Sunday, November 20, 2016

E-mail 16: October 31, 2016. "Christ's Atonement Helps Us Change".

Well this week was definitely one of the harder weeks. But it was also way good as well. There are definitely a lot of emotions here on the mission. This week we had a lot of meetings in Bogota, so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in our area. I had the opportunity to do intercambios in Soacha, a part in Bogota, and it was awesome. We had such a good day with a lot of citas. It was kinda interesting, the first time we walked out of the apartment to go contacting a little kid said, "Look! a gringo."  But it was way fun day. My companion was awesome and it was fun to be in a different area.
 
Now for the hard part, we didn't have any progressing investigators this week. We had one lady come to church, but she left halfway through cause she didn't like it. And then all the investigators that said they would come ended up leaving for Bogota. It was way frustrating because now we don't have anyone progressing towards baptism. But I learned an important lesson, when I was really frustrated and depressed, I was able to use the power of the Atonement in my life. The Atonement was made for us to change. It helped me change my attitude, that I need to become a better teacher, and also find more people to teach. I am grateful for the Atonement of my Savior that I can change. We also hardly had any lessons with investigators, but we have awesome members who gave  us great references, and we have a very good schedule lined up to find new investigators. I am way excited for the next semana. I know the Lord is always there to support us when we are down, if we will only turn to Him and humble our hearts.

I love you guys so much.  Thank you for being my friends, and better yet, my teachers. I have seen so many influences in my life that have prepared me for this moment, this glorious opportunity to serve the Lord and help others experience the marvelous change it brings. I hope all of you have a great week.  Thank you for your prayers.

With all my love 

Elder Parson

Picture is of the intercambios
 Hiking on P-day
 An interesting tree that we hiked to called the "arbole de las ventanas"