Hey everyone --
That's right, I am no longer in
Kentucky. I'm serving across the river from Louisville in Clarksville, Indiana.
It's so weird to be here, because it's super super urban in comparison to
Versailles/Frankfort. There we drove by big gorgeous hills and awesome horses.
Here we drive by Targets and Walmarts and Sam's Club, not to mention lots of
car dealerships. Why do we have to live next to car dealerships? I keep seeing
stuff that has come out since I left home and I just want to go look at them
all!
So I rode in with Elder L and
Elder W, the Frankfort Elders, to the transfer meeting. Elder L went home
and Elder W picked up a new companion. I chatted a little bit with some other
Spanish elders, got the details on who was going where to be a zone leader, who
was called to train a new elder, etc. Clarksville, IN seemed like the only
place for me to go, but I wasn't positive still, because the elder staying in
Clarskville had only been out one transfer. That means there is still a whole
transfer left of the training program left to do. Sure enough, during the
meeting President announced, "And Elder Baker is going to follow-up train
Elder St. M in Clarksville Spanish." WHAT? Pretty much my worst fear
-- being put as senior companion in an area I don't know. And we're both
gringos. So after a few minutes of panic I told myself that it would all be
okay. The meeting was over. Met Elder St. M. Went outside to our car. We
drive a 6 week old Subaru Legacy. An early sign that everything would be okay.
Hahaha. The car isn't the most important part, but I don't know if there are
any other Legacys in the whole mission so that's kinda fun.
It's been a whirlwind of a week,
trying to meet people and figure out the streets. We cover Clarksville,
Jeffersonville, New Albany, Charlestown, and a several super tiny towns that
neither of us have ever been to. So it's hard to coordinate where we're going,
how best to use the miles, etc. The work is kind of nonexistent here right now.
Like, Versailles is more happenin' than this place, and everyone was stalling
out when I left there. So it's kind of cool to start from square one. We can
tract all of the Hispanic hot-spots because they haven't been hit in a while,
but it's also super lame when you look at your planner and have no firm
appointments. But we'll get there. I know that it's possible.
One cool thing we do here is teach
English on Tuesdays in New Albany and Wednesdays in Charlestown. But they were
smart when they started it -- they have a short scripture for reading and
pronunciation practice, and a pretty big spiritual thought attached to the
beginning and end of each lesson. And the two times we did it the people really
liked the scriptures and thoughts, so that was cool. And a member named Mandy came with us in New Albany. She's super cool.
My favorite experience of the week:
After the class in Charlestown was over, one of the students, Armando, was
trying to calm his kid down while we were chatting with the other people that
come. Because of Easter, there are tons of pictures of Jesus everywhere, and he
was showing them to his daughter. Well, he came over to me and said, "Hey,
I have a question." He was looking at the picture of when Christ comes to
the Americas. He said, "Those temples in the background are from my
ancestors in Mexico." And then he said that there is some legend of his
people that a white man with a beard came to them. So I explained the Book of
Mormon to him, and that it comes from his ancestors. And that Christ did come
to his people, and taught them. I told him about how the gospel has been
restored, and that that's how we have it! It was so cool, and everyone had
moved into the hallway at that point, so it was really really quiet while I told
him all of these things. It was SO cool. We still need to follow
up a little with him, but he is seriously awesome. I think he has great
potential.
Also, Elder St. M made an
appointment with another member of the English class that had come to a Spanish
fireside at the mission home. We went by yesterday and Armando and his wife
where there, and a few other people we had never met. We taught a pretty strong
Restoration lesson, so we think there is good to come from this! There is work
to be done here! There are lots of reasons why it will be hard -- there isn't
much of a Spanish foundation here. But I know that God sent
me here because I can help build stuff. And maybe it'll take many years, but if
I can properly build the forms for the concrete, it will be strong when the
elders in the future get to poring the foundation and building on it!
I can't tell you everything -- it's
been a crazy week. But we're here working hard. Doing good. Trying to share the
gospel.
Y'all are the coolest! Keep it up!
I love you!
--Elder Zac
No comments:
Post a Comment