Surreal!

sur·re·al

1.

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of surrealism; surrealistic.

2.

having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic. FROM THIS:

TO THIS:

In three weeks from TODAY.

I will be sitting with my son.

That is if I can stop hugging him long enough to sit.

It still seems like a dream, unreal, fantastic.

Fantastic!

Hey Family!

Thanks for the emails. As always I love hearing from you guys. This week has been a great week in the mission. As always I love being a missionary, and serving the Lord.

            Today we just got done with a training conference. It was the same that I went to last change, but I was able to learn more that will  help me with some of my investigators. The conference will continue until Wednesday. Of course, the food is also a great reason to be there, likewise the air conditioning, but being able to feel the Spirit with the some of the other missionaries in the zone is a great opportunity.

            This week we did a lot of service. Actually, all the weeks we are here we do a lot of service. There seems to be more service opportunities here in Peten. They do a lot of work with machete here, and my now 2 year old machete had served me well. It’s been well used, and it will be a really cool memory to take home with. I can now mow an entire lawn with a machete. It is a lot harder than using a lawnmower, but in some respects it’s more fun. This week we did a lot of chopping grass, and cutting wood, since many of the people here cook with firewood. We were walking down the street one day in the heat of the day, and we saw an old lady gathering some giant pieces of wood for her wood storage. It was a little impressive that she could carry that much wood, but we quickly went to help her. We managed to get a lot of wood, and then spent the next hour chopping it up. At first she was very reluctant, but after time she became very grateful. I always feel good helping people, and it helps them to be more receptive to listen to the Gospel. Before we served her she refused to hear anything from the missionaries, but after having helped her she is receptive.

            I continue to work with my converts. It is a hard task, and I have to fight the temptation to get discouraged. I had a really good lesson with Luki, who was originally unreceptive to our messages. We taught her about the importance of having an open heart. There’s a scripture that I really like in Ezequiel that talks about having a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone. We talked a lot about that. At first she wasn’t paying much attention, but later I shared a personal experience, and it seemed to open her up a lot. At the end she shared that she had felt the Spirit, and that is had been awhile since she had felt that.

            The Ax family will be hard. I am finding that one of their main problems is the language barrier. They speak Spanish a little bit, but their native language is Kekchi, and sometimes I feel that they don’t understand us. Ive been thinking about that a lot lately. Many times the people we teach don’t seem to understand what we are telling them, not so much for the language barrier, but it seems that there are many people who refuse to see, and who refuse to hear. It make me think of 2 Nephi 9 31 and 32. There are a lot of people in this work who refuse to see, even when the truth is presented to them in a mast simple way. I think one of the greatest tasks of a missionary is to look for those people who really are willing to open their eyes, and listen with their heart.

            Then I started thinking about how that scripture applies to us as members. I think a lot of times we think that some of the scriptures like that only apply to people to who completely reject the Gospel. I think that’s one of the temptations that Satan gives us, so that we don’t try and become better people. I think that we are all in some way needful of opening our eyes and our hearts a little more. I have been thinking a lot about that scripture.

            I have been thinking a lot about the importance of meditating over the scriptures. I have learned that the scriptures are there to help us feel the Spirit, and we can more fully feel the Spirit when we dedicate a little bit of time to meditation. I have found that I have been specifically guided in time of meditation, and have receive personal revelation that would not have come if I didn’t take the time to really ponder over the scriptures. I have received many answers to prayer in my mission, and I have really learned how the Spirit is felt. This was something that I didn’t really understand so fully before my mission. I have learned a countless number of lessons on my mission, all of which will help my immensely when I get home, but when I really think of it, learning how to understand the Spirit has been one of the most important things I have learned. If I were to go home after having served the Lord two years, and only have learned how to recognize the Spirit, these two dedicated years would have been well worth it. And to think of all the other great lessons that I have learned, it makes me happy. I am so grateful for my mission.

            Well, I think it is time for….

QUESTION TIME!

1. Mud slides....ELABORATE!!  Are they happening where you are? Are they a possibility there?

I haven’t heard much about these mudslides, but they happened in the south mission. There are no mountains where I live, and no risk of mudslides.

2. What were the drunks saying about you or your religion? Are they still harassing you?

I don’t really remember. I didn’t listen to them, but it was pretty pathetic. I haven’t seen them recently, but we need to deal with them to get the Ramirez family married. We’ll see how that goes.

2. Did you figure out the name of the hotel in Peten?

Ummmmm, next week….=)

4. I bought a bum load of gems and church stuff to give as gifts. Any other requests?

Just temple recommend holders. I cant really think of anything else. There are two of my cooks that are particularly special for me, so something for them.

5. Elder Smiths mom gave me some packages to take to her son. Is he too far away from Peten for us to take them to him? Are we allowed to do that?

He is about 3 hours away from us, but we can drop the stuff off at the mission home, or at the ZL house here in Peten. It will get to him easily.

6. Aren't you glad your awesome mother landed safely in Houston?

Yes! What an exciting plane ride.

7. Any luck activating any of your converts?

  I'm working on it. It’s a hard task, but I think I am making some progress.

8. Best thing eaten?/worst?

Best would be the burritos in my area. The worst would be some mushroom stuff that someone gave us that they found it on a tree. It was pretty grossss.

Well, we have been working with the Ramirez family. Hugo has a lot of desires to be baptized, but his wife is a little less enthusiastic. She has small children and she doesn’t like bringing them to church. Keep them in your prayers, as well as Luki and Clara, so they can go to church again.

      Well, there isn't much time to write today, but it has been a great week, and I have really enjoyed my time here in San Jose.

Thanks for all of your love and support and prayers. I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Love

Elder Winn