Transfers in San Juan
Hey everyone!
This week we just finished up my 3rd 6 week transfer period here in
San Juan. I have been here for a little more than 4 months now.
Yesterday we got transfers calls I am going to being staying here one
more transfer with Elder Lopez. Finally president has left me in an
area for a decent amount of time! I am excited because we are looking
forward to some baptisms this month.
Last monday Karla and Kevin went to turn their papers in to put their
wedding date. We were hoping to have the date as soon as possible
because there is going to be a temple trip on September 6th. We were a
little worried because there is a 15 business day wait to the papers
filed and all that fun stuff. But thanks to some fervent prayers and a
little begging from Karla to the wedding secretary person... the
wedding is going to be the 5th! It is going to be a little crazy
because they are going to get married, interviewed, baptized,
confirmed, registered as members, and interviewed again all in the
same day to go to the temple the next day. But like I have said
before. It is so relieving to finally have everything planned and in
order.
This week I had an interesting experience visting a few members of our
ward. On Monday night a member asked if we would go with her to visit
a mother and her daughter that havent gone to church for about 2
months. The son of this sister died from cancer about a year ago. He
was a returned missionary and from what I have heard a great young man
in the ward. Since his death his mom and his sister have been with
depression. So we went to their house prepared to motivate them to go
to church and renew their convenants. It was a rough visit.
Understandably, they both were still very hurt from the death of their
family member. They blamed God for all their grief and suffering and
refused to recieve His or our help. In short, I left the visit feeling
discouraged, confused, and a little upset. I spent the rest of the
week wondering how we could help them and why they felt so angry with
God. Well, on Thursday we did another visit. This time with an active
widow from the ward. She has been having pain in her legs and hasnt
been able to walk the past few weeks or so. She had called us and
asked if we could give her a blessing. We came and she was very
grateful to recieve the blessing. After the blessing we sat and talked
with her for a bit. We asked her how she had felt when her husband
died. She explained that she was at first very angry with God. But she
also explained that at one point she understood that she could not
move on without His help. Although she was still sad and a little
confused she accepted that the only way out was His way. She learned
to trust Him even when she least wanted to. Hearing this was a huge
help to the questions that I had about how we could help this other
family. I feel like it will take more time but I am sure that they
will quickly understand that only our Savior heal these types of
wounds. But we have to let Him.
Well, I hope that that paragraph wasnt too long. I guess I still am
not too good at this writing group letter thing ahaha. I hope you guys
enjoy them. Also shout out to Jake! Thanks for the great example!
You guys are awesome!
Elder Gessell
This week we just finished up my 3rd 6 week transfer period here in
San Juan. I have been here for a little more than 4 months now.
Yesterday we got transfers calls I am going to being staying here one
more transfer with Elder Lopez. Finally president has left me in an
area for a decent amount of time! I am excited because we are looking
forward to some baptisms this month.
Last monday Karla and Kevin went to turn their papers in to put their
wedding date. We were hoping to have the date as soon as possible
because there is going to be a temple trip on September 6th. We were a
little worried because there is a 15 business day wait to the papers
filed and all that fun stuff. But thanks to some fervent prayers and a
little begging from Karla to the wedding secretary person... the
wedding is going to be the 5th! It is going to be a little crazy
because they are going to get married, interviewed, baptized,
confirmed, registered as members, and interviewed again all in the
same day to go to the temple the next day. But like I have said
before. It is so relieving to finally have everything planned and in
order.
This week I had an interesting experience visting a few members of our
ward. On Monday night a member asked if we would go with her to visit
a mother and her daughter that havent gone to church for about 2
months. The son of this sister died from cancer about a year ago. He
was a returned missionary and from what I have heard a great young man
in the ward. Since his death his mom and his sister have been with
depression. So we went to their house prepared to motivate them to go
to church and renew their convenants. It was a rough visit.
Understandably, they both were still very hurt from the death of their
family member. They blamed God for all their grief and suffering and
refused to recieve His or our help. In short, I left the visit feeling
discouraged, confused, and a little upset. I spent the rest of the
week wondering how we could help them and why they felt so angry with
God. Well, on Thursday we did another visit. This time with an active
widow from the ward. She has been having pain in her legs and hasnt
been able to walk the past few weeks or so. She had called us and
asked if we could give her a blessing. We came and she was very
grateful to recieve the blessing. After the blessing we sat and talked
with her for a bit. We asked her how she had felt when her husband
died. She explained that she was at first very angry with God. But she
also explained that at one point she understood that she could not
move on without His help. Although she was still sad and a little
confused she accepted that the only way out was His way. She learned
to trust Him even when she least wanted to. Hearing this was a huge
help to the questions that I had about how we could help this other
family. I feel like it will take more time but I am sure that they
will quickly understand that only our Savior heal these types of
wounds. But we have to let Him.
Well, I hope that that paragraph wasnt too long. I guess I still am
not too good at this writing group letter thing ahaha. I hope you guys
enjoy them. Also shout out to Jake! Thanks for the great example!
You guys are awesome!
Elder Gessell
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