Ordinary Week

Not much happened this week. It was super hot every day besides yesterday. The temp may not be too high but the sun is the killer. The ozone basically doesn't exist here because everyone uses propane for everything (water heater, heater, stove..) so all that gas pollution has destroyed the ozone and therefore "all of the concentrated power of the sun" shines on us every day. Yay Skin Cancer!!! (Yes Dad, we use sunscreen - SPF 50 because there's nothing higher here). Oh, funny story. When I first got here, one morning I heard music coming from outside that sounded like an ice cream truck. Nope. It was one of the propane trucks that drive around selling propane. Ya, I was very disappointed...

The reason why this letter is a lot later than the others is because we had a BBQ with the ZLs and 3 RMs in our ward that are awesome. That was fun. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so no pics. But C** (one of the RMs) supposedly is going to send us the pics that he took, so wait for next week.

That's about it for the week. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Heat, Sun, Rejection, Happiness, Exhaustion, Laughter, Walking, and Walking, and some more Walking....Oh the life of a missionary:)

Love yall!

Elder Groneman

Short and Sweet

WST (weekly scripture thought)

3 Nephi 11

When God was trying to speak to the Nephites they were too busy to hear Him. It took Him 3 times to finally get their attention so that they understood what He was trying to say. This is like us and the Holy Ghost. Sometimes in our lives we are way too busy with all of the things that we have to do. During these times, the HG may be trying to talk to us but we are too busy trying to complete everything on our list of things to do that we don't hear it. We need to slow down our lives a little so that we when the HG talks to us we are able to hear. It is okay if we don't finish everything on our list because Heavenly Father doesn't care about all of those things. He wants us to listen to Him so that He can guide our lives.

Not a lot happened this week. We did find R** again (the guy that had the heart transplant) but he was drunk out of his mind. He really wants to stop drinking and smoking though because he knows that it is just damaging his new heart. 

Yeah, besides that not a lot happened. Same as usual basically. We had interviews with Pres. K this week and he told my comp and me that we are no longer allowed to speak English at all. The only English I am allowed to speak is when I am asking what a word means. Por ejemplo "Gato significa Cat?" o " Qué significa Gato?" o "Cómo se dice Cat?".....Yeah, that is driving me crazy but it is really helping my Spanish.

So yeah...that's it. Sorry no photos. Maybe next week....maybe ;)

Love y´all

Elder Groneman 2 (the better one)

Best week we have had so far!!!

Best week we have had so far!!! Three days into the week we already had done as much as or more than last week in every aspect! Ya, it was a good week.

So story for the week...

   We were on the way to a teaching appointment with a less active lady when these two guys in their 20s say hello (hola) to us from their front yard. Not unusual because everyone here says hi as we walk by. Either that or we say hi first. Anyways, we continue to the lady´s house. We arrive but she says to come back later because her grandkids just got there so she was going to spend time with them. Okay, no big deal there. As we´re walking back down the road the 2 guys call out to us again. We don't have anything in our immediate plans so we decide to talk to them. One of the guys invites us into the yard (every house is surrounded by a gate - lots of crime here) then we start sharing with them. Long story short (sorry, I'm not going to give a play-by-play of the whole conversation) He (the other guy was just a friend) has been wanting to talk with us for a while because he recognizes that Mormons are different. We talked with him for a bit and he seemed really excited to learn and read the BOM, pray, and go to church....so we also invited him to be baptized. He accepted! Sad part of the story. He has recently had a heart transplant so he can't do many things (like have a job). Well, he was going to go to church yesterday but ended up going to the hospital in the morning because he didn't feel good. End sad part. We have another cita [appointment] with him later so it's all good. 

     Ya....I am terrible at telling riveting stories..... :)

Scripture Study Insight

- I am restarting the BOM because I finished so I am in 1st Nephi. So basically everyone knows about Jacob 5, the longest chapter in the BOM, is all about the analogy of the olive tree. But, did you know that Jacob did not come up with that himself?? He actually got it, or at least a major part of it, from Lehi. Cool huh. It's amazing what little things you can notice when you actually are paying attention to what you are reading.

So ya....Elder B** and I made it through changes but one of our Zone Leaders didn't. (We share a ward with them so we know them really well). The new ZL is from Argentina. Haha it's funny because basically all Chileans HATE Argentines. He is awesome though. 

So ya....that's basically it. Love y'all lots. Don't die while I'm gone because that would be unfortunate ;)

Elder Groneman

General Conference was ´really really good´! ;) It faithened my strength ;)

But really, all jokes aside, Conference was great! Thank you Mom and Dad for being my prime gospel teachers!

     THE RESULTS

Eliza and Jacob - you both fail

Sophie - Thanks for the update, but you also failed

Mom and Dad - you both receive a B

;) Love y'all

Soooo......Elder Scott's talk was the best that I have ever heard him give. And now for the invitation to my wonderful family. Actually act on what he talked about! Now that Dad is out of the Singles Ward you can have FHE EVERY week (emphasis on the EVERY in case you didn't catch that). AND start having DAILY family scripture study (Emphasis on the DAILY and take note of the word STUDY - it does not say READING nor does it mean that you can accomplish it in 5-10 minutes). Since Mecham and I are on missions and cannot be physically present for those studies I will be sending in my email a little snippit of my studies since it says daily FAMILY scripture study.

Mecham - Le invito hacer la mismo hasta vuelva en Noviembre [I invite you to do the same in November.]

Sophie and Jeff - I imagine that you both stop by the house a lot still (or at least Sophie does) so when you do, share a little snippit of your studies, or, better yet, join in a family study right then.

Anyways.....eso no más.

Couple questions/answers/requests

1- yes conference was in English and yes we watched the Spanish talks in Spanish

2- my shoe size is 10 1/2 wide USUALLY. I never know for certain cuz every Brand is different. I am not familiar with J**´s boots, sorry. And I have not asked the other Elders what boots they have.

3- Is A** D** on a misión? I'm pretty sure I saw him in the missionary choir twice. Please ask Sister G** for info.

4- for christmas (or before) please send a really good flashdrive with a lot of space on it, like a 64 gig if those exist. Super useful for lessons and other things cuz everyone here has a tv that you can plug one in and show a talk or something.

This week was extremely difficult lesson and contacting wise. Definitely our worst week yet. Yes, worse than last week which is saying something. But, it's okay because Conference ended the week and one of our investigators went to the Saturday morning session which is literally a miracle. She only made it for the last talk, Uchtdorf´s, but it was perfect for her. The reason why it was a miracle is because she said that she would never go to church because when she was 14 she went to a Mormon activity with her member friend. Well, when she got home her parents beat her for leaving. Since then she has never gone to church (she's currently somewhere around 60ish). After the session she asked when church started and it sounded like she was going to go! Yay for the Holy Ghost touching hearts!

Besides that the week was blah. Nothing happened....like at all. This week will be better. I finish my first change and first 6 weeks in the field. Hopefully Elder B** doesn't get changed because that would mean I get a step-father. Elders and their trainees are fathers and sons. If an Elder gets two different trainers (you train for 2 changes) the second is the step-father.

So ya....study the talks. Have weekly FHE. Study the scriptures every day as a family. Pray together every night. AND go to the temple every week. Not hard at all, right?

Love y'all!

Elder Groneman

 

Villa Alemana Zone