Transfer 11
Week 1
Guadalahara- Hermana

Hey hey!

How is everyone doing? I hooe that you jave all had a great week! I have. My first week here in guadalajara has been just great. It is really beautiful here. It is very spanish, and all of the trees are changing colors. It really reminds me of leon, excpet not as cold. It has been really cold here these last few days though. My companion is in a wheel chair because she twisted her ankle really bad about 3 months ago and tuen kept walking on it and ended up breaking some ligaments, etc. So she was commanded to not walk at all for 1 months. So this week we went to the doctor and he said that she can stsrt to walk like a little bit with 2 crutches for 2 weeks, and then with one crustch for 2 more weeks. So we will go to a phiscal therapist today sometime so she can stsrt phsical therapy. But its cool. I mean we cant go for long distances becauee let me tell you, GUADALAJARA is a remarkabley hilly place when you have to push a wheelchair all day, so we tend to plan out our routes really well, and take some buses but there arent really very many. So we are trying new and more creative ways to find new people, and do the lords work the best that we can. The ward here is really little but is totally awesome. There are about 50-60 active members here so we have a ward, but is small. Our bishop is awesome and iis from chile. Chileans are the best, and their flag is almost the same as the texas flag so we get along well. We are teaching some cool people. I mean most of the investagwotrs thst we have we wilk probabaly end up dropping beacuse they are not progressing but we are teaching a super sweet girl from india named gracy. We are also teaching a Mom, daugther, and son feom bulgaria. Get this... The moms name is Ratkah, and the daughters name is Latkah. So thats pretty cool. That is pretty much the low down out here. There is a lot of work to do here, and i know ane have confidence that the lord will help us out in every aspect. Im sure that i have already felt his hand helping me push the wheel chair when i couldent do it anymore. Well i was thinking about this cool little stoey and decided to share it with you all. I know the gospel has the power to change us, if we have the power to let it. Remember, that the lord does not wants us to change our behavior, but our nature. 

There is an old Jewish story about a soap maker who did not believe in God. One day, while walking with a rabbi, he said: "There is something I can not understand; we have had religion for thousands of years, but wherever you look there is evil, corruption, dishonesty, injustice, pain, hunger and violence. It seems that religion has not improved the world at all. So I ask him, what's the use? "

The rabbi did not respond for a while, but kept walking with the soap maker. Finally they approached a park where the children, covered with dust, played in the earth.

"There is something I do not understand," said the rabbi. "Look at those children; we have had soap for thousands of years, and yet those children are dirty. What good is the soap? "

The soap maker replied: "But Rabbi, it is not fair to blame the soap for those dirty children; the soap has to be used before it can achieve its purpose. "

The rabbi smiled and said, "Exactly."

Religion without action is like the soap that remains in the box; it may have wonderful potential, but it actually has little power to have any effect until it fulfills its purpose. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of action.

Transfer 10 Week 5

I'M GOING TO GUADALAJARA AS A SISTER TRAINING LEADER... 

Thats pretty much it. Also my companions name is Hermana Hazard. 

Also, CARIDAD IS GETTING BAPTIZED! 

Okay, thats really all that I have to say. 

Well also, we have just had a really bomb week. We have been teaching lots and lots of cool people. Our relationship with the ward has just been getting better and better. Actually for the first time in like a year, we had a really awesome and successful activity with the ward! We did a bunch of minute to win it games, and then we had a potluck where everyone had to bring the typical food from their country. It was literally off the hook! There was a ton of people who showed up. We brought Caridad and she loved it so much. It was just a really great way to end my time here in 7 palmas. So that is really cool. Also, nope, actually thats it. So I officially only have 10 more weeks. So not really ready to end my mission in 10 weeks, but, i have had a really great time being a missionary. I don't want to stop it. 

Also, this week I read a really great conference talk. I really loved it. I really feel like I should share it with you, so I hope that you like it. 

During the years I served as a stake president, I often would contact one of the bishops and invite him to prayerfully identify individuals or families we could visit together. Before traveling to a home, the bishop and I would kneel and petition our Heavenly Father for guidance and inspiration, for us and for the members with whom we would meet.

      Our visits were quite straightforward. We expressed love and appreciation for the opportunity to be in their home. We affirmed that we were servants of the Lord on His errand to their home. We indicated that we missed and needed them--and that they needed the blessings of the restored gospel. And at some point early in our conversation I often would ask a question like this: “Will you please help us understand why you are not actively participating in the blessings and programs of the Church?”

