What A Week Indeed!

Hey guys! 

This was an interesting week for sure. From basically opening an area with a new comp to getting news that a grandparent passed away while in church. 

My new comp (Elder Padilla from Bolivia) is awesome, he is 26 and has such a great attitude. He is 26 and you can tell that he is 26. He likes to have fun but he understands when he needs to be serious and work. We have been making lots of "old man jokes" because out of the 4 who live in the house, I am the youngest at 20 years old. The other 3 are 25, 26, and 24 years old. It is kind of fun to be around these old men hahahah. They say I look like a character from the show 2 and a Half men. I have quite a good time with my district. We set goals to do pushups every morning and listen to "musica que es más bacan". So we have been having some fun with it in the mornings. It keeps things lively.

Some verses that I found in personal study that stuck out to me this week were these:

1 Nephi 15:5 - 6 

5 And it came to pass that I was overcome because of my afflictions, for I considered that mine afflictions were great above all, because of the destruction of my people, for I had beheld their fall.

6 And it came to pass that after I had received strength I spake unto my brethren, desiring to know of them the cause of their disputations.

I enjoyed this when I found it because it shows that even Nephi the great Book of Mormon prophet, needed a minute ( I assume that it was longer than that) to get his strength back, build up his courage and tell his brothers what was up. It really applies to us. We just need to understand that it is okay to rest sometimes, take a break and catch back up. 

The other one I found was in Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 - 12

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.

So when I read this, I feel like in my mind the dots just connected with the verse from Alma 7. Alma teaches that the Savior suffered these things so that He might know what we feel and know JUST how to help us. And the D&C verse teaches a bit more of the "application" of it. He did it so that we would be able to repent, have faith, and be saved. 

Having a grandparent pass away is hard even as it is, being on a mission is even worse. I felt strongly Friday afternoon that I was needed at home. I decided to call Elder Neves (my old copmi!) and ask him to get me an interview with President Parker. It just so happened (funny to see how God works sometimes) that President was arriving to Tarapoto at 5ish and would have time to talk at 8ish at night. I jumped all over that. We talked about my decision and I talked to Hermana Parker about it and they were both very loving and compassionate about it. They kept saying that there was no wrong answer here. One of the things taught in Moroni is that charity is the true love of Christ. Just by talking to the Parkers you can feel (and basically see) charity radiating from them. You can tell that they love the Savior, and because of that, they want to be like Him, which in turn fills them with that love, the charity that Moroni talks about. I fasted Saturday into Sunday, and the thought of coming home early just seemed to go away. 

This week I will achieve a mission long dream to travel to Iquitos as a Zone Leader to attend the Leaders Council Meeting with all the other ZLs and the APs and President. I am more than excited to hear their trainings and see what things we can help the Zone improve on. We will also basically lose the entire week, we fly out on Wednesday afternoon, and get back Friday night. Elder Neves pulled some strings for us and got us staying with some of my friends in Iquitos. I am very excited for this week. After that we will have a zone conference in the first week of September, and after that we'll just work our little butts off until transfers and then I'll catch a flight to SLC. Can't ask for anything more can you?

I think that is all for this week!

Elder Roper

Rough Week 2.0.... But With Miracles

Weird title I know but buen dia a todos!! 

To start, my comp had a transfer. He is going to Iquitos to finish his mission. My new comp is Elder Padilla from Bolivia, he will kill me! He is great -  I'm really excited to be with him. Sadly, I won't be with him until tomorrow because he is still in Iquitos. 

This week was crap again, but the weekend seemed to wrap itself up really well. I had still been really sick with diaherra and Friday my body decided that it needed to eject everything that was in my body all at once.... and we were pretty far. Needless to say I didn't get home in time and I CRAPPED MY PANTS...... AGAIN. Freakin A -  I was pretty upset about it. (Mom I would invite you to put that in the blog so that people can see just how difficult a mission can be sometimes)

Oh well!

Up until Saturday or so it just seemed that nothing could go well. We couldn't find people we were both sick and we've been having some challenges with the sisters in our zone and obedience. So it's been eventful. On top of all of that my camera decided that it didn't wanna work anymore. So I'm out for 6 weeks. I think I can figure something out without buying one though hahha. We'll see. 

But Saturday and Sunday we had really good finding days. Saturday we taught 4 lessons, more in one day than I've ever taught in Tarapoto. And we finished the week with 5 people in church and 8 new investigators. Sunday I also had the privilege to speak in church.  I chose to speak about the Atonement and the role that it plays in our lives. I used Alma 7:11-13, and it was quite successful. I wrote this in my journal last night..... I feel like during the past 6 months on my mission, I have really come to understand just what Sacrament meeting is, what it can be if we allow it, and what it can't be if we allow it. This Sunday and many other Sundays there was just such a strong spirit present. 

Sunday night we got a referral from a recent convert, we ate that right up and taught him the Restoration and he understood it really well. I have faith that this man will be baptized before October. 

The other night, we were out and about and ran into 2 Argentinos. Of course Elder Estrada being Argentino had to talk to them! They had really funny accents and they spoke to us in VOS. Pretty wack. ¡y vos, de donde sos?? It was kinda fun. 

This week the Lord allowed us to see miracles. Just when we (I) thought that we were at the limit of what we could handle, the weekend ended up finishing so well!!

Elder Roper

P.S. Happy First day of school!! heheheheh

This Week Was Hard

Hey all! This week was hard. We had some hard days of just knocking doors and getting rejected this week hahah. On top of it my comp and I are from the same MTC group, so were striving to fight the trunkiness hahah. My comp is pretty tired and slightly disobedient, and pretty tired of his area. He is also 100% sure that he is leaving in a week. He has been a zone leader for over 11 months. And I don't blame him. It is tough stuff being a zone leader sometimes hahah. Oh well. 

Thursday we had an interview with a new elder in our zone who has been having some trouble with thoughts and wanting to go home. I felt really bad for him. But I think that we were able to help him a bit. We got him an appointment to talk to President Parker as well. I really think that he is going to stay. 

Sunday we got up bright and early to go to Juan Jui. Juan Jui is about 2 hours south of Tarapoto, and there is a Family Group that is progressing slowly but surely. President Parker got permission from the area for us to go and check it out and it was really awesome. We attended a Sacrament Meeting with 10 people. It was a humbling experience for sure. It was probably the first and last time that I will ever get to do that. 

Thursday (which was the anniversary of Grandma's passing) Elder Estrada also had an allergic reaction so we stayed in all night basically. From our view we always can see the stars and the city, but that night we saw a really cool sunset. I didn't even think anything of it until I sat down to write in my journal at the end of the day and realized that it was August 8th. It wasn't a rainbow, but it was something for sure. 

I read a talk this week that said "what we believe determines what we do" which is like the whole faith without works principle from James. But as we've been working this week, I thought a lot about it and flipped the saying around. "What we do determines what we believe" and it has been something that I've been trying to put in practice hahah. 

So that was pretty much our week. Rough long and full of rejection. 

Elder Roper!