Hi guys!
I feel like I have a lot and also not a lot to write about this week at the same time…so we will see how long this email ends up being. This week was some more of pretty much the same old routine classes, but we came up with some fun stuff to spice it up.
The yogurt drink things at breakfast have perfect caps, and you can flick those things prettttty far, so we set up a golf course! Played that for awhile which was adventurous. Yesterday, we drove like two and a half hours into the center of city to get our residency cards from the Immigration Office. We didn’t actually drive that far but the traffic was so bad that it took forever. If you live here and want to get around, you better have a motorcycle and confidence in your lane splitting skills. We drove through some poorer parts into a really nice section of downtown and it was cool to see the city! I even got to see an actual cyclist, shaved legs, S-Works, skinsuit, the whole shabang. That made me pretty darn jealous. The only thing that made me more jealous was the Shake Shack we drove past.
The food here has been pretty solid, I got out of the slump of thinking it is all the same and now there are some very slight differences in how it tastes. One of the days though, for all three meals we ate repurposed ham and cheese from the meal before which was mildly unpleasant, but it was made up for by eating Krispy Kreme donuts in heaping proportions.
Our teacher, Hermano Guillaume, has been pretty awesome this week. His favorite pass time is rubbing peoples hair, especially Eld. Daggs buzzed head. He also seems to love singing songs while replacing all the lyrics with “meow” until people notice what he is doing. On my birthday he gave me lots of hugs, a pack of Pinguinos, and sung a mariachi band birthday song in spanish to me which was iconic and he is the goat.
Speaking of birthday, it was actually a really good day and I really appreciate everyone that emailed or texted me to wish me a happy B-day. You guys are the best. My district loved to embarras me by singing to me at every meal, and Elder Luker even made me a birthday crown from supplies he had gotten at the tienda the day before which was pretty awesome. That was a good day!
Other than that it’s been a pretty normal week. Our room has been on the push ups grind and Elder Leavitt is our coach which is intimidating but also very motivating, so that has been fun.
Okay, now onto the spiritual stuff from the week. I have a lot of ideas as to what I want to share but hopefully I can narrow it down and not keep you too long.
Something that stuck out to me in my personal as well as directed study this week was just how well our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ know us individually and wants us to know Him personally. I could share a lot of scriptures I read about this, but here are just some snippets from what Christ does for and teaches the people of the ancient Americas when He appeared to them in 3rd Nephi chapters 11-18. I am paraphrasing some stuff here:
“Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.”
“And this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth and did know of a surety and bear record that it was He, of whom was written by the prophets, that should come.”
This next part particularly ties in to how I was feeling this week. I went to bed one night pretty dang sick, and my nose and such was so clogged up that I hardly slept at all. The next day I was really sick again and had a hard time focusing in class and I was just really frustrated. I turned to the Lord in prayer throughout that day to help me feel better, and read some of these verses of scripture, and found comfort.
Christ Himself says to the people, in chapters 17 and 18:
“Bring them (the sick, deaf, blind, halt, leprous) hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you.”
Now, going back to that individual love that He has for us:
“And he did heal them, every one, as they were brought forth unto Him.”
After He said a prayer for the people so sacred that it couldn’t be written,
“He wept, and the multitude bear record of it, and He took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.”
Okay, one last verse, I promise. Christ later said:
“Behold, I know my sheep, and they are numbered.”
The next morning after feeling so sick the day before, I woke up and felt just like normal. That was huge for me. I know that this healing came only in and through the Lord. I know that He loves each of us, individually, personally, and perfectly, and He offers healing through “faith sufficient to make us whole”. I know that He wants to heal us and waits ready for us as we turn to Him.
Last thing on this topic. During our directed personal study on Sunday, and while I was reading these scriptures, I was listening to the Tabernacle Choir and the hymn “Consider the Lilies” came on, which might be my new favorite hymn. Not only is the music and melody beautiful, but the words are related to this topic of Christ’s love and healing, and were the exact words that I needed to hear. Here are the lyrics:
Consider the lilies of the field,
How they grow, how they grow.
Consider the birds in the sky,
How they fly, how they fly.He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the birds in the sky.
And He will feed those who trust Him,
and guide them with His eye.Consider the sheep of His fold,
How they follow where He leads.
Though the path may wind across the mountains,
He knows the meadows where they feed.He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the birds in the sky.
And He will feed those who trust Him, and guide them with His eye.Consider the sweet, tender children,
Who must suffer, on this earth.
The pains of all them He carried,
From the day of His birth.He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the lambs of His fold.
And He will Heal those who trust Him, and make their hearts as gold.He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the lambs of His fold.
And He will Heal those who trust Him, and make their hearts as gold.
That song just speaks to me exactly what I felt. If He cares for the lilies of the field and the birds of the sky, how much more does He love you, who He died to save? He will heal you and lead you home. Even if sometimes the path has downhill sections, steep climbs, and long winding turns away from your destination, as you trust in the Perfect Shepard, He will guide you home. I know that.
Well, this email turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. If you read all the way till here then I am dang impressed and sorry to take so much of your time!
I am thankful for each of you and for your love and support that I have felt here. I love you all, and I miss you all, and I appreciate all that you have done for me. That is all I got for you this week, hopefully you enjoyed something in it!
Los amo mucho a todos!!
-Noah 😀
Pictures!
