Oh boy, this week... I'll start by saying that I don't think I've ever known the sun to be so mean. We had a lot of appointments this week fall through, so at least 2 hours of almost every day (some days 3 or 4) were spent biking around the streets of our area and trying to either think of someone we could visit or unsuccessfully looking for new investigators. I was not expecting such an exhorbitant amount of time in the sun, so I did not put on sunblock for the first few days. Yes, I burned, but only a little bit. And it really doesn't hurt. Fear not, I have learned from my mistake, and it shall not worsen! This week was also a little stressful for me; it just seemed like everything hit me all at once. Friday night, I was sitting at my desk writing in my journal (Elder Gonzalez had gone to bed), and I just sat there thinking afterwards. I realized that we really don't have any progressing investigators. Even though a lot of them are receptive to us and our teachings, none of them have been to church, and those that have have only been once and then don't go again. We did divisions this week with the Assistants (they're also our zone leaders), and had the most successful day with Elder Clark that I've had in a long time; 10 lessons, all of which were really great lessons. Taking this into consideration, I just couldn't help but feel like I was doing something wrong, or that I needed to change something in order to be a better missionary. And then Sunday happened. We had 4 investigators that said they were going to go to church, and they gave us a wholehearted "yes, I want to go" along with what they were going to do to ensure they got to church. Not a single one came. We were going to pass by and walk with two of them, and while waiting for one, the other one called and said she wouldn't be able to make it, and then the mother of the first came outside and said that she wouldn't either. We anxiously waited in church for either of the other two with no avail. On top of that, neither of our recent converts came. Needless to say, I was SUPER bummed out during all of church that morning; Elder Gonzalez was as well, but I feel like he didn't feel quite the extent of the failure I felt. We headed home in silence. Fortunately, we found some jovens in the street that said they were actually looking for us to see if we could help them with some visits to the less active youth of the ward. We didn't have any set appointments for a few hours, so we decided to go for it. Everything changed with them. They knew their way around a little bit better than we did, so we just followed them for a little bit. When we had visited the people they had planned to visit, they told us they could stay out with us for the rest of the night, so we went to work. We went to 2 appointments of ours, and then we knocked on some doors. The first door we tried: "yeah, I have time for a message of Jesus Christ. Do you just want to do it out here?" "Uhhhh...yeah!" Taught a quick lesson, accepted us back later this week. Second door we knocked: "Yeah, we have some friends that are members that live just down the street! (The jovens knew who they were) Do you want to come in? We just finished eating if you want some food, too!" "Uhhhh... yeah!" Went in, sat down, taught a quick lesson, they accepted us back for next weekend. I don't even know what it was, but it was an absolutely wonderful. I'm still waiting on the next miracle, but yesterday really helped animate me for this coming week, and sometimes that's all we really need to keep us going until we find that next miracle. It's for that reason that I'll be trying to get jovens to go with us just about every day (including this evening) to keep us animated and hopefully finding miracles. Iré y haré, Elder Groesbeck Q&A with Elder Groesbeck (questions by the Hill Family) 1. Have you seen any llamas in Pachuca, Mexico? If so, how did the llamas migrate from South America to Mexico; did they take a maritime route or cross the narrow neck of land by foot? drfg Were you referring to the Ecuadorian llamas or the Columbian llamas? 2. Is a sombrero part of your mission approved attire? If you count my bike helmet as a sombrero, then absolutely. Otherwise, I don't think so. 3. What's your most creative door approach? This one comes from the elder who was with us for those 4 weeks last cycle, Elder Guerra: "Hi, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Can my companion use your bathroom?" I was so confused, but they let us come in so Elder Hixon could use the bathroom. Unfortunately, they really weren't interested and have always been "occupied" every time we've gone back. 4. The hummingbird prepares for migration across the Gulf of Mexico to the tip of the Yucatan by accumulating fat reserves that are thought to be able to sustain them for a 600 mile flight without stops. They have a intense feeding activity prior to migration is called "hyperphagia" where they more than double their body weight by eating nectar and lots and lots of insects. So the question is, what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? Given the presented facts and the average wind speed during the voyage of the migration routes of an unlaiden swallow, it would be approximately 36.839 miles per hour. 5. Do you dream in Español? I think I've had about 3 dreams that I can remember in Spanish, but I've been catching myself thinking in Spanish a lot more lately with Elder Gonzalez as my companion. 6. What is the strangest response you've gotten while tracking? Mostly just stories that people randomly decide to tell us that have nothing to do with missionarywork or anything but that they want to share. People here in Mexico want to tell absolutely everyone about their problems in the hopes that they'll get some money or something. Fortunately, we offer something much better than money: The gospel! 7. We are concerned that your improv skills are becoming rusty and would like to help you by having you finish the following diddy from Monty Python's Holy Grail. Sir Robin's Mistrel begins, "Bravely bold Sir Groesbeck rode forth from Houstonia. He was not afraid to preach or... (run from llamas)" You know, the thing about comedysportz high school was that we didn't play the singing games. We played the acting games which is far more my playing field. Besides, how would you know whether or not I improv'ed it? I have a full hour and a half to type all of this. 8. What is Mexican food called in Mexico? ...comida...? 9. Do South American llamas that have migrated to mexico chase or spit on missionaries? Refer to my response to question 1.
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