Happy Birthday Hunter! And thanks for your letter. It made me smile.
So, two highlights for this last week:
I've finally got someone I'm actually hopeful will get somewhere, in my area. His name is Bouthezar (or something like that. It's something close to Boutizar :) ) His wife's name is Maria. He lived in Georgia for 2 years and knows a tiny bit of English and can understand quite a bit. We've gone to teach him a couple of times. Elder Jud and Elder Crockett contacted him first. This week, we went to teach him and he said he didn't have any time. We asked him if there was anything we could do for him. (We always tell them that we're here to serve in any way we can, not just to teach) He said that he actually did have something we could do. They were working on shucking corn, and so the four of us sat in a circle around a big pile of corn, and we all shucked the corn and just talked about stuff like English and what it means to be a missionary and what we do. At one point, Elder Crockett mentioned about his family and stuff and I just sort of took it from there and taught about our wonderful plan of happiness. Elder Crockett and I were working together so well it was like we were of the same mind... That's really the first time I've felt like that has happened. We finished off with our testimonies right as we were finishing up the last little bit of corn. As we ended with a prayer and left, both of us were just super excited. It felt so good. There's still a ways to go with him, but we have high hopes.
This last one happened yesterday and is actually quite interesting. It's almost like a fairytale missionary story. It was just beautiful. It was with me and one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Tucker. They had a cita with someone for that afternoon but Elder Cahawaii (the other ZL) and Elder Crockett were busy doing something, so I went with elder Tucker to their cita. (We took the truck to Momos yesterday because there wouldn't be any this morning.) On the way, Elder Tucker was explaining to me about the new curriculum the church is doing for the missionaries with their new "The District 2" videos. He was explaining to me about the new focus we were having and how to go about this new approach to the same Preach My Gospel. We prayed before we went to the cita and went in. We explained clearly what our purpose was when we got in there. The new thing is to try to make you, as a missionary, "invisible" so that they can really build a relationship with the Lord. We started with a hymn and a prayer, as usual, explaining the importance of why we do each. Then we had a lesson guided by the spirit to each and every person there including the investigator. Right off the bat, she opened up and explained how her near death experience helped her realize how fragile life was and how she was devastated to think of leaving her family in the condition they were in. We gave a great lesson about how we come closer to our Heavenly Father and the steps we need to take to show our faith and willingness, and to start on the path to be with our families and our Heavenly Father forever. By the end, she committed to be baptized on the 18th, EVEN THOUGH the doctor said she shouldn't be in water after her surgery. She has an appointment with the doctor on the 17th, and she's going to ask if she can be baptized on the 18th. In the mean time, we're all going to be praying for her to be able to do this. As we finished our lesson with a prayer, something amazing happened. All of a sudden, it seemed like the room was illuminated a little by an orange light. We went outside to see where it was coming from and we couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It was a huge orange sunset that illuminated the whole entire sky around us in bright orange, with a double rainbow in the back, behind the house. It was AMAZING! Unfortunately, neither of us had our cameras, but the missionaries in Racaná (about 45 min. away from where we were) got a picture of it in the distance. Just imagine me in the very center of that huge bright light. :) We both loved it. If nothing else, it was the most convenient thing that I've ever seen, but I personally feel it was just a tender mercy. I am very grateful to have had that experience.
Now this week, I feel very excited to be able to go to the training as a District Leader. Last week, the Zone Leaders had their training, and now I get to learn more about what really happened yesterday. I strongly believe that the Lord was trying to show me the importance of what I'm going to learn this week. I'm going to be spending three days in Xela during the training. I've very excited.
Today we're going to Xela to buy food for the week! I'm excited. It also means that I get pouch today too, although, for some reason I feel I won't get much, if anything at all, because it was so close to conferences, but... we'll see.
I love you all and am so grateful to have been born of goodly parents, that I would be able to be worthy to enjoy experiences such as this, where I can feel the love of the Lord so strong. I miss you.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
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