Pues, thanks everyone for their emails and keeping me updated on everything going on back in the states! I am doing well down here in guatemala, continuing to work hard, find good positive people to teach, learning spanish and of course... sweating a lot. its weird for me to think that back home its starting to get colder, but here its starting to warm up because the rainy season is ending, so now its just the hot sun in the sky all day. oh also on a side note, it gets dark here at around 6pm which is really strange to me for some reason, but its just one more weird thing to add to the list i guess.
This past week has been full of a lot of work. Our area and our whole zone has been struggling to find good positive investigators who are progressing and getting baptized. this month in our zone we´ve only had one baptism, which for central america is not good. so we´ve been hitting it hard this past week contacting, trying to work with members to get references, and me and elder clyde also have a movie night activity planned for this weekend to help get the members excited and helping us with the missionary work. we only have about 70 people show up to church, and to be honest it looks pitiful, and back in the states our ward would be a branch. so not only have we been struggling with finding good people to teach, but our ward attendance is lacking too, so basically we have been trying to do a ton this past week in working with members, contacting and worrying about our struggling district. It has been a heavy load, and im tired to say the least, we do so much walking my legs feel like jello at the end of the day and i dont even feel like making my cereal for dinner, but thats missionary work for ya, and we are trying to do our best!
This past week i had a couple really cool experiences. first, a couple days ago elder clyde and i went with these two hermanas in our district to help them out with an appointment they had with this girl. the whole lesson was focused on 3rd nefi 11 and baptism and receiving the holy ghost. so i was sitting there trying to figure out what i could say to help this girl, when out of nowhere when i read verse 11 where christ says ´´I am the light and life of the world¨ i had this idea pop into my head to compare our time before we are baptized to being in a dark room, but after we are baptized and receive the holy ghost, the light switch is turned on and we can see. so i dont know how, but when it was my turn to say something in the lesson, i just started talking like it was someone else speaking, i talked about verse 11 and did a whole demonstration where i turned off the light in the room and explained the darkness, and then turned the light on to explain baptism and the holy ghost, and that when we accept jesus christ into our lives through baptism and receive the holy ghost, we have the light turned on in our life and we can see better to handle our challenges and problems in life. it was amazing, and i know the spirit was speaking through me to help this girl understand the importance of baptism. after the lesson, elder clyde told me he had never heard my spanish that good before, and i was actually amazed at the things i said that i didnt think i knew how to say in spanish. it was the first time in my mission that i have seen the gift of tongues so powerfully and so prevalent in a lesson. it was a surreal and crazy spiritual experience, and i am glad that i am living the way i should that i could truly be a tool in the lords hands at that moment to help that girl understand.
The second experience was a little less spiritual, but interesting nonetheless. So i had the opportunity to go on divisions with one of the A.P.s this week to help out some hermanas with a lesson that was super far away. because it was so far away, we took one of the ap´s trucks to get there, and it was super weird not only to ride in a nice car, but to ride in a nice car here in guatemala, it was just so strange to have a car feel like back home, but see guatemala outside haha it was strange. but anyway, i went with one of the ap´s who is going home in a couple weeks, and it was cool to talk with him to hear his experiences, and when he taught, it was amazing and humbling to me because i realize i have a long way to go before i can teach like that and love the people so sincerely like he does. this story wasnt as cool as i though it was when i was starting to write it, but i just mainly wanted to share the thing about the car and just having the opportunity to learn from the best for a day.
Anyway, everything is going well, and im healthy and continuing to learn a ton everyday. i love you all, and i am thankful for your emails and your love and support as always. i wish you the best in everything in your lives, and i know that if we have faith and do what we need to do, we can do anything!
Keep strong and carry on!
-Elder Henderson
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