Week #64

Hey, Family,

So this week was a trip.  We are working a lot, but we had a lot of trials this week.  It was super weird, but in the end of the week it seemed like everything just started to fall apart and we got super discouraged. But in the end, everything worked out.  And it all was part of God's plan because we learned some super good lessons.

First of all, I have a parasite, which is never very fun.  I've been taking medicine, so I'm getting better, but in general I just get pretty tired.  I've been feeling pretty exhausted lately, but it'll be over soon.  I have to take some medicine that makes my urine turn bright gold, which is pretty funny.

But yeah, when Friday the 13th came along, it seemed like a blanket of discouragement and unhappiness descended upon us and things ended up just being straight up hard.  Super weird, because neither Elder Cavalcante or I can explain what caused it, but we both got super discouraged.  But it all ended up for the better.  Because of our discouragement I ended up looking for some good counsel in my patriarchal blessing to help me out and I noticed something that I had never noticed before.

Previously I had never thought there there was a specific part of my blessing that talked about my mission, but because of this trial I ended up finding a part that explained exactly what I was needed to hear at that moment.  In this part there are two words that are repeated two times: courage and confidence.  It says roughly that my confidence and courage will lead me to go forth into the world as an ambassador for the Savior.  Interestingly enough, two weeks prior I had read the conference talk by President Monson about courage and had prayed for an opportunity to demonstrate courage.  Those two words, confidence and courage, ended up sticking with me for the rest of the day and throughout the end of the week.  

Saturday was really hard, but we had success.  I still didn't understand why I was feeling so miserable.

Then came Sunday.  When we made it to the end of the day, I was still looking for an opportunity to be courageous and hadn't found it.  But just like anything good, you normally don't receive the best part until the very last minute.  Sunday night we made our way to our last lesson of the day.

When we got there, we were expecting that the family that we were going to teach was going to have a man there, because as missionaries we have a rule that we can't make a visit with a woman if there is not a man present as well, or we have to make the visit in a public place or in the yard or something like that.  It's a rule that some missionaries have trouble with, but I've always done my best to obey it, despite a little bit of embarassment.  When we showed up, this family ended not having a man there.

I'm going to have to tell you the rest next week.  Sorry!  No Time!

Love,

Jack