On Thursday this week, something hilarious happened. The
Testigos de Jehová knocked our door during our study time. I
can only imagine what they thought when they saw two
well-dressed young men with name tags come out and greet them
amiably. They asked us if we live in that house, and we told
them we do (thus, I can be perfectly certain that they will
never approach the door of this house ever again, for all
eternity), then we just talked about how impressive it is that
they work so hard as missionaries, and we parted with good
feelings. I especially had good feelings because I was
guffawing inside for having received Jehovah's Witnesses at my
own door, when they were right in the middle of "enemy
territory." It's just so funny to me.
But the day before, I saw a two-fold miracle. We were
working in the barrio 8 de Abril, and nobody let us in, as
usual (bienvenidos a la misión), and we began to head back
south towards barrios Infanta and Aeroparque. But then, I
froze, feeling confused, and I just stood there in the street
for a minute, not moving or saying anything. I felt distinctly
that we were headed in the wrong direction, and the Plaza
Municipal came to my mind, farther north. I started walking
without explaining anything because I didn't understand what I
was doing well enough to explain. Then, on the way, I thought
of a man who lives around there who is a member but doesn't
attend church, and I began to head toward his house. But
here's the catch: I didn't remember where his house was. But I
continued on, nonetheless, and we got to the general area of
his house. Then I felt other distinct directions that guided
me step by step through the streets, and in a moment we
miraculously came exactly to his house. After the initial
miracle of the first impression, that was the second act of
Providence. He let us in, and we talked with him for a while,
finding out that he doesn't attend church because he fears the
hypocrisy of starting to attend and be good and all that, but
then regress and fall away to his anterior situation of sin
again. We talked about the faith that he needs, and that he
has literally zero chance if he doesn't start somehow. We even
related our guide to his house, and told him with power and
authority that we were there to tell him God needs him back in
church. Sadly, after all those miracles and testimonies that
we recounted, in the end he still clung to his fear,
accidentally driving out his own faith. He wants us to visit
him again this week, but I'm not sure we will because we've
visited with him before multiple times, and, despite his
immense knowledge of the doctrines, he doesn't have the faith
to follow through, and he doesn't progress for that reason. We
will probably have to drop him once again. But I suppose I'll
give him the benefit of the doubt for one or two more visits.
I'm just praying that God helps him in some way, because we
can't help him if he doesn't help himself. He even has the
goal of being sealed to his wife in the Temple, but if he
never leaves behind his fear of failure he will never reach
that goal. Ultimately, that visit was an obvious touch of
God's hand in his life, but he still hasn't changed because of
it. I'll just keep praying, I guess.
But this week really has been a good one. After so many
weeks of having no success in any form aside from just talking
with the people, we now have five new investigators, which is
also a miracle unto itself. We have anywhere from two to six
baptisms possible in the near future, and we could also
reactivate a few people who no longer attend church, and all
that makes me very happy. In short, I am prospering. I am
happy to be here, and happy to be alive. This mission is the
hardest and most painful thing I've done in my life, but is
also easily the most rewarding. I do not regret in any way
leaving my comfortable life in gringo-land to come here: I'm
finally learning all the things that I always wanted to learn,
and I can also now see just how much I don't know that I don't
know. I am content.
With so much love,
Élder Hill
Fotos:
- Un baile tradicional del Día de Independencia de Argentina (9 de Julio) que vi en intercambios con Élder Valencia, mi líder de zona, en Pascual Segura
- Élder Hernandez, del grupo de Élder Cardozo, en intercambios en Cementista este jueves pasado
- La cara tonta de Élder Cardozo justo antes que comimos esos ají enfrente. Ese tipo de ají se llama "Puta que te parió", que significa básicamente "The whore that birthed you" - obviamente eso es muy vulgar en cualquier idioma, pero es su nombre, entonces perdón. Y sí, morimos por razón de esos ají; comimos dos cada uno.
- Los Élderes de Cementista
- La Luna
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