Where Did All The Time Go?


Hello everyone, it feels like I have traveled in time. From the moment I got out of the station I've had this very interesting feeling. If anyone really knows me, they know that I really am a very sentimental person, with a good memory to support. All it takes is a place, sound, smell, or even the way the light reflects on a surface to trigger a rush of things that once were to come to mind. The bus station where I made my first contact, the one street we would walk every night, that humble but sturdy chapel. It's a bit like moving into your grandma's house after years of visting, not that I'd have any experiences with that. All the memories are still there, but they're just that: memories. 

So I've been in this rather odd state of nostalgia and excitement, but unfortunately the excitement has gone down a bit. This week was not at all what I was expecting. Now I know that I'm not in a ZL area anymore and that in the mission it's fatal expect things just based on location alone, but this week was discouraging to say the least.

We were in the same city, but with differrent streets. These streets are a little more empty, and long. We were in them for almost every hour of every day, when we didn't have studies, tried calling old friends, or teaching one of 3 lessons in total. We found 9 people, with Ukranians making up a third. They seemed pretty interested, but it was pretty hard to tell since they didn't speak spanish or english. 

We had 2 friends at church, which is pretty good, but one went to ther other meeting for some reason and the other simply does not want to get baptized. No recent converts, though. It was also in church where it was confirmed that 1 of our converts from last time had moved, and the other 2 are completely inactive. I was more or less expecting one, but to be honest that may be the hardest part of coming back. 

Alright, that was a pretty long and kind of depressing rant, but I think it was a good place and pretty needed. That is definitley the nature of the mission, but now for the happier half: the miracles and daily "tender mercies." 

Since I'm pretty certain this emails do not help my case, I would like to say I feel like I am more or less a positive person. Of course it's not very outward, but I do love finding joy in small things. So here's some:

- Junior recognized me at church and still calls me "Little Trump." We should be visiting him this week. 
- We got some meals for this week
- 3 Inactive members found us, one with a Ukranian friend, who we then found again the next day
- A lot of members remember me and say my spanish has improved. I don't know how that's possible, since I feel like I was here both yesterday and 100 years ago, even though its been 5 months.
- Very nice apartment with great view
- Trams
- Great district and zone, almost as good as the original

For a spiritual thought:

As I've been in this trance, trying to figure our how I can best support this area and city I love, with my companion who's been here a long time, I've been at a loss. Life from 4 to 2 in an apartment slows down a lot of things, and gives a lot more personal time, which I have been filling with talks and videos about the Savior. I have noticed especially between some bible videos and early talks of President Monson the parable of the sheep and the goats. I especially love the phrase: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 

This phrase, inspiring the hymn "A Poor Wayfarying Man of Grief," is talking about how by serving others, we serve God. It doesn't matter what they decide to do with our help, or even to accept it. It is our efforts and our desires that matter, that are seen by Heaven. We always study that no effort is wasted, but it can be hard to believe sometimes. This simple phrase and it's divine repetition in my ears these last few days has helped me to remember, that no matter what the results I currently see are, or the expectations I had not met, God still sees my efforts, and I know He will bless me for them. He wants to bless us with all He has, we just have to recieve it.

I know that was really long, you can skip the rant if you'd like. Hopefully I explained all of what I feel right, because it really is a strange, amazing, sad, and happy mix. Anyways, reach out please and have a great week!

Id con Dios,

- Elder Puzey

Deja Vu
Beaches of Alicante
My beautiful view of that old castle climbed my very first pday in Spain









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The A Team

Image
Hello everyone, this week has been much, much better. We found a lot more people and now have 2 people on date. This week was also transfers, so we had a ton of people in piso like usual. Trainers, zone leaders, and random people that got some of the worsts travel plans I have ever seen were all staying the nights Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. A little crazy, but part of the start of a good week. Like I said earlier, we found a lot of people this week, over 25. I haven't hit those numbers since Alicante and there's a lot of promising people in there, too. Including one of the people on date for baptism. We met with him about 2 days after we met him, tried talking about the Plan of Salvation, but he was already ready for an invitation. Afterwards, he said he could sleep better after reading the Book of Mormon and felt so much peace at church. Diego also accepted the invitation after almost 2 whole transfers of working with him. He's always been really invested the lesson...
Read more

Auld Lang Syne

Image
Hello everyone, it's been a long week. Why New Year's is a Pday and Christmas wasn't is beyond me, but we're here now. The next few weeks will be thursdays, too so everyone knows. We left off at ZL exchanges, and to be honest not much happened. We found a few people on the streets, brought a homeless member meat to cook in the church, and called a ton of people. Not quite as fun as ZL monkey, but still good. The next day was Christmas Eve, where we had a very odd, but fun dinner. From blasting Last Christmas during the toast to random english songs until 11:30, there was always something happening.  Christmas Day was looking good with all 3 meals, until only breakfast got confirmed. It was really good, but not quite the same. Christmas also brought completely empty streets. Contacting wasn't too fruitful this week, but by miracles alone we found some great people, including a family.  We also did some service this week, for a whole morning. It consisted of taking al...
Read more

In the Bleak Midwinter

Image
  Hello everyone, since its not been long since we last spoke, this may (hopefully) be a little shorter. We ended off starting exchanges again, with me leading the area, also again. Elder Veater came to Barrio 2 with me, and apparently his famous. He's super good at singing so I believe it. It went pretty well, even when contacting 60+ year old Spaniards. Pretty entertaining, but not much happened. Our friend also said I have a gringo accent, so now im grinding pronunciation again. Zone conference was pretty good, pretty usual though. They also fed us twice which was a big bonus. Not much happened Saturday besides a baptism that was supposed to be combined with ours but we had to push it back unfortunately.  Sunday was pretty usual too, except we met with a member (I think?) from Mexico to bring the Sacrament to her. She then tried to give us what she insisted "wasn't tea," even after we pointed out the name of the whold drink was literally just "iced tea." ...
Read more