Letter #11

I've only stayed in my area once for splits, but I think it's fun working in other areas. The other missionaries have been from Arizona, Utah, and Costa Rica.

 The beach had nice sand, but also a lot of trash (typical). ( The beach where he played soccer.)

 I love love love the smell of the panaderías (Bakeries) and don't care for the smell of the bathrooms. 

My clothes are doing well and my shoes are holding up super well. I've been impressed.

Elder Marquez is good at not getting frustrated with me ever really so that's nice. 

I had a spiritual moment when we were teaching a lady named Maria Esther and I kind of just decided that I needed to take control of the lesson a little because I didn't feel right about where it was headed, so I did. I taught her about the need to always be progressing. (Ask Andrew about the escalator and let him know I used it in a lesson). And then the power of prayer using Enos and asking her to substitute her name into the scripture. Funny moments are hard to remember honestly, but I'll try to take note of one this next week.

We had a zone conference this week and it was a lot of fun to meet more missionaries and whatnot. We also had interviews with the President this week I I gotta tell you something. The President and his wife are SUPER awesome. At one point I walked out of a training at zone conference and I saw the President buying tacos in the street so I gained respect for him in that moment.

Missionary work is confusing sometimes. Investigators will seem super ready for baptism one day and then far from it the next. That's why patience is a beautiful thing to have as a missionary. We have a number of investigators who look like they might make it to the font sometime in February so stay tuned.

I've been thinking about diligence lately. If we're not consistent in what we do then it's much harder to benefit from it. Of course it's never a bad thing to eat healthy for a day, exercise for a few mornings, or read a little extra scriptures when you're having a trial. But how much more beneficial is it when you do it every day, every morning, in every moment? Excellence isn't an act, it's a habit (I think somebody famous said something like that once).

Best of wishes to all that made it to the bottom of the email,

Elder Finlinson

 P.S. Best of wishes to the other people too