week 22

Hey! This week went alright! Me and my companion have been really struggling to stay healthy so it was hard to get a lot done, but next week should go better! I finished my meds for the tape worm and amoebas so hopefully that will stop being a problem. Actually the medication is really harsh, so it kind of made me feel worse, but hopefully it will get better this week. Oh I forgot to mention, I am in Coban right now! Again! But just for my companion this time, I decided not to take a test because I am tired of hearing I have parasites haha. We might spend the night, but I hope not. We just have to wait for my companions results.

But things are still good! Just hoping I can get healthy this week and my companion is a little more motivated. It hit him that he has less than sixty days in his mission so he is very ready to be done. It is kind of like dragging around a dead turtle that is constantly saying "no me importa, ya me voy" (editors note: basically "I don't care, whatever") over and over. But I just try to be patient. He said he would do better this week so it should be good. We are about two weeks away from transfers. This is my companions fourth change in this area (he's been there about six months), so I don't know if he will finish here, but I can see myself being his last companion. I'm just worried I will train next change. That would be good because I would be forced to speak a lot more Kekchi but I am also horribly unprepared for that haha. I really want to train at some point, actually that is the only sort of leadership position I want, I never want to be District Leader, or Zone Leader, and really not Assistant to the President haha, but trainer would be awesome! I just dont know if I am ready...

Our area is kind of struggling. Jose Domingo actually decided to drop us this week, he said he hasn't seen any miracles in his life in the month we have been teaching him, so he doesn't feel like it is helping him. We tried to explain that sometimes it takes years and years to gain any sort of knowledge, and all we can do is have faith. He just said that if his family wants they can still continue but he is done. So I was pretty sad, but then on Sunday two of his daughters showed up to church. We showed them The Testaments (if you are interested in watching this movie, we can lend you our copy) and afterwards challenged them to baptism. They are going to give us their answer this Wednesday so that is awesome! We are trying to get this girl named Ramona married but her mukuy doesn't want to. It is actually fairly heartbreaking because she really really wants to be baptized and can't. Nestor decided to leave again... he is going to leave on Wednesday...so that was another huge bummer.

 

My spiritual thought this week comes from a broadcast that Quentin L. Cook gave (Oh yeah! Quentin L. Cook came to our mission! I didn't get to see him, but he did a broadcast for our mission alone!) He explained how he helped write Preach My Gospel with the First Presidency and how mission calls are assigned. The first piece of advice he told us is that "you are kingdom builders!" At the end of his message he gave us an Apostolic blessing that we would be comforted and know that we are doing more good here than at home. It was really sweet to see the work of an Apostle so personal and plain in front of me.

I love all of you!

Love, Elder Toolson