I hope you are all doing great! These past couple of weeks we haven't had many people that have followed through on their appointments which has been hard to help people progress. It also means I don't have a lot to say about this week.
We did help out the spouse of one of our investigators. He just started listening to lessons last week for the first time. He is a carpinter and helped out refirbish (not spelled correctly) some cabinets for these people. They asked if we could help load and unload them. We agreed, however, it turned out to be more than that. We had to take these cabinets, shelves, etc. up two flights of stairs. Sadly, one was way to big to be able to move it up stairs. So, using the intelligence of rope and taking out windows, we lifted it up and into the upstair's window. The funny part is that they couldn't get it all to way so for about five minutes there was just this large cabinet hanging out of this opening in an apartment building. We ended up helping him install all of these different cabinets which took out the rest of our night. I don't have pictures right now but will hopefully this week. The wife was nice and offered us food and drink. She set out hot water and, a new thing I haven't seen, instant coffee. My companion and I looked at each other and agreed to just have sugar water. The Hermana that was with us was worried for us, but we informed her it wasn't our first time. The wife realized we wouldn't take the coffee and so offered some aromatic water. That is usually what people give us.
I think you all might remember when I said it was rain season. It hadn't rained for at least two weeks so we hadn't been bringing waterproof anything. This tuesday was a mistake. It poured. Luckily, my companion knew that singing hymns would help us stay positive. The hymns we decided were Christmas songs. Many people don't like Christmas songs before Halloween, and apparently, neither does Mother Nature. We were walking in the pouring rain, in a lightning storm, being the tallest objects (many of you know, this isn't smart). We were singing when, all of the sudden, a lightning bolt hit just to the left of us. It was light and then a CRACK! We quilckly ran and hid under a tree (which also isn't smart but our only option). I'm not sure if it is because of the Christmas songs, or our lack of singing well.
We also had a baptism this last Saturday. It was a child whose name is Jesus Tuqueres. I had the priviledge to baptize him. My first baptism in Spanish! It started pretty crazy. We told people to be at the baptism at 4:30 because people here have a bad habit of showing up really late. This didn't change much. We ended up waiting until 6:00 for a member of the bishopbric to show up. He wasn't very happy because he had to leave his school to come. After that it went smoothly. When I went to baptize him, I showed what he was going to do and practiced what would happen. I guess he didn't think he was going to be completely emmerged because when he went under, he started wailing his arms and I had to hurry and pull him up. I looked up and the witnesses said it was okay. I then patted him on the back and said it was alright. It was actually funny and he was, in the end, okay.
Yesterday we spent most of the day out contacting. We met a guy that he and his family were about to be baptized in the church until his family moved. This was a few years ago, so we saw an opportunity and set up an appointment. We'll see how things go. We also encountered this insect that kills taranchulas, or so my companion tells me. I asked if he knew what it does to humans and he said he didn't know. That's when the insect took flight right towards us. We slowly yet rapidly moved out of the way as it flew past. It was a very intense two seconds. We ended up laughing about it afterwards.
The reason for the title is because the Holy Ghost is the most important person for us personally. I realized this lesson strongly during our weekly planning session. My companion and I ended up getting into an arguement and got pretty heated. When the dust had settle I could feel the lack of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was a hard couple of minutes. We realized we had driven away the Spirit so resolved things. It was really my lack of patience that it happened, but we invited back the Spirit. He is so vital for us and our salvation. If we want to be guided back to God, we need to learn to listen to and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. It takes work but is possible. I hope you will all look for the times you don't have the Spirit (and fix it) and also heed the promptings you will recieve.
I love you all! Have a happy and safe Halloween!
--Elder Ogden--
A Day of no Waterproof nada
More water droplets, the cutier the wife (or so the saying goes)
The awesome views of the mountains/volcanoes
Pila bautismal!
Baptism!
The new me (not really. I asked for a three on the top but the guy messed up and so it is a two all the way around. luckily I will save money on shampoo and not have to get a haircut for quite a while. I think I look like Eminem now. Not sure if it is good or bad. It is also similar to the haircut Elder Fry, de la CCM, had.)
Love it!
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