I never know what to put here, so there you go.
My week was pretty good. Last Friday we spoke all in Spanish all day. It was pretty hard at first, but I actually was able to get by pretty well. I'm very glad with how my Spanish is coming actually. We did a learning assessment a few weeks ago, when we recorded ourselves talking about different things on the computer and somebody else listened to it and he gave us feedback last week. He was very impressed with my Spanish and couldn't believe that I didn't take it in high school, so it was awesome! Definitely a confidence booster. Now I just have to not get a big head about it.
The most "interesting" part of the week was definitely our lesson with our progressing investigator Alberto. He had been somewhat open with us throughout our lessons beforehand, and we gave him a Restoration pamphlet to read before our next lesson. When we got in this time, we asked him about the pamphlet and if he had any questions. He said that he did have a few questions, and that he had recently been speaking with his Jehovah's Witness family about us. Sweet. So of course he then asks if Joseph Smith had multiple wives, why polygamy, why no polygamy anymore, how do you know your church is true, what even is church, why is religion important, wasn't Peter the first pope, and so on. Eventually, my companion just said, "I don't have all of the answers that you want, but I know that God does. Will you pray about these things?" He agreed to and we taught him briefly about the Book of Mormon and prayer and the Holy Ghost and then gave him Alma 32 to read about having faith in the Lord to understand His works and such. It was somewhat upsetting at first to not get through to him, but in the end, we were able to teach him what we wanted, and what the Lord wanted him to know. It was a huge testimony to me that the Lord's work will always go forward.
As for my district and the companionship I was worried about, we brought it up in Branch Council on Sunday and President Shallenberger said that he had actually been feeling that the companionship needed to be changed. So we worked together and eventually made the decision to switch up two companionships in order to help everyone involved. I think that it will make a huge difference and that the 4 involved all have something to learn from the experience. Unfortunately Elder Davis was one of the ones involved and so he had to move rooms which is a little rough, but I know it's all for the best.
I also had the chance to be an "investigator" with Alberto (Brother Rasmussen) this Monday, and it was super eye-opening. It's very hard to include more than one person in a lesson, especially when you've been a missionary for like four weeks, but still, it was very hard because I wasn't exactly included in the lessons. They talked to me in the beginning a bit, but they were teaching Alberto and I was observing. It really helped me understand how I should go about teaching more than one person in the times I have the opportunity to.
Stephen B. Allen gave our devotional on Sunday night, and it was really powerful and super funny. You should look up a talk by him if you have the time.
We've been working a lot this week on using the Book of Mormon to answer questions, and have been studying it a ton. It has grown my testimony a lot as we practice finding answers to all kinds of questions in this holy book. I know that it is true, that it is the word of God, and that it is meant for every person on this earth. Pick it up this week, and search for an answer to a question you've had recently. I know that it contains the answer.
Yesterday night Elder Johnson and I got to teach an amazing lesson to other investigator Kimie. We have worked with her through her problems with pornography and being unloyal to her husband and been through repentance, and she has been able to do the things that we ask her (i.e. word of wisdom, keep Sabbath Day holy) but she still feels the guilt for her sins. We were able to just console her, and tell her the things that she needs to feel better. I could feel the Spirit and knew that we were doing the right thing. We also suggested that she meet with the bishop and read Ether 12 about the Lord using our weaknesses to makes us more like Him, and she wanted to do both con gusto, entonces creemos que we were able to help her a lot. It was sweet.
We also taught our TRC investigator José for the last time this week, which was awesome. He´s a tiny Guatemalan man with a huge heart and tons of wisdom. He taught Elder Johnson and I so much about ourselves, about our purpose as missionaries and as people, and even dating. I love him and am so glad for the opportunity I have had to meet him and get to know him.
Other than that, it's been a pretty average week. I have seen Elder Reid quite a few times, we actually have the same schedule which is awesome! I haven't seen Elder Salter yet, but he's also only been here for a day, so. Also I get my travel plans tomorrow! I can't believe I leave the MTC in 10 days, but I'm beyond excited.
¡Viva Argentina!
Elder Grondel
Pictures:
1. Sister Thomas, Elder Richter, and I ran into each other on our temple walk.
2. Elder Jensen was only here for 12 days, but they were the best 12 days of our lives. I love that man and know he´s going to touch so many peoples hearts in Mississippi.
3. While moving Elder Davis to his other room, we found that placing it upon the ironing board creates a wonderful illusion as if he was floating right in the air. How fantastic!
This is our TRC investigator José!
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