Que onda Parceros!
It's been a very interesting 2 weeks since I last wrote! Full of adventure and the spirit.
Right after Christmas, I had the opportunity to head back to my old area, Estanzuela. I really loved Estanzuela, and it was awesome to be back. It was also really strange, because it was kind of hot there, where as in the capital it was almost record levels of cold. Also, my favorite restaurant was unfortunately not open, so I didn't get my flautas for lunch.
Despite the lack of flautas, we had a really good day. Highlight of the day was seeing Hilary and Carmen, converts that I helped teach and baptize, and they're doing so well. We taught them about patriarchal blessings, temple ordinances, and mission, some of the next steps in their progression. It was a joyful experience.
After I got home, we had a day where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We tried everything, and around 7:30pm, we ran out of ideas. The neighborhood we were in wasn't the safest at night, so we just started walking. One of my comps suggested we go home and do some calls, and I told him I didn't want to go home until we'd found someone new to teach, or at least met some new people in our area.
My comps agreed, so we all started looking for opportunities. But there was nobody in the street, nobody in their houses... just wasn't our day. As we got pretty close to home, Elder Posso mentioned that he knows some members in the area, and we knocked their door. After the 3rd time, the door opened... but it wasn't the member we thought it was. He let us in, and asked us a lot of questions about our missions. Turns out, he has good friends from the United States who are members of the church, who's son just returned from his mission and got married in the temple.
Brother Argueta was not a member, although he does know a lot, and we were able to share a lot more about what we actually believe. He was a military chaplain, and knows the bible very well. It just seemed like a miraculous find on a day where it seemed like nothing could go right.
I know the Lord blessed us when we exercise faith and keep trying even when we feel like it's to no avail. The next day, we got to see even more fireworks which was awesome. Happy New Year everyone! It feels really strange to be in 2023, but I'm really excited for the new year and some new goals.
It seems like the 1 month long winter is already coming to an end, so it should be heating up again real soon here. Enjoy the cold for me everyone that's up north. Love you all, hope you had a great año nuevo!
Elder Telford
P.S. Some random lady took a video of me buying food for some Elders who were sleeping in our house that night and now I'm tik tok famous