I made hundreds and hundreds of such visits. Each individual, each family, each home, and each answer was different. Over the years, however, I detected a common theme in many of the answers to my questions. Frequently responses like these were given:

      “Several years ago a man said something in Sunday School that offended me, and I have not been back since.”

      “No one in this branch greeted or reached out to me. I felt like an outsider. I was hurt by the unfriendliness of this branch.”

      “I did not agree with the counsel the bishop gave me. I will not step foot in that building again as long as he is serving in that position.”

      Many other causes of offense were cited--from doctrinal differences among adults to taunting, teasing, and excluding by youth. But the recurring theme was: “I was offended by …”

      The bishop and I would listen intently and sincerely. One of us might next ask about their conversion to and testimony of the restored gospel. As we talked, eyes often were moist with tears as these good people recalled the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost and described their prior spiritual experiences. Most of the “less-active” people I have ever visited had a discernible and tender testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. However, they were not presently participating in Church activities and meetings.

And then I would say something like this. “Let me make sure I understand what has happened to you. Because someone at church offended you, you have not been blessed by the ordinance of the sacrament. You have withdrawn yourself from the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Because someone at church offended you, you have cut yourself off from priesthood ordinances and the holy temple. You have discontinued your opportunity to serve others and to learn and grow. And you are leaving barriers that will impede the spiritual progress of your children, your children’s children, and the generations that will follow.” Many times people would think for a moment and then respond: “I have never thought about it that way.”

      The bishop and I would then extend an invitation: “Dear friend, we are here today to counsel you that the time to stop being offended is now. Not only do we need you, but you need the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Please come back--now.”

      Choose Not to Be Offended

Transfer 10 Week 5

Well! 

This week has come and gone so fast. I feel like I alwaus say that, but it's because it's always true.  Well we have had an amazing week. We are teaching some super cool people, that are reallt progressing and really have true desires to be baptized. I will give you the low down about them. 

Well the first one is this super sweet older lady from cuba, named Caridad. We just call her mama cari. She truly wants to follow christ, and be part of his church. She told us that she would like to be baptized. So this week we have taught her a few times and she is just progressing realky well. She has changed. I can feel it every time I go over, that heavenly father is changing her becuase she is letting him. Its amazing, and I know that she can feel it too. So like I said, she is from cuba, visiting for a little while with her son but will return to ciba soon. So she will be one of the first memebers of the church in cuba. So because there are only 2 church buildings in all of cuba, both of them being in the capital, we are going to get in contact with the missionairws of cuba and see if they can go to her town and start baptizing people. Its cool. She has a baptismal date for October 28th. 

The other one is a sweet girl from Nigeria. Her name is blesing, and she has a 1 year old son named Michael. She is super great and really has desires to do the right thing for herself, and her son. So she has come to chruch the last 2 sundays and has a baptismal date for the 28th of October. 

So, those are the 2 people who are really progressing and will be baptized. Apart from that we are teaching some pretty great people, but we are trying to find more. That is our focus for this next week; Finding. Also! We are doing this thing with our zone. We are playing BINGO, missionary style, to find more poeple and work with members. So we have been doing that, and if everyone in our zone gets bingo, except for the zone leaders and stl's then they have to do the Ice bucket challenge. But is somemone doesnt get it and they do then we all have to do it. So we are pretty motivated. I'll attach a picture. 

Well in other news, I am officially 21. Eww. I had a grear birthday, and thank you al so much for the kindess and love. I felt it all. My companion made me doughnuts, with maple frosting. #Blessed. She also taught me how-to make bread. Also I died somebodies hair this week. It turned out good I think. 

We just had a great week. I feel like with everyday closer to the end, I just grow to love the Mission more, and love the people more and more. Also, this is an excerpt from the Riccardi letter that I absolutely love, and have been pondering about this week. I have been trying to put it into practice. Do it too! 

