19 Months? That Was Fast!

Hello all! This week was quite eventful, so I´ll get right into it! Tuesday we had a really good day of work. We found a bunch of people who were interested and were able to teach some quick lessons to them. We shall see how well they progress. One of these guys was an old contact that the APs had a bit back named Darwin. We stepped into his house and I about pooped my pants. He had posters and souvenirs and collectors stuff of about every major rock band I liked back home. So we talked about that for a bit, he told us that he had been to Germany and all over studying and getting to know the world. He told us that because of that, he had seen so many different forms of religion, and he basically came to the conclusion that God is who He is depending on what part of the world that one is in. Which in reality is sad. He went on and we kinda determined that he was basically atheist. But, he said we were always welcome in his house. We´re gonna go back this Wednesday and I am going to take some dope pics with his stuff hahah. After that we went and stopped by a guy named Agosto´s house. Hes a sweet old man (like 70ish) that is super smart, but does nothing with his knowledge. We gave him a Book of Mormon and hes been reading it, but he told us that he thinks that its just a novel. We then invited him to take Moronis Promise and he then proceeded to tell us that God and the Heavens are closed and that it is impossible for  God to speak to Man. We tried and tried and tried, but he is still convinced that God does not speak to man. ( Para que voy a preguntar a Dios, Dios no te va a responder, sería en vano) hahah I love the mission man.  But Elder Neves and I were talkin about that. It is really sad that he thinks that when we know and understand that yes God is more than willing to talk to us, we just need to talk to Him first. 

Lately we have been trying to change the way we do things. So instead of knocking doors and just trying to teach, we made a plan to try to share a video with the people as the first lesson. Which, has worked sorta. We´ve been using the “Because of Him” video that came out a while back, mostly because its short, sweet, and really invites the Spirit. We´ve even done it with some members. Its pretty great.

This week I was thumbing through some Ensigns/Liahonas and found some dope articles. I sent them in my google drive. Feel free to take a read! I quite enjoyed them. They go along perfectly with some of the stuff that was said in general conference just barely in April.

The APs have been traveling like mad men with President Li lately. He is doing his last couple mission tours, and they get to go with him. Lucky ducks. I´m a bit worried about the budget, but I figure the area will understand. Hahah. We are still anxiously waiting for Presidente Parker´s bio to pop up on lds.org. we got an email from him a while back. 

Monday was fun! President came into the office and he knew there was a birthday but the man just has so much going on in his life he couldn’t remember. So we told him that it was yours truly, anddddd he felt bad that he forgot. He promised that we would go to lunch this next week (hopefully Monday) and then the offices sang to me and alllll that good stuff. No better way to turn 20 than in the mission!! I ate some dangLittle Debbies cupcakes in Iquitos. They were too good. 

We found out that the elder who had received an iphone from his family is going home on Monday. Pretty sad.

Lately I have felt so much gratitude for the decision that I made to serve a mission (mostly because I'm realizing that I have little time left) I feel like being here in Iquitos, among the poorest of poor, the humblest of the humble, has really changed the way I see people. I see pictures of other people in their missions and the things they do and the fun they have, and it looks awesome, but they have things that will probably never exist here in Iquitos. Paintball, cars, carpet hahahah. It makes me sad sometimes, but then I remember that my purpose as a missionary isn’t to come goof off with members on Pdays. It´s really just to help others in any way possible. Lots of times I feel like we achieve that goal in ways that the numbers aren’t able to show. You learn things that just set you up for life. Things that you can’t really be taught anywhere else. It´s taught me to really appreciate the small things in life. There's one of the District videos where the Elder says something like this “if you´re worthy and able, and just don’t go, I would say that you are making one of the biggest mistakes of your life. It really is those best 2 years.” I agree with that 100 percent.

And to wrap up this week I have a scripture……  Proverbs chapter 23 and it sayssssssssssssssssssss7 For as he ^athinketh in his ^bheart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.¨

I took that to heart, and have been trying to apply it in the work.

We have a baptism interview tomorrow, and if everything goes well, we shall have a baptism on the 25^th!!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!!

Elder Roper!!!