the understanding Spanish department.  But it is all good.  Sometimes the best made plans will fall apart, and this was definitely a day to learn patience.

The second day of conference was different then the first and oh so gladly so.  We had investigators come and it was a lot more peaceful.  In the end there were some precious moments when during conference all would go silent and you could see everyone sincerely listening and feeling what was being said.  In the last session we had actually brought four of the teenagers from over in San Luiz area.  When they showed up some people thought they were up to no good, but when they sat there and listened to the talks, you could see the others attitudes toward them change and more important I could tell that even they were touched,  especially in the last talk by Elder Bednar that was addressed specifically to them.  Every day we see the gospel touch lives and its a pretty great gift to be able to witness, to see people change, and to see their lives change.

This weekend made me think a lot about conference back home, and the convenience of having it in our homes with the ability to watch it on TV, in our pajamas even.  It is a great convenience, but I wonder if sometimes we look at this as a day off.  Does this hinder us from inviting friends to watch? Does it hinder us in having those friends feel and recognize the spirit, surrounded by the fellowship of the ward or stake? Think about this for the next conference, maybe look at who you could invite to watch, listen and feel.   In the meantime share that talk that Elder Bednar gave with someone and explain to them where I am at, and what I am doing.

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These are my pets, I have named them after friends and family, you figure who is who.
I will send one home soon for Brooke.

These are my other pets. Too many to name.