December 2, 2012
Question from Mom are italicized:
Are you playing the piano? Not really it’s difficult because I don’t have time to practice. I’m trying to swindle the bishop into buying a piano for the ward and then loaning it to me.
Are you being fed well and taking care of yourself? How is your weight? I haven’t gained weight...we walk too much. I weigh 64 kilos I don’t know how many pounds that is. I am taking care when I can choose what I get to eat. I choose well but when I can’t choose -- the food here is really not that healthy. Normally we eat bread with beans and meat or something like that.
When are transfers? Will you be with this companion you have now for Christmas? I sure hope so, Elder Lopez is great. He is obedient and easy to get along with but transfers are the 18th. The bishop says if I get transferred he is going to call president to tell him that he wants me to stay. He says that I'm the only missionary that he has like here since he has been bishop and he says all the rest didn't work very hard. I’m not saying that to be prideful I just was called to testify of the truth.
What are the highlights this week? Did you have a baptism? What is your favorite lesson to teach? This week was kind of ruff on numbers which kind of got me down but we taught a lot of lessons. Hardly anybody came to church. At 8 o’clock when the meeting was supposed to start there were 6 people at church. The bishop wasn't there and neither was the first counselor, and the second counselor got there at about 8:07. Then we started at about 8:15 and it was kind of interesting. It does kind of bother me that the members think that buying Christmas presents is a good enough excuse to not go to church. You have to realize that in México the biggest shopping days are Saturday and Sunday. But more than anything Sunday because on Sundays there are tianges in the avenues and they have the best prices. Actually I asked a member the other day if it was a commandment to not buy things on Sunday and he said, "That’s a suggestion from the church right?" I was kind of taken off guard. I’ll bet Landon can tell you a few stories but about how everybody buys stuff on Sunday.
This week was good we are having some real success with less actives, but it’s getting to be harder with the investigators because the ward hasn’t really helped us out that much. Anyway the card you sent me the other day with conference got here. It was sweet to hear them again. Some of the talks that you gave me were super sweet to and honestly really helped me remember some of the home backed truths that we used to talk about at home. In the mission I feel like I have lost some of them. Like the "righteous judgment principle." I have had too many companions that have told me that I judge them and that I almost started to believe that judging is a bad thing. But in Elder Holland’s talk that you gave me it reminded me that if we make a righteous judgment it’s ok. Just like how Jesus said "Don’t cast your pearls before swine" and there was another talk about the 7 greatest heresies of the gospel or something like that --that one was sweet too. And it totally blasted the "kingdom moving theory." Landon told me that some teachers teach that at BYU ha- ha -ha. And the conference talks were awesome also. The one about the piper cub and the f-18 by President Uchtdorf. I really related to that one coming from an F-18 ward in St. Louis to a piper cub ward in México. Wow, I can really see what he means and he said, "Sometimes it seems as if we were not moving at all." I can definitely relate. I seem to be putting in all my heart, might, mind, and strength and some time to words of President Uchtdorf seem to be incredibly true. I know that it’s the effort that counts and not the success --sometimes I really have to count my blessings. This ward has been really hard to work with, but I know it can change. Because of the changes that we have seen in the work the ward that you are in makes a huge difference in your numbers at the end of the day. We will keep working with the members to get them excited about missionary work.
Anyway thanks a ton. Later.
Elder Hendricks
Feliz Navidad!
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