Facing Rejection:

 Which  brings  me  to  this  critical  point.  I  can  honestly  say  that  one  of  the  most  valuable  lessons  I  learned  from Ricciardi was  the  importance  of  viewing rejection  as  positive.  Yea,  sounds  crazy  huh?  Take  a  minute and  look through  his  eyes  for  a  moment.  He  believed  that  when  we  were  experiencing  rejection,  it  was an  opportunity  to prove  our  commitment  to  the  Lord.  He  felt  that  it  was  an  opportunity  to  prove  to  the  person  rejecting  our  message that  we  are  truly  servants  of  the  Lord.    It's  amazing the  effect  it  has to  smile  at  someone  who  is  being  rude  to  you, perhaps  even  yelling and  cursing at  you,  making fun  of  you  and  then  respond  like  Ricciardi  and  say  "sorry  to  upset you,  please  have  a  nice  day,  if  missionaries  come  by  someday  in  the  future  please  don't  be  mad,  give  them  a chance".    I  would  get  angry  during one  of  these  confrontations  and  as  a  young "don't  know  much"  missionary  let my temper  get  the  best  of  me  and  say  "you  shut  your  mouth"  or  “come  out  here  and  get  me  off  your  porch”  (sad to  say  I  actually  did  say  that  once…or  twice).  To  be  honest,  in  my  early,  immature  first  few  weeks,  fighting back made me  feel better.  It  didn't  take long to  realize  that  it  would  be  a  very  long 2  years  if I  spent  it  telling  mean people  that  they  are  ignorant  and  to  shut  up.  When  I  would  say  to  Ricciardi,  "why  did  you  apologize to  that  jerk" he  would  say  "because  it  makes  me  feel happier".  He  understood  that  happiness  is  truly  a  choice,  not  a  random event.  He  believed  that  rejection  of  any  kind  was  a  sure sign  of  the  FACT  that  God  lives,  and  was  an  affirmation  of the  rightness  of  our  mission.   One thing I  remember  vividly  about  Ricciardi was  his  ability  to  not  let  things  get  him  down  or  upset.   In  fact,  on  the more  difficult  days  (and  you  know  there  are  always  plenty  of  those),  he  smiled  and  laughed  more.   On  those particular  days  I  found  his  extra  dose  of  "happy  smiling Elder"  annoying.   Yet  again  he  would  prove  its  value  to  me.   He would  say  “Elder  Humphrey,  I  know  we  are  in  tune  with  the  Lord,  because  He  sent  us  to  a  neighborhood  where no  one  wants  to  listen,  and  they  are  mean  and  confrontational.   When  I  am  prayerfully  led  to  these  kind  of situations,  it  confirms  we  are  being led  by  the  spirit  because  Our  Father  knows  how  bad  this  neighborhood  was going to  be,  and  expected  us  to  leave  20 houses  ago.   Yet  here  we  are!!!   This  is  awesome!!!”   (By  the  way, Ricciardi’s  favorite  American  word  was  “awesome”).   It  was  this  kind  of  talk  that  led  me  to  conclude  that something was  either  not  normal  with  my  Italian  compadre  OR he  was  one  of  the  three  Nephites.   After seeing how,  and  what  he  would  eat,  I  eliminated  the  “three  Nephites"  theory.   When I  was  in  high  school,  I  worked  at  a  golf  course.   I  became  friends  with  the  assistant  pro  and  he  started  to  give me free  lessons.   I  quit  after about  10 lessons  for  one  simple  reason:   I  was  frustrated  by  the  55  things  you  have  to think  about  almost  simultaneously  in  order  to  have  a  good  swing.   The  club  pro  finally  advised  me  to  stop  taking lessons,  go  play  and  do  one  thing for  him,  just  swing,  swing,  swing.    That’s  it.   Do  not  give  any  care  as to  where  the ball  goes,  just  swing.   He  told  me  “Danny,  you  will enjoy  golf better  by  just  swinging”.   The  same  applies  to missionary  work.   Ricciardi saw  the  mission  experience  as  incredibly  simple.  He  understood  that  his  mission  was  to  speak  to  as  many people  as  possible  and  that  was  it.   Yes,  there’s  a  lot  more to  it  than  that,  but  a  mission  is  nothing without  talking.  He would  tell me  “stop  worrying about  what  you’re  saying,  just  open  your  mouth  and  say  something”.   I  took  that advice  to  mean  the  Lord  would  always  fill  my  mouth  with  exactly  what  to  say.    Truth  is,  I  said  some  pretty  stupid things,  offended  people  many  times  (mostly  accidental of  course).   But  I  began  to  enjoy  missionary  work  when  I concentrated  on  getting out  the  door  and  opening my  mouth.   Like the  golf  pro  said  "just  go  out  and  swing." 

1. Me and wihongi.

2. Me and wihongi again. 

3. Sushie we ate at an all you can eat buffet. 

4. The carrot. 

5. A free pizza we got from Dominoes becuase they took to long. 

6. A pretty view from luis's house. 

7. Viva brasil!

8. Birthday pizza. (Not free this time.)

9. Doughnuts.

10. 21...

