This week was full of lots of tender mercies, little messages from God, saying, "Calm down, kid. You'll be fine." to cushion the blow of a frustrating quantity of rejections and fallen appointments.
Firstly being divisions. Elder Cerda is District Leader, so we get to do divisions with the Zone Leaders. Elder Cerda went to Zapata with Elder Boorman and I stayed in Jardín with Elder Infante. Elder Infante was in Acapulco during my first change, so I already knew him before he came in this change as the Zone Leader. He lived in the Dominican Republic the first half of his life, then the United states for the last 10 years, so he speaks English and would talk to me during my "I have no idea what's going on" phase of my mission. He hated the hills and was mesmerized by the sand streets on Pie de las Cuesta. We had a really good, productive day and I learned a TON from him.
Then, on Wednesday morning, Elder Cerda and I were walking along, hating ourselves. So in Mexico, the military and the police drive around in pickups, and the officers or soldiers all stand in the bed with their machine guns an assult rifles. So one of these military trucks stopped and called us over. So I was getting my green card out to show them that they shouldn't arrest me, that I'm here legally, when they pull out a couple of cold water bottles. One of the soldiers shakes our hands and says, "I'm a member! I live in Michoacan but I got assigned to work in Guerrero for the week. I saw you guys and thought you could use some water." That was better than getting arrested.
Last week, we contacted a guy chillin in his tire shop reading a porn magazine. We replaced his magazine with a Restoration pamphlet and when we passed by on Wednesday, he was reading the pamphlet. Jose has been listening to us and is really interested to learn more. He even accepted the inviation to baptism. #SATANJUSTLOST
We have an investigator named Andres. He's 12 years old and lives in this little town called San Isidro. His mom doesn't let him go to church by himself, because, ya know, he's 12 and we live in Acapulco, so Elder Cerda and I went to his house to ride with him to church. We were waiting for a camión or a combi to pass in the carretera, when the bishop pulls off to the side of the road and lets us in. Perfect timing, Obispo.
So this week, I definitely learned to keep my head up, no matter how hot it is or how big the hill ahead of us may be. The Lord will bless you, you just have to look.
PICTURES!
1) The "You could use something good today" sunset
2) #SELFIE with the "You could use something good today" sunset
3) I can't get enough of my area, feat. The Mormon Church, and our rival, La Fatima.
4) It me.
Thanks for all the love, support, emails, and prayers! ¡Que tengan una buena semana! I love all y'all!
-Elder Aldrich
