Crazy Crazy Week

Hey Everyone

Anyway, this week has been super crazy for me and super long.  Big-ish changes in the missionary work for me.

But Ill start with the beginning of the week.  After our PDay, we did an awesome family home evening with M and our friend G.  Tuesday, we went to our weekly district meeting, our last one before the transfers, and we had a Zone Splits, or Gran Intercambio, with the whole zone.  I got assigned to work with Elder S in Renaico.  Elder S is awesome and we were in the same district in the MTC, so we have the same amount of time in the mission. I think they set it up that way just for fun, but it went great and was super fun, because we both speak at about the same level of Spanish.  We taught some interesting lessons, ate lots of cookies, and got some good missionary work done in his sector.  We both knew we were kind of hopeless, which made it more fun I think.  But it was nice to kind of be on our own without our trainers and going and doing missionary work.  I felt more like a missionary than I have up to this point.  It was awesome.

While I was on the intercambio, our mission president came to our sector to make some big changes.  In my sector, we have two elders and two sisters who work this same área.  He came to close the sector for the sisters and until today wasn't sure if he would leave only two elders or add two more elders.  But all I knew was that my trainer and the two sister missionaries would be leaving this transfer and I would have all their investigators with a new companion. And I would be moving houses.  I'm pretty sure I'm moving into the sisters old house, which I'm stoked about because it is way nicer than ours.  And a lot warmer haha.  Its raining a ton now, almost every day, and its getting cold.

Today we got the call from the district leader about who would go where.  Yeah, the sisters and my comp are leaving and I'm staying.  My trainer is going to the zone closest to the beach and will be training again.  I'm staying here with an Elder N.  I cant wait to meet him tomorrow and I'm stoked to see what kind of work we can do here in the sector.  No one really knows him and I think he is pretty new in the mission as well, so tomorrow will be interesting getting to know him and how he works.

Anyway, something I have been learning more about this week is repentance.  I have been learning that the principle of forgiveness and repentance is a gift of God, a true gift to make life better and easier.  We walk around all day with certain burdens, good and bad.  Some we can control and some we cant.  We have all kinds of responsibilities and often difficulties that we cant control.  One thing we can control is how much of our sin we let weigh us down.  When we let the Savior take the load, the other burdens of life become easier to bear.  Performing well in our job, caring for the family, keeping up with school, and other tasks of life become easier to bear when we don't have the weight of past mistakes on our mind and in our heart as well. The Savior has given us this tool to use.  He has already paid the price for use it, and I'm sure He feels sadness when we do not take advantage of it, like if we paid the price of a tool for someone else and they left it neglected in the corner unused.  Use it and feel the weight lift.  Go and sin no more, as Christ said.  I love this góspel.  Christ lives.

Thanks guys for everything.  Que Dios les bendiga....