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