Hola,
Wow that ward sounds pretty fun. Haha
with his harmonica! That would be a sweet site! Kudos to him! (His mom and sister's family visited Elder Neifert's Grandmother in
Santa Fe, where a brother played the harmonica as a part of his talk) I haven't
had much time to practice playing the harmonica to much. Sometimes I
miss singing in English, and I forget that everyone else is singing in Spanish. There are some hymns where I've forgotten the lyrics in English.
Wow that would be a really cool assignment - teaching the atonement. (In the same ward as talked about earlier, the Missionaries taught Sunday School about the atonement.) I spoke in
church yesterday on prayer for a scrambling 15 minutes. Sometimes I feel like time flies by, but the 15 minutes of discoursando felt
pretty long. I talked about the prayer of Nephi to break the bonds his
brothers tied him up with and also the prayers of Alma, the
prophet, for his rebellious son. Both prayers offered with faith, were
contested. Like Moroni 10:4 says when we have a sincere heart, true
intention, and faith in Jesus Christ our prayers are more powerful. We
pray to know Gods will and act on it, not to persuade him of our selfish
desires. When we ask or pray while being directed by the spirit, we are
completing his will. I think it's in Doctrine and Covenants 50:30 that says we
will be lead what to ask. We should always pray for the spirit. We can't
survive spiritually without the help of the spirit. We know we need His
help, there aren't any doubts about that. Letters and E-mails from Elder Aaron Neifert - called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the San Salvador, El Salvador Mission. For more information about what Elder Neifert believes and will be teaching, please visit www.Mormon.org
Monday, July 27, 2015
Talking in Chuch, Following the Spirit, and a Tribute to his Mom
Monday, July 20, 2015
The Book of Mormon
Hey Mamy,
Well that's is super sweet that you guys got to fly out to
Utah. I hope Grandma and Grandpa are doing well. I've seen a couple
gardens here and none of them look as neat and full as theirs.
There
are been a lot of experiences with the holy ghost this week. Its almost
like there are doves everywhere! Baha - well there are! As I was sitting
in gospel principles this week a dove flew into the class. It just came
straight in and went directly to the spinning ceiling fan. It got a good
skinnin' and I got some feathers. I've grown to love the people here but
I've also grown to dislike doves. I haven't been pooped on yet but I've
had some close calls. They wait on the wires hanging over the streets
for missionaries in white shirts. My old companion got pooped on his
first day in the mission. I think I wont be sticking my tongue out
anytime soon.
We had a small uneventful encounter with a dog
in the night. We were just walking and this dog just takes off in our
direction. I didn't really think much of it at first but as it got closer
and closer I started to realize how unhappy and big it was. My
companion took off his backpack and swung it at the dog, while giving a
good pirate sounding "hey". That's when the dog just turned around and ran
back with its buddies. We in the mean time took off running because we
saw this even bigger pit bull in the shadows.
I've
started to study The Book of Mormon whenever I have time. We have an
hour at night between 9:30 and 10:30 to prepare ourselves to sleep which
is really broad. And in the morning there's prep time to be ready to
study at 8. Well I've just started to use these times at night and before
8 to finish what I need to do and read The Book of Mormon. I've felt
the power The Book of Mormon has and the small gospel truths which I've
found tying to patriarchal blessings, Joseph Smith, the doctrine of Christ
and maybe a couple words which just testify of the divinity and
truthfulness of The Book of Mormon. The spirit is invited when we read
and I've felt strength and power from the holy ghost as I read.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
A More Effective Missionary
Ahoy!
Tell Grandma Pam "Happy Birthday" for me!
Wow! I just realized your summer is almost over! What have you guys done for fun in the sun!?
Well this week was a change (transfers). There
were a lot of changing things happening. I got a new companion -
Elder Lopez, from Guatemala, Quetsaltenago (or something like that). He's a good guy. Apparently he played semi professional soccer in Guatemala. We will see if he was lying or not today because were going to play after we are done writing. He's happy and I think we are going to learn a lot from each other and help some good people this change. He's new to this area so he doesn't know the people or the city. That means I've got to teach him. So it's been different to plan who we will teach and where we will go all by myself. It will get easier once I get some more practice. He speaks next to zero English which is super good. I'm going to learn a lot of Spanish this change. We have been working on finding new people to teach. This was what we've been doing - talking with lots of people and trying to teach them in their homes while asking for their references. We've found some people to teach! I have some good faith that some of them will be baptized in the future. We are going to find even more this coming week. Hey, if you have ideas of how we can work with and invite the members to help us out I love to hear what maybe the missionaries in our ward are doing and ideas you have.
