Juan
and Cecilia are still having some struggles as a couple and I feel like we're
just going to have to be supportive and let the Lord take care of the
situation.
The Zone Conference was good. In my class I struggled a bit to
figure out the correct pace of the class but 2 of the 5 that I taught turned
out exactly how I was hoping, while 3 were a little quicker or slower than I
would have liked. I talked with Elder Griffin afterwards (he was a Zone Leader
for almost a year) and he said that he totally understands that struggle, so I
figure it's ok for the first time, but next time I'll try to get the timing
figured out a little better beforehand. We traveled with the zone to zone conference.
The
consumption of oranges here is fairly typical. It's just a job for most people.
Elder Maradiaga and I get along well. He's a 26 year old convert with a
shady past, but his stories are always fun. (He was in Connor's CCM district.)
Our zone has a few areas that are a
bit out there. More than half the zone isn't even in the city of Martinez with
Vega, Misantla, San Rafael, Tlapacoyan and Independencia (although
Independencia is really close). We do splits where we're needed. Our first job
is to do them with the District Leaders, but from there we usually go with
missionaries from other areas when the District Leaders have too much that they
need to do or feel that we're needed in a particular situation.
The new
missionaries ask the advice that they need. Sometimes it's about the language,
sometimes it's about how to work, study, etc. The last minute miracles are what
I'm trying to briefly relax from while I write, but suffice it to say that
sometimes missionaries/members have ideas without making plans and then we end
up in charge of making these ideas a reality with little notice.
I didn't do
the cooking of the food (When the President came for interviews last week.), but we were in put in charge of most of the planning
and preparations. When the time came to make the food Elder Marines took charge
with a crew of missionaries and I took part in the activities. Hna Equihuas did
come as well.
The Zone Leaders of the hosting zone are always in charge of the
food for zone conferences. The Zone Leaders in Teziutlan set up a deal to get
Domino's Pizza so that's what we ate. Zone Conference is from 9 or 10 until
3:30 or 4. President, Hna Equihuas, and the Assistants talk in front of
everybody and then we go to the classes. My class was 20 minutes long in a
rotation of 5 groups.
The best part of the week was the interviews because I
received some good advice from President, his wife, and the assistants and we
also got to help out some of the missionaries in the zone. The hardest part of
the week is that a lot of the investigators that had planned baptismal dates in
the zone didn't go to church this weekend and so we're looking rough heading
into February. But one of my teachers from the CCM sent me a message this
week with this quote: "Donde veas 1% de posibilidad ten 99% de fe."
I'll make you plug that into google translate just for fun :). But that's how
we'll continue from here.
Something that made me laugh was chatting with Elder
Pearl in the conference. He's another one of those missionaries that I get
along exceptionally well with. One tender mercy this week was that Ezequiel and
Yamilet went to church this week. We haven't even had a chance to teach them a
good lesson yet, but we always see them in the street and invite them to
church. I was pretty surprised when they said yes on Saturday and let us pass
by for them on Sunday morning. Yamilet even went with a sprained ankle! The
members also were good about talking to them and welcoming them so we'll see
how it goes with them.
The best thing I ate was a banana. Perhaps it wasn't the
most spectacular thing in the world, but something semi-healthy every once in a
while is a blessing.
Love
you!
Elder
Finlinson
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