Well my family and friends,
Another week has come and gone again. It was a very hard and good week because I really learned a lot, and I have a lot of desire to change some things and make these next few weeks even better.
As I think I have already mentioned. Right now I feel like I am struggling a little bit with my unity with my companion. To not go into details, basically what it comes down to is that he does things different than I do. Talking about the way he works, talks and such, and obviously the fact that he is Latino means he does things just slightly different. It’s something obviously that I have had to learn to deal with my whole mission because well… for two years you are with somebody different from you constantly. The only thing is that at times he can be disobedient and not want to work quite as hard as I do. Now he is a great guy, and I have learned things from him, but in these last weeks of my mission I am really trying to do the best that I can to finish strong and finish with that fire burning inside me. But in this world, and especially being with another person constantly in this work means that the decisions he makes affects my work, my plans etc. President Ruiz wrote me an email today where he was talking about how in the mission we are supposed to learn how to dance under strong rain, and not just hide under cover and wait till the storm passes. For awhile, I was thinking that I wanted to not be a leader and just train for my last few weeks here in the mission so that I could do what I want to do, and have a companion that has an equal desire to work and be obedient so that I could really finish my mission satisfied and happy. As I was thinking that the other day, a few thoughts came into my head that said the yes, I could train and do things exactly how I want to maybe and finish my mission honorably and comfortably, but I wouldn’t learn the valuable lesson of being able to be with another person that is very different than I am, but be able to communicate and find a way to work together with unity and power to accomplish a common goal. I was thinking about that in respect to my possible future career or leadership positions that I might have and the absolute importance to be able to brave challenges successfully and know how to manage or work cohesively with others. I feel like in my mission I have been put with difficulty companions at times so that I can learn just that. So I can learn how to communicate well and be able to accomplish common goals with others without problems and stressing and failing. I feel like I have learned a lot but I think what the lord is telling me is that I have just a little bit more to learn. I have a vision of how I want to finish my mission, and now I have to help Elder Amador have the same vision and be able to work with him successfully in order to see the vision come true. If I can accomplish that, not only will I be able to meet my goals and see my vision fulfilled of how I want to finish the mission, but I will also have gained a life long valuable skill and ability. So that’s my plan and I would appreciate all your prayers and support; just a little bit more for these last few weeks to be able to work well with my companion, keep up a positive, happy attitude and to finish of my mission strong!
Those have been my thoughts as of late especially because this week my group that I came into the mission with is leaving and I am starting my last change in the mission. On Tuesday last week I actually went on divisions with Elder Russell, my first companion in the MTC who is now an AP and is leaving to go home this week, and we had a good time because all the way back in the MTC we had joked around about how cool it would be to be companions when we could actually speak Spanish, and well, we were comps for a day to see that joke be fulfilled haha. It was a really good day actually and I learned a lot from him because he is just so animated all the time and just able to connect with these people just by being his crazy self. We were actually able to find quite a few new people to teach including two very strange guys with machetes that we just started talking to on the side of the road haha (a story for another day).
The rest of the week was very good and very busy with going out with members to visit their references and doing divisions with elders in the zone! We also had a strange/funny expericnce with some people this week. So a member introduced us to her friend and her family to teach them about the gospel, and to invite them to church. It also just so happened that a daughter had her 15th birthday on Saturday, and here in Guatemala 15th birthdays are like 16th birthdays in the states, so they had this huge party thing planned. So we went over in the morning to help blow up balloons and basically just offer some service to gain their confidence and they ended up inviting us over to share in some cake. So we show up to the house later to find a pastor and his congregation having what is called a “Culto” or basically a worship service. Its just funny because the pastor was just screaming a bunch of stuff from the bible at the congregation which is like every church down here (I wish I could take you guys to one because it’s absolutely insane). So we get there and we sit down in the back while this crazy pastor dude is just yelling and screaming of Jesus Christ while people in the congregation have veils and stuff covering their heads doing some praying which is really just chanting a bunch of crazy nonsense all creepily. It was honestly just a testimony builder that the church is true because at least down here, every other church is just straight, pure apostasy haha. It was just funny because the people were acting ridiculously, and just to think that it was a 15th birthday party haha, they just invited a church over; but that’s Guatemala for ya. Oh and this week we also went to teach Jacinto who came to church on Sunday, and we challenged him to baptism and he said yes! So his baptism is actually scheduled for this Saturday and we are pretty stoked about it! And like I said, we found a lot of new people to teach, and yesterday, we had high hopes to have 10 people in church, and we even rented a pickup to go out to our area in Canton Vela to go pick everybody up, but everybody just ended up lying to us and giving us excuses so we just ended up having the mom and the sister of the girl who turned 15 in church with us which was ironic. But yesterday we did find a sweet, super humble family of 4 yesterday that could really progress and get baptized in July, so we have a lot of people to work with still!
Well, I love you all so much, and I just want to share my testimony that the church is true, and that Joseph smith was a true prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is true and evidence of the truthfulness of these things. With all the stress that I feel like I have going on, I feel like I get smothered by everything, but sometimes its good just to take a step back and realize what I’m doing. Teaching the true and everlasting gospel to the descendants of the Lamanites so that they can have true and eternal happiness! I am so grateful for the knowledge of the truth that I have in my life and in our family. Now I just want to be able to do my best to share that with these people for these last few weeks! ¡ANIMO!
I love you all, and thanks for all your emails! Keep strong and carry on!
-Elder Henderson
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