After 9 months on the mission I’ve had my second kid.
Monkey Attack
Yup thats right those little cute monkeys aren’t so cute.
As I’m walking one day I look up and see one of these cute little monkeys on a powerline like a squirrel (never seen a squirrel here) as we stop to take a better look at him he takes notice of us as well and comes running closer. Obviously I think I’m some sort of monkey whisperer of some Disney princess so immediately I start singing Let it go or something. It must have worked to well or bro thought he was the prince coming to save me, because bro sent himself hurling from the powerline right to my face. He literally jumped of and on my face, well he would have if my fast Usain bolt like reflexes hadn’t jerked my head away. I’m not sure if I let out a scream but to be honest that little sucker scared me.
My Second Son
If you’ve never been to a foreign country, all alone, without someone who speaks your language, or the ability to speak the native language you can probably imagine it would be a little stressful. (It is) but i had no idea on the other side it is just as difficult managing the emotions of someone going through this difficult situation. I recieved my second trainee (my second son) he speaks Spanish, and the day he arrived I’m not sure but I think he only spoke like 1% Portuguese. With all this it’s been amazing to see when he’s blessed by the gift of tongues and even how quick he’s learning. There are moments when I’m sure he doesn’t realize it but he speaks perfectly way beyond his capabilities. The biggest thing he’s taught me is how to love thr people 100%.It struck me how even in the face of lots of rejection, newbie struggles, issues with the language, health challenges, etc. he never stopped showing compassion.
The Genie & My Granted Wish
I’m not sure ya’ll will believe this one but it’s 100% true.
It’s about 3:30pm and we just left lunch (you have to remember lunch is the holy of holies no one skips lunch and it’s size is bigger than US dinners), yeah, super late. The member making it had a headache went to sleep and and woke up when we were on our way, there, I think he had to go to the store too, but he started cooking right then
. No problem we waited. The only consequence was that we were in another city at 3:30 and we hadn’t even started walking to the highway where we would have to hail a taxi. After another 15 minutes we found ourselves on the side of the highway waiting for a taxi, and waiting. We had already missed about 4 our 5 lessons and we were still in the other city. After about 10 minutes and not a taxi in sight I Jokingly I made a comment about Aladdin and how we needed a genie Taxi to show up, of course I rub the ground three times and laugh.
No joke. As we are looking in the direction of oncoming traffic screaming by as they pass I’m secretly waiting on my genie taxi to appear. I almost fell over when I heard the honk of the taxi but saw none. I was confused and I strained my eyes in front as traffic blew by but I couldn’t see any taxi. Thinking i had to have been hallucinating. I hear more beeping this time from behind me. As i turn to look for it I see this guy in his Volkswagen van taxi driving backwards ON THE HIGHWAY as his assistant is hanging out of the side sliding door thats wide open yelling for us to hurry up and get in. I’m not even sure how he got there he would have had to drive backwards like a half a mile against oncoming highway traffic to have gotten to us. When I asked the guy assistant guy he casually said, “he saw you guy from way up there and came back”. Im not sure how he saw us but even then there was no way for him to have passed us on the highway and come back all things aside he got us to our destination, quickly.
Art Of The Month
A Sign From God
After receiving a media referral my comp and I got excited. This meant that someone wanted to be taught. Looking at the address our smiles quickly faded. It was farther than I’ve ever walked in this area in the middle of nowhere, so we texted and called but got no response, so clearly we had no other option but to walk all thay way there. After about an hour we were dying of thirst and we stopped at a ladies house and rang the doorbell, she ended up charging us for water super overpriced and she barely gave us any. So I wasn’t to happy by the time we showed up to this guys house. I’ll add that it was already dark when we got there. As we knocked on the door we waited in anticipation excitedly. As the door opened the guy, a large man with some tatoos and without a shirt, immediately started yelling. He didn’t even let us says a word “NO NO NO, I MADE THE REFERRAL ON ACCIDENT!” (sure bro put his whole government name, address and phone number perfectly and clicked submit with his phone in his pocket) We just looked at bro and blinked and he realized we weren’t convinced so he motions back inside his house at his 3-5 year old kid and said he must have done it. (We didn’t even say why we were there) I started to talk and told him how far we had walked and that if he could at least listen to a message quickly we would leave. “NO NO NO I’M KNOW GOD I’M IN SEMINARY I’M GOING TO BE A PASTER I’LL SAY A PRAYER, I’M EATING I’M GOING BACK IN!!”
So I responded “ok can you say the prayer then?” He then started on a very sarcastic prayer and ends. I only had on question for him and I asked if he was so devout that he believed that God could answer his prayers. He immediately started yelling and I tried my best to explain that if he believed that God wouldn’t lie to him and would give him answers to his prayers he could pray and ask if The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints was God’s true church and at no cost he could get a response if he was sincere. He very quickly started yelling denying the request shook my hand and ran inside.
I can’t lie I was a little mad leaving starting back on the trek home in the dark. After about 20 or 30 minutes of walking I was still talking to our friend who had came with us on the trek about my thoughts and feelings and clearly I was very upset. In this exact moment the night sky lit up in sea green as a meteorite streaked across the sky leaving a long blue and greenish tail disappearing behind a cloud. I’m not sure how to describe it but it was one of the most sureal things I’ve seen.
In this moment as I looked to the heavens I knew that this journey wasn’t just for nothing and even if the guy wanted nothing to do with us God had made up for it. He had taken our suffering and made it all worth it. He showed me in that moment some kids in a foreign country trying our best that he’s the author behind it all. Based on where we were and where it was in the sky I knew that if we were in the city the buildings would have blocked it or we would have been in a lesson. Or even if the lesson had gone smoothly we wouldn’t have seen it. The only spot that we would have seen it was from that spot that we were at in that exact moment. Even in your moments alone, in your struggle your not alone. Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ he atoned for our sins but also all the injustice that would occur in this earthly life. Through him all things can be made right. He is the author of perfection. It’s through following him that we too can be saved, and the end of the day after all the rejection, all the anguish, all the struggle. He will make up for it in a way far beyond our comprehension, overshadowing it all with the glory of a heavenly realm.
Love Ya’ll
-Elder Gist