Transfer 10 Week 4

Well hello. 

I love general conference, especially on the mission. I always feel spiritually protected from evil and temptation. I feel like a sheild of light gets formed around me as I listen to the words, and feel the spirit prick my heart. It is truly amazing. I loved many of the talks,  and testimonies of the leaders, and felt strongly the presence of the savior. That was dwfinily the highlight of my week. 

Well, basically this week we worked really hard. We taught lots of good people about the savior and anytime you get the oppoutrtunity to do that, its just great. I also got really sick. So ww went on monday to play wiffle ball with the district and the next day, I startwd to get a little bit of a head cold, but I thought it would be fine or go away. False. So I proceeded to get a littlw worse on Wednesday, and then on thrusday, I got a really bad fever, and had the chills, etc. So all of the me really getting sick stuffed happend while we were at the relief society presidents ouse, so then she gave me some medicine, and made mw go home and "rest". So I did as I was commanded, and took the rest of thursday and rested, and THEN Friday I was a lot better. I am still super congested but good to go now. So that was kind of lame, but sickness is just weakness leaving the body, right? So tchnically speaking I am stronger now than I was on Monday. Physically and spiritually.... 

Well not much has changed. We did decide on what we are going to do in our ward to get them pumped up! So we are goingnto have a Book of Mormon week. We are making a book of mormon video, like the "pass the pineapple" video from physch. So it will be cool, because now that we have facebook we want to stsrt using it to peak peoples interest in learning more about he gospel, etc. So I am really pumped for that. 

Well as many of you know, I will be having a birthday here pretty quick. I will officially be able to buy achohol in the untied states, and.... Well, Oh I can have a normal drivers license, right? Well I just have one wish for my birthday. I wish that all of you could go and find one person this week who is alone, sad, depressed, stressed out,  or burnt out and give them 10 minutes of your time. Listen if they need you to listen. Talk if they need you to talk, but just try your best to be the pwrson that that person needs. Will you do that? All I want is for you to do that, and to send me your stories of how you felt afterwards. Okay? 

Well I just have a cook story/talk from my friends mom. So... 

When we first got to the falls, there was a mother bear fishing the falls with her cubs.  She is Bear 171 to be specific (all of the adult bears are numbered by the rangers where possible). This mama is an incredible fisherman.  She was getting three fish for every one caught by the large, adult males at the falls.  This lady just knew how to hustle and get the job done.  She knew that her days at the falls were numbered, because once the REALLY big bears arrive, it's too dangerous to have cubs around (sometimes larger males will kill and eat bear cubs).  So Bear 171 was really focused on teaching those cubs how to fish and she felt the urgency of her task.  One day, she had caught 8 or 9 fish and the cubs were happy and well fed, and they wandered out of the river and climbed a nearby tree where they played around.  Bear 171 was so focused on fishing that it took her a moment to notice they were gone.  You should have seen the action when she turned around and realized her cubs were no longer at her side. That bear SPRINTED for the shore, and when she saw those cubs goofing off in a tree, she went to the base of it and growled LOUDLY up the tree.  Who knows what she said in bear language, but I'll tell you that within 10 seconds those cubs had RACED down the tree and were back in the river at their mother's side, watching her every move.  I'm calling this lesson, "GET OUT OF THE TREES, and INTO THE RIVER." Those bears have a small window of time when they can learn to fish, a skill necessary for their survival.  Their mother knew it, and she made sure they were in that water. 

So, the application? We all have trees in our lives, things that are fun, things that are entertaining and possibly distract us from the task at hand. But the RIVER is the LIVING WATER of the Gospel.  We need to remember to come out of the trees and get into the river.  It takes patience to sit in the river and wait for a fish.  It takes diligence and hard work and discipline.  But learning how to be fed and nourished in living water is the thing we MOST need in this life.  So when the salmon are running, we need to be there to learn and to fish.  I would say for you Elders, THE SALMON ARE RUNNING.  Your mission is the time to be fully immersed in the river.  The bear cubs can only stand in shallow water or they will be washed downstream, but as they learn and grow, they are eventually able to stand in the deep pools of water where the most fish are gathered.  You are no longer bear cubs.  You are learning to fish the deep waters.  Be obedient to your mission presidents.  For this time, STAY out of the trees and IN the river.  As you do so, you will always be blessed.