Yes my dear friends, even crazier
than that.
Which is interesting; because it
started out relatively plain, last P-Day....
In the sense that we didn´t do much
besides go home and sleep for 2 hours and have a Family Home Evening with the
Bishop. It was fun!
Tuesday we had Zone Council in the
morning about a half an hour away in Progresso. We learned about a lot of ways
we can improve the search for ¨New Investigators¨ Mainly by...Contacting.
Hooray.
I won´t lie, my love for the keen
game of Cat and Mouse that is Street Contacting has waxed a little cold. But in
the Zone Council I learned a lot about how we can make it more interesting by
using the many different recourses we have in the church.
Have you ever tried to get someone
interested in the Gospel by using the Hymnbook? Go ahead! Try it! You might be
surprised...
We then went on divisions, my
companion was sent an hour away to Monjas while I stayed in Jutiapa to hold
down the fort with Elder Antonio. He´s from Mexico and he´s been in the mission
for a month, and we ran around the city all day working like dogs...and it
really paid off! We taught Marian, (Who will be baptized this coming week) and
the Lopez Family (who still are GOLDEN!). When the day was over, it was not
hard to sink into the pillow and go to sleep.
And it was a good thing that I
slept well, because Wednesday just about killed me.
Scroll up and take a glance at the
title of this week: ¨Catching Fire.¨ This is not just a reference to the heat
of Jutiapa, it is indeed a reference to Suzanne Collin´s Contemporary Fiction
novel.
A ¨revolution¨ of sorts broke out
in Jutiapa.
You see, there are two parts of
this area, city and mountain. The more densely populated area is the former,
and the rural, more humble, would be the latter. The ¨Mountain People¨ came
down on Wednesday morning with all the intention of being heard by the
Well-to-Do´s of Guatemala.
First, they blocked off the Highway
from Jutiapa to Progresso, with Buses, and vans interlocked in two different
areas, as to prohibit all motor-powered passage.
This posed a problem, as Elder
Antonio and I needed to get through the barricade and out to Monjas. There
simply was no other option, we needed to walk.
From Jutiapa to Progresso we went,
under the midday sun, and it was a killer! All the cars on both sides of the
barricade were in a hiatus, and all the passengers had resorted to the same
scapegoat as us. We crossed both sides of the blockade, walking right past the
Police and the Mob, with their AK-47´s and machetes...
When we reached Progresso we were
able to take a bus to Monjas and meet up with our companions an hour late.
Elder Vieira and I wasted no time
getting back on the bus and heading down to Jutiapa....where we walked the
length of the barricade again. Only this time the heat had risen, the tensions
between the ¨pacifistic protesting¨ and the enforcement of the law had
risen...but once again, my companion and I walked right past them and to the
house of the Stake President, whose wife had arranged to make us lunch.
It was a huge plate of spaghetti
and a tall glass of Coca Cola (I find it interesting, I drink more Coca Cola in
my Mission than I have in my entire life....).
When we got back home, we began
calling people to confirm our scheduled appointments.
¨Don´t leave the house Elders!¨ was
the first thing we heard from Brother Mendez, ¨The police just threw tear gas
in the park (next to our house)¨
The protest sparked in the City´s
central, and a good many people were in the hospital, men women and children.
So we stayed home.
But we couldn´t have timed it
better. The rebellion didn´t amount to anything and by the next day it was all
cleaned up...
For the rest of the week, the work
went relatively slowly...Many appointments fell through and it’s getting
increasingly harder to find Investigators who will progress...
But that´s how it goes! The week
had its other moments of craziness (including a drunk-nudist running behind us
in the street) but nothing else quite matched to the rebellion.
The Lord takes care of his
missionaries!
And what a great calling it is to
be one!
-Elder Monson
Baptism of Esau whom Tyler taught in San Juan. Tyler was so excited!
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