I've learned a ton this week.
Oh, and the pies came out really well, I learned they have to cool sufficiently or they taste a little funny. It's also hard to figure out the thing with the foil, especially with graham cracker crust, but it wasn't so bad. I really liked how it worked though, and the graham cracker crust was fairly cheap and easy, so I will probably make more at some point. We ate both pies in a day :)
I love this area so much! Mostly I love Elder Puzey, but the branch is also amazingly supportive. He's been teaching me a ton about listening to others and becoming a better missionary. The trainings that we have received [we have had 3 big meetings this week and president was there at all of them, mostly focusing on working with members] have also led me to ponder a great deal about how I can improve. I'm starting to see what it means to sanctify ourselves, how to do it better out here, and why I need to get rid of some of these things that aren't "bad," but they hold me back from being someone better. I've felt a lot of learning from the Spirit, from family at home [yeah you guys rock], and from my companion.
Things with the district(s) are also going really well. Both had amazing numbers [numbers aren't everything, but PMG does say to focus on having increasing numbers. To stay focused on the people we write everyone's name when we make goals of numbers], and a lot of people are on date! 2 of ours actually fell off date, but they are still wanting to be baptized. I hope things work out for them soon. Soledad and Mario (2 of our investigators) are very promising right now, Soledad is pretty tired because she had a C-section, but Mario is off work to help with the baby, and he's a really good dad it seems. He was also really excited to have us visit last Saturday, we just stopped by, but this week we are hoping to have both of them on date. They need to get married, or Soledad would be ready to be baptized much sooner. She is very penitent and humble. She wants to be married and keep that commandment, but Mario is a bit hesitant because of a past experience. We will work with them on that. A lady named Socorro is on date for the 25th though! She's so cool that she is going to make a turkey for the branch thanksgiving party, which is the week leading up to her baptism! And of our 10 news in the English district, 5 of them were member referrals! In the mission, the statistic is 10 news from members = 1 baptism, whereas 40+ news from everything else is one baptism, so we've been focusing on members. It equals somewhere around 2500 contacts is a baptism, depending on which numbers you use, so while we still contact, that isn't the main focus.
So basically life is amazing, and I'm learning a lot. My next big step I feel like is increasing my faith more, but I feel a bit powerless about it. I'll try to make sure I'm ready to receive faith, but it's a gift from God, and I don't know that I really am ready to receive it, or if it's in His plan to give it to me just yet. I'll keep pressing forward as Abraham, seeking the gift of my fathers. I feel wonderful. I'm going to try to consecrate myself yet further, keep taking the next steps necessary to be a missionary that God wants me to be.
The Spirit is teaching me how to develop better relationships, and also how to lose my life yet more. D. Todd Christofferson's "Finding your Life" from the 2016 March Ensign was very eye-opening this morning, and that mostly sums up what I'm trying to do. Along with a lot about prayer, study, and faith.
What is a typical Sunday for you? We go to church, have an awesome time, go eat dinner with the Maya family (our branch mission leader), and then we proselyte/visit members! We have fairly 'normal' Sundays here, church is at 11, so we have plenty of time afterwards to get out, which is really nice.
Do you eat at members' houses every day? Nope! But whenever we go visit them they offer food haha, so we probably could if we wanted ;) We eat with a family once a week, and then after that it's just random. I've eaten some cool stuff though, like Guatemalan tamales, they're really good! The members here are super supportive, and they love the missionaries a ton.
What is your exercise currently? Currently, we are gonna get huge. We have weights and we do curls, pushups, flies, we have an ab wheel, triceps, crunches, etc. We have a list set up, but I don't have it all quite memorized yet. It's a pretty solid workout though, I'm pretty tired after, but I'm already getting stronger. I want to be able to do more pullups, pushups, and be able to actually go all the way out on the wheel haha. It's pretty crazy. We also do leg workouts sometimes, I do squats, calf raises, jumping stuff, and dogs (glute workouts that we did in track). I also stretch most days. I can almost touch my toes now. I want to get to the point where I can have very flexible hamstrings, and I'm progressing :) It's been a lot of fun, and we're also eating pretty healthy, we make protein shakes in the morning, and usually eat pretty well throughout the day.
That's all, another really long letter somehow, I don't feel like I have much to say ever haha. I love you guys so much, I'm so glad that you are my parents, because through you I've been blessed immensely.
Love,
Elder Liddle
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