We are coming up on 3 whole days since the last time my companion pooped. Please pray for him. We're starting to get a little worried. 🙏
LIL JUAN'S SCOOP ON THE PAST MONTH OR SO
We started teaching English lessons to Spanish speakers every week and I've learned that there's a ton about my native language which makes absolutely no freaking sense.
For example: read and lead rhyme and read and lead rhyme but read and lead don't rhyme and neither do read and lead.
I was trying to explain how to sound out vowels in English. I quickly learned that this is actually impossible to teach since all our rules about when vowels say their names only work half the time so frankly I'm not sure how any of us figured out how to read in the first place.
The Portuguese branch had a dance in the church's gym at the same time we were trying to have a baptism, so I was slightly mortified to hear music thumping faintly in the background during the entire thing. When the guy getting baptized was immersed in the water, everyone at the dance started cheering almost on cue. It suddenly felt like angels were cheering this guy on and welcoming him in and that is when I decided that every baptism needs a Portuguese dance party next door.
I accidentally told a man at church that he was looking very sexy with his new tie instead of very good and it's been all uphill from there guys people love us in our Spanish ward.
I copped a Nampa Bulldogs shirt from Walmart for 5 bucks and wore it bowling with our district and some YSA members who mocked me ruthlessly for posing as one of the high schoolers. It is now my favorite shirt.
We met a guy named Isaac by randomly calling people and he turned out to be the coolest guy ever. He's this jacked dude from Nicaragua, didn't speak a LICK of English when we met, but he's one of our best friends now. He called us the other night and said he wanted to get us domino's, so we said okay thinking he would just drop it off like everybody else does. But the guy pulls up to our house in his black car at like 8:30, parks underneath this flickery street lamp and rolls the tinted window down. We walk over and his face is all shadowy and spooky looking, gold chain glinting in the light and he looks around with his "cool face" on, not cracking a smile and says in his deep, thick accent, "Elderes." Then holds out his fist. We bump him.
"Entra. Vamos."
So we get in his car and he drives us to Domino's to buy some pizza and Fanta like true south-American gangsters. Definitely felt like one of the coolest missionaries in the area then.
….
As a missionary, I spend a lot of time talking about Christ and his Gospel because they truly are incredible. I love the light and warmth that comes when such things are discussed.
But in learning more about the goodness and glory of our greatest advocate, our Savior Jesus Christ, I have also picked up a few new insights into the mind of our greatest adversary. I don't usually talk about him, but I found this note scrawled in my journal and for some reason I felt like including it in this email for you.
"Satan's greatest lie is to make you think that what you do right now doesn't matter. What you do today or for the next hour or the next ten minutes is of no importance. You can work hard and do good just not right now because of A B C and D. Satan doesn't wait until you die to claim you his, he carefully robs you of your life one minute at a time."
The people you could be serving, the relationship you could be building with your Heavenly Father – Satan can't force you to forget about them entirely, he doesn't have to. He only needs to get you to keep them one line below something else on your list of priorities.
And wow how much more obvious can the power of distraction get? How easy is it to unconsciously surrender irreplaceable hours of your time to push notifications, news articles and videos about stuff that doesn't even concern your immediate physical or spiritual well-being? On a daily basis the adversary is attacking the identity of every single person in the world, coaxing us to turn inward and become so preoccupied with ourselves that we isolate ourselves from God and each other.
Satan's greatest victory is won when you're so worried about life that you forget why you're even living at all.
2 Nephi 2:27 puts it best.
"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh... And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might bemiserable like unto himself."
There is a better way, my friends. You don't have to "find yourself" to be happy. You are not on this earth to chase down your identity as if it's some elusive secret buried deep inside of you.
You are a child of God and yes it really is as simple as that. His admiration, love and inheritance for you lasts forever. If you tap into that power every single morning and align yourself with the will of your Father you will find every facet of your life to be more rewarding. As a result of forgetting yourself you will discover and develop more unique talents you were blessed with, your sincere love for and patience with other people will come more naturally and you'll make so many happy memories that when you die someday you will go to rest with the biggest smile on your face knowing you're the wealthiest sonofagun in the world. You will have lived a life a thousand times better than anything you could've come up with on your own and the joy you'll have in the next life will be beyond anything you could describe as you're welcomed with open arms by the throngs of individuals you helped bless and the Master himself, your Creator and friend, even Jesus Christ.
I love all of you with my whole kidney! I can happily testify that Christ's doctrine works. It's working in me and millions of others right now, changing their lives and making them happier, better people.
Just try it bro.
Your mejor amigo en Nampa Idaho,
Elder Juanhijo
1. Johnny boi and Lowdski
2. Elder Barron (writes like a founding father) attacking McLawhorn
3. Vork's sheep in English lessons
4. The meme I connect with most rn
5. Video shoot at the school which I forgot to talk about but it was SO SICK I spent like 6 hours scheming a shot list one night and with the help of creative geniuses like Elder Despain and Webb we shot the first take LIVE to get genuine reactions from the students and it was so fun I felt like a real director and everything we all had a blast man ya had to be there the video will be edited in a week or so.
6. Mine and Cattani's genius incentive system to keep goals
7. Salvation exchanges with Elder BECK himself
8. One last volleyball game with the bois before transfers 😥
9. The Spanish Elders and Sisters on our way to a sick lesson
10. Camera dude
11. Another meme
12. Surprise b-day for our zone leader – The mini taco pinata was my idea
13. How facebook finding is going
14. A half-birthed music video to a song Elder Lowder and Moss wrote about Nampa we tried to shoot but decided to scrap after a day of shooting cuz it was way too much to do before transfers but we had fun while it was a thing 🙌
UPDATE: By the time I finished writing this email my companion successfully pooped. Don't worry about him anymore, we all good now.
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