Resting

The work is good! This week I was able to see the eternal truth of how simply working solves so many problems. Elder Araujo and I seem to be the happiest and work together best as we are just working, doing what we are supposed to do. It seems to only be when we are wasting time or walking without any real purpose that we are annoyed or have issues. D&C 58:27.  Elder Araujo continues growing and learning, I am also learning more about where to push and where to give. One of the best moments we had this week was yesterday as we decided to sit down for about 10 minutes and watch the sun go down. Sometimes there' s a debate between us as when to rest or not, and I realize I can frustrate my companions sometimes because resting is not in my make up. This time we rested though. It was one of the first times I feel like Elder Araujo really opened up and told me stories about his life before the mission, questions and doubts he has about this life. It was super surprising, he just opened up and started talking. I was able to realize that while I should strive for the ideal, I need to also always be looking for and worthy to hear and follow The Spirit. The law of The Lord is love, and I need to listen to His Spirit to know how to help my companion feel that love. As Elder Holland described in an Easter message a few years ago, there IS a point where Justice, Love, and Mercy meet. That point is found in the Atonement of Christ. As I strive to better focus on His Atonement and His sacrifice for ME, I am sure that we will be able to better work and share that love and truth with those around us.

We continue finding people and teaching, but the progress in our sector is pretty slow. The great people we find seem to drop off the face of the earth after a few visits. We have 2 baptismal dates for the 25th of March, one is a friend of the family who we just baptized. Her name is Camila, she´s pretty awesome. She´s 12 years old and has come to church for the past 6 weeks by herself! She´s there for every appointment. Her parents are not against her going to church or even joining the church, but they don´t really seem to have any interest of going or joining themselves. But Camila is progressing! 

The other family that we are working with is a Less Active wife with her nonmember husband and kids. Their names are Enrique and Regina, and their kids are named Romina, Maite, and Luna. They are a family from Peru, the cutest little kids in the world. Romina is 12 years old, and she´s on date to be baptized on the 25th. We are working with Enrique, but he seems to progress slower. He and Regina aren´t married...so baptism right now is kind of complicated. But he loves listening to us and always makes time for our visits, even though he works just about all day, every day. 

Other than that, we found a few new people on Monday who we are going to visit tomorrow. Their names are Alba and Karina, potentially a new family of investigators, We were just knocking doors and Alba (50ish years old) answers and lets us share in the patio. We shared with her and her daughter, Karina (25ish years). We taught a short version of the Plan of Salvation, and have an appointment tomorrow to meet the rest of the fam bam! We´ll see how things go. 

All good things! Work keeps on keeping on, I´m trying to just keep up :)

-Elder Hixon

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