Elder Lopez, from Guatemala, Quetsaltenago (or something like that). He's a good guy. Apparently he played semi professional soccer in Guatemala. We will see if he was lying or not today because were going to play after we are done writing. He's happy and I think we are going to learn a lot from each other and help some good people this change. He's new to this area so he doesn't know the people or the city. That means I've got to teach him. So it's been different to plan who we will teach and where we will go all by myself. It will get easier once I get some more practice. He speaks next to zero English which is super good. I'm going to learn a lot of Spanish this change. We have been working on finding new people to teach. This was what we've been doing - talking with lots of people and trying to teach them in their homes while asking for their references. We've found some people to teach! I have some good faith that some of them will be baptized in the future. We are going to find even more this coming week. Hey, if you have ideas of how we can work with and invite the members to help us out I love to hear what maybe the missionaries in our ward are doing and ideas you have.
One
thing that I've notice about my companion is he knows a lot of
scriptures and things about the gospel. I've started to make plans and ideas to use my time as a missionary more effectively. I've got a
set plan for the mornings and the nights so I can study the scriptures
more. I think that good habits can really help me in my mission - learn
more, be more happy, and be more effective. These things don't come in one
month like I'd like them to. I've got to consistently try and learn
more. One thing I love to study about is Joseph Smith. There are so many
testimony building facts and stories about his life. Maybe I won't share
all of the stories with my investigators or anyone, but they've helped me
feel more converted. One of the biggest conversion changers for me
however is The Book of Mormon. I know it's true and I know anyone can become
close to God if they read and apply the principles in their lives. It
is the most correct book in the world, and there aren't many people who
know it exists.
I love you!
Aaron
Aaron
Tell Grandma Pam "Happy Birthday" for me!
Wow! I just realized your summer is almost over! What have you guys done for fun in the sun!?
Monday, July 6, 2015
The Lord Works Through People
Hola,
We had a few
investigators a church, but I'd like to have more. They can't be baptized
if they don't come to church. I kinda like to clean. Saturday I was sweeping and mopping our floors. I've found it's something that helps me relieve stress and have a clean, more spirit worthy place to learn.
One thing that I
like about the people here - They don't need much. Almost everyone has a tv with cable, but
besides that they don't have all the amenities and digerydoos that we
have.
Pretty neat that everyone believes in God and Jesus Christ. EVERYONE. Almost everyone has a church too.
I haven't been able to find a ukulele, but I sang in the mission President's home the first day in the field. I can't remember why I did that, but I sang Nearer My God to Thee. I think I could sing more. We sometimes sing hymns during lessons with this old man who is house ridden - Hermano
So this next change we've got some good people to work with. But I will be getting a new companion. I will know on Wednesday who it it. So I will be in San Marcos Colonial ward, but with a new companion. I am excited to see who it is, but Elder Lauro was super good. He can really gain the confidence of the people. Pretty neat that everyone believes in God and Jesus Christ. EVERYONE. Almost everyone has a church too.
I haven't been able to find a ukulele, but I sang in the mission President's home the first day in the field. I can't remember why I did that, but I sang Nearer My God to Thee. I think I could sing more. We sometimes sing hymns during lessons with this old man who is house ridden - Hermano
Santiago. He was my
first lesson in the field. We sing during every lesson with him. He is a
really good man. I want to send a picture of him, but I really haven't
used my camera too much. I have only taken it out on Mondays to send
what I have, but I haven't taken any more pictures... I will work on that
for next week. I bought a small solid harmonica last p-day (preparation day - when they shop, do email, etc). I've been
fiddling a little with that. There's a missionary from Oklahoma that can
get down with the harmonica with the best of 'em. So I'm going to ask
him to help me start. I've got the whole set up. An elder
who is going home gave me a hammock. So I've been practicing my
harmonica in my hammock. I'm pretty excited to learn who to play that
and join the harmonocans group in town.
The work this week was
really good. We've got some good investigators with baptismal dates who
are reading the Book of Mormon and beginning to change. We have changes this Wednesday
and we've got a good amount of people that could be baptized this
coming change. We found one of these people yesterday. We were visiting
with a Hermana on her front porch because she was a little busy and we
couldn't have a full lesson. So we left her a copy of lesson 1 to read a
pray about. We couldn't visit with her more, but she told us we could
visit her neighbor. The Lord works through other people because when we
knocked a girl about 18 opened the door and started to cry a little as
we told her who we were and why we are here. We knocked on her door
right as she and her mom were talking about how she need to trust in God
and remember Jesus Christ. She was ready to receive us. During the
lesson she was crying a little about some trials she's going through and
some questions that she has. We introduced the Book of Mormon and
explained how the Book of Mormon has the answers she needs and the
comfort she is looking for. So we will see how her reading goes this
week. I'm excited to see what happens with the mom and daughter. They
are good people, and they were prepared. They still have their agency (the ability to choose).
That's one thing that I've learned. Everyone has agency to accept
or reject the gospel. Maybe everyone won't accept the gospel, but they
should all have the opportunity. I would like to see these people after
this life and have them say, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to
accept the gospel. Not "hey why didn't you talk to me? I was waiting
for you." The spirit is extremely important to know what to say and
what to do because these people need the gospel. With the direction of
the spirit we can say something that softens their heart, we can do
something that helps them open their door to us. Without the spirit we
can't do much.You are loved,
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