Hé iedereen! Hey Everyone!
Good afternoon people!
Sorry to email you so late in the week, Carnival kept us
from emailing on Monday since almost everything was closed and then yesterday
they closed the library right as we pulled up!
But that's okay, now on to story time!
This week was awesome! On Wednesday (last week), we were
making lunch and I made us some fish burritos and as I was scooping some food
into my burrito I heard the phone go off in my pocket. I tried to scoop some
more beans but it just wasn't working! Eventually I got it and took out the
phone and right as it finished ringing I saw who it was, Martin! It hung up and
I felt so bad for missing it so I called him back as fast as I could. A few
weeks ago I had given him a pass-along card with a picture of Jesus Christ
leaving the tomb after he was resurrected and on the back there was a video
called, "Finding Faith in Christ" Martin called to ask for the video.
We headed over and brought it to him and we were able to share a message with
him. He explained to us that he had a near-death experience a few days before
and it had changed his perspective on some things. He said, "Elders, I
don't want to die." It was a bit of a tender moment and he asked us why we
weren't afraid of dying and we gave an overview of the Plan of Salvation. As we
explained the purpose of our life on earth and how we're here to learn and to
progress and that death isn't the end, I felt peace come over me. I then
explained about the Spirit World and we talked about the Resurrection. As we
talked, I saw his eyes start to swell up with tears as we told him more about
God's plan for him. He told us that he felt that God sends people in times of
need, not only us but also the man that helped Martin when he collapsed. I love
this gospel!
We got to sit with a man named Hans, he's an older Dutchman
in his 70's, we sat with him last week as well as yesterday. He expressed a lot
of interest in reading the Book of Mormon and learning more about where he's
going after this life. We left him Alma chapter 40 to read. He even took notes
about what we said! When we came back, he had read half the chapter and we
discussed the rest, a few verses that stuck out to him were,
11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and
the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the
spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea,
the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that
God who gave them life.
12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those
who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called
paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all
their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.
I thought it was cool how these verses stuck out to him
because they were the same ones that made me stop when I read it the first
time. As we discussed them, Hans really taught himself as we sat there. He
talked about people having near-death experiences and seeing light at the end
of the tunnel and seeing their families again. He then stopped and said,
"It makes sense, with the Spirit World and returning to God again. It makes
sense that that light would be God." It was a cool lesson.
Sunday was fun, we had a really good youth class. We all got
together and split up in to two groups: one was Omar, Genesis, Richard and I;
the other was Lilian, Melody, Gari and Elder Burr. We taught each other the 5
steps of the gospel to each other, we went first. It was pretty fun trying to
organize the chaos. It was really inspiring seeing how much the youth
understood the five points: Faith in Jesus Christ, repenting from our sins,
becoming baptized by the proper authority, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost
by the laying on of hands and enduring to the end. Omar and Genesis were
messing with each other most of the time, they're brother and sister and I
wondered if my brothers and I looked like that sometimes!
Stay classy.
Lobi!
Elder Hardy
Title Translation:
"What is going on?" "Today we can not
email?" "Why is it always a big party?"
I'm sorry to say that I only took one picture and it was when Elder Sarmiento and I went on exchange. I taught him how to make a ramen noodle sandwich.
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