October 8, 2012

Wait, ... that's not a piano. 

So Good to hear from Everyone!! I love getting all your news every week.

Cody, I admire your dedication. I know that you will be blessed as you make that goal a priority in your life. The Lord needs more Missionaries, and those of our generation are the best there have been. That doesn´t come from me, that comes from apostles of the Lord. He needs missionaries, so work hard to prepare. Best way to do that is Preach My Gospel and splits with the missionaries. You will use what you learn from that book and the full timers. Fun fact- there have been two books written in the temple- James E. Talmadge´s Jesus the Christ and Preach my Gospel. Between you and Erin, that Horse story sounds like an adventure well had. 

Erin, what a story. Thanks for giving me the details. Hilarious!!! That sounds like a good adventure, and one that will make a good story in years to come. Keep at it with volleyball. Remember that the church is perfect, and the people aren´t. That was me a year and a half ago, and sometimes people forget who they really are. I am so glad to hear that you are improving, and that you play hard regardless of the circumstances. Trust me, have patience and keep playing, people will notice.

Mason, Sounds like you are good friends with this Adi. I hope that you can continue to develop meaningful relations with everyone, that is definitely a gift you have. And keep working hard with your team. work hard in the hard times, and harder in the good times. What did you think of the announcement the prophet made?? and Thanks for translating for me. Boca was always a difficult word. Translate this...

Chupa lo.

Love ya bud.

Dad, That is quite the story. I have heard similar stories from here, and with gringo´s. it´s never with other latins, only gringos. Kinda funny. Thank you for your counsel. I guess the Lord needed me to hear that, because He told me during conference as well. I realized that I can´t change things, I can just love people. And the new announcement is crazy. Practically all latins are in that group, of 18 year old missionaries, and there are tons of good ones. It is good to hear that Alley and Daniel are working to leave earlier. They will both be awesome. Oh Erin.....Army. Well, according to Elder Holland, at SUU one year he said, ¨Grab your triple combination and sign on to God´s Army. Except we use bandages, not bullets- the Lord´s Army is an army of healing.¨

Mom, first of all, the Ladies who feed me would like to say hello. They saw a photo of you and the fam the other day, (I keep it in my triple), and they think that we are the most beautiful family in the world. They said that I looked just like you, and that You are way too young to have four kids. Then I told them that you were 42, and they didn´t believe me. They responded with, ¨she´s too pretty to be 42.¨ Nordeli and Glenda say hi.

Well, this week was crazy! I only have time to highlight the really good stuff. We have an investigator who we dropped in the past name Jolaní. She asked her member friend why we haven´t been back to teach her. She is now making an effort to follow up with commitments, and to come to church. She is 27 and has two kids, and a partner. But to get baptized, she needs to get married. Her partner doesn´t want to just because he doesn´t want to. Oh, and he´s 58. Wow. So we don´t know what we are going to do with her.

We have three baptisms lined up for this weekend. It would be more, but one has a soccer tournament, and the other one still needs to go to church.  They will be the 20th of this month. I will tell you about both of them really quick.

The lady is named Olesia. She met with missionaries almost a year ago, but they changed and transferred, and she lost contact. She was getting ready to get married and get baptized. Well, we found her contacting, and her husband was killed in the last 6 months, and she has an 8 year old daughter who we are talking with as well. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and wants to get baptized, but she didn´t come to a session of conference, so we have to move her date back a week. Still positive.

The other one is a 14 year old boy name Jorlyn. He and his mom started off super positive, but then all of a sudden, we couldn´t find them. The father in law is catholic, and we think he said something to them. Well, we finally found Jorlyn at home. The last time we talked with them, he said he didn´t know if he wanted to be baptized for sure. He liked it all, but didn´t know if the Book of Mormon was true. I told him to pray, read it, and pray again. To pray for understanding and an answer. Well, that was about two weeks ago. We finally found him, and I asked him if he got an answer. This is what he said. "I was reading the Book of Mormon, and I felt really good. I finished reading a chapter, and said a prayer. As I was laying in my bed waiting for a response, I fell asleep. In my dream, I saw a bright white light. Out of the light came a voice that said, Yes." He looked at me and said, "Does that sound like an answer?" Uhh, yess, Jorlyn, yes it does. He can´t be baptized this week, but we will for sure the 20th.

The three we are getting ready to baptize are three teenagers. There are 8 people in the family, they live with grandparents and aunts. So hysterical. I really can´t describe this family. So great. Love them to death. Same with the family that feeds us. We spent two hours at their house last night with pizza and cake, and just sat and talked. That was the first time I have really felt like I have been sort of at home in almost 4 months. To sit with a family and just laugh and joke and play was awesome. I really needed it. 

 

Funny story of the week. Everybody here has motorcycles, and the family that feeds us is no exception. Norde´s sister, Dilengia is married to a guy that has a motorcycle. We were talking to him while he was sitting on it last week. I noticed that it was a Yamaha, and couldn´t help thinking, Well, that´s not a piano. I had to try to keep myself from laughing hysterically. (Dear readers, here's a little background on why this story is hilarious.  ...  When Zach was about three we were at some friends' house.  Zach was sitting on the piano bench and noticed the word "Yamaha" on the center of the piano above the keys.  There is probably a more technical name for this, but you understand that Yamaha was the maker of the piano.  Zach began pointing to all the letters and saying their name.  When he was finished spelling y-a-m-a-h-a, he proudly followed with -- "Piano!"  He was so proud that he had just spelled the word "piano."  Now reread the story and you will laugh a little more!)

 

I also gave my first full blessing in Spanish this last week. For not speaking Spanish fluently, and having to think in English sometimes, I believe also that the spirit speaks to people in their mother language, so English for me. I have to translate it. Well, during the blessing, I didn´t have to translate anything, it all came in Spanish. So crazy. Helped me to realize that Whom God calls, God qualifies, in all aspects.

Well, I hope you all have a stellar week. Conference was awesome! Who were all your favorite speakers? Mine was elder Nelson, I think,  or Elder Anderson, or Bednar. One of the three.

Love you all!! talk to you soon!!!!

Elder Zach Glassett