Week 52

This week was a pretty busy one with a lot of good news! Also, just a heads-up, my list of people who are supposed to be on this email got messed up, so if you know anyone who's supposed to be here that isn't, let me know. Thanks!

MONDAY was a bit interesting because, in the middle of our shopping, we got asked to go to the hospital to give a blessing. Unfortunately, a young woman had been in a bad car accident and was in a medically induced coma, and the family wanted us to come by and give her a blessing of healing. We were able to go right over and give her that blessing, as well as blessings of comfort to her parents. Afterwards, we went and had a good time at the zone P-day, with Sister Willis even showing up and playing board games for a bit.

TUESDAY we finally were able to go and grab our car that had been in the shop. It's weird having two cars in one companionship, but it's also weird to technically be two areas in one companionship, so you take what you are given.

WEDNESDAY we went on exchanges with our district leader, which was a bit different than usual because both companionships are in trios! So instead of the normal swapping, they just gave us one of their companionship, and we split into two groups for the day. I went with Elder Barrick from the other companionship, and we stayed in more of downtown El Paso for the day.

THURSDAY our evening was super busy. We almost overscheduled our evening and ended up running from lesson to lesson. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but it was really satisfying to have so many lessons and so many people to teach.

FRIDAY we went on another exchange, this time with the zone leaders. It was actually pretty nice because we ended up running into mostly Spanish speakers that day, and the ZL we were with is a native speaker from Mexico. Another thing that has changed with the new mission is that we don't need to wear suits to district council anymore, which is weird.

SATURDAY we wanted to try walking around the downtown plaza to find people to teach, but that ended up not being possible because there was no free parking anywhere near the plaza. There was some film festival happening, and every single parking spot was taken. So instead, we just went to a bunch of different apartment buildings to talk with the people we met there.

SUNDAY we went to the hospital again to give another blessing. The unique thing this time was that the guy we gave a blessing to only spoke Spanish, so we had to call the Spanish missionaries to figure out what he needed the blessing for.

A quote from Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in his October 1992 talk, A Yearning for Home, says these things about what it means to be focused in life: "One definition of the word focus is 'directed attention,' or 'emphasis.' Perhaps as much as anything in this day and age of mass media, instantaneous worldwide communications, and modern conveniences that seem to help us pack more into each day than would have been considered possible just a few decades ago, we need to focus and direct our attention to the things that really matter. And simply, what really matters is a personal testimony of Jesus Christ, an understanding of who we are and what we’re doing here, and an absolute determination to return home."

When our focus is on our heavenly home, the small details in life that can feel overwhelming and of great importance are put into a perspective of eternity and are made much more manageable.

1- he's getting close to going home
2- VA in TX
3- they feed us well
4- reference to some album
5- El Paso Strong




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