I love Fast Sunday!

Elder Albrethsen

Bella Union, Uruguay

Companion: Elder Miles

Lunes, 5 de deciembre 2011

 

I Love fast Sunday!  This week was awesome!!!!!!!!!  Throughout my mission I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to participate in some of the best fast Sundays of my life.  I never fully understood the purpose of fast Sunday till I came on the mish.  I always knew it was more than starving to death till Sunday dinner, but still the true blessings that come from being able to be more spiritually in tune and focused and not having to worry about the body for a full 24 hours and be completely spiritually focused is awesome!

These times of fasting are some of my moments in the mission that I cherish the most. The Lord has taught me a lot on the fast Sundays I’ve had since coming to South America.  The one yesterday was quite special due to a lot of the circumstances that have happened the last few weeks. Really, I’ve learned to develop a trust and confidence in God that I never had before the mission.  One of the hardest things to do is go without food for 24 hours when your body is using energy constantly as a missionary walking for miles on end, and to keep 100% focused!  It’s a real sacrifice and thinking how the Savior did it for 40 days.... wow, that’s a long time.  But fasting gives time to focus on what’s important and to be taught something new and learn from old experiences.

Gomensoro adventures . . . This week we decided to take almost a full day in Gomensoro. We had great success!  We only got turned down by two people! That was awesome!!!!! haha We made it into about 10 people’s houses to explain a few principles and extend the invite to come to church, which all accepted!!!! But unfortunately nobody came, haha a bummer really, but we keep our chin up. The Lord certainly guides us though.  We keep walking down random paths and going to out of the way places and we were accepted everywhere like a visa credit card. haha Nobody can deny money... just kidding.  We had a sack lunch, which is the first one I’ve made since the MTC and we were eating on a curb. haha It was awesome! I had bacon flavored rice with BBQ sauce... healthy, I know, haha but it was a great day.  This week will probably be our last week to go  (with changes coming up.)

The bishop explained to me about the people in this town. This week was lots of great work but still with the same problems—coming to church.  I recently was talking with the bishop and he explained something I never thought too much about. The people here have been stuck in their same routine for years and years and to make even the smallest of changes is like pulling teeth haha.  Most people here are Catholics. I wanted a Catholic mission (I hoped to go to Italy) but here I am in little Italy. (Uruguay had many Italian immigrants.) Funny though, that he explained it the way he did.  What we ask is for a person to change their whole lives almost and become someone entirely new (baptism...new life) but for them to wrap this concept around their brain and accept it takes a lot of faith.  

We see Baptist churches that allow parties and rock bands and shouting in random languages popping up here. People seem to flock quite well to them, but we have a few amazing investigators that I probably won’t see get baptized in my time here, but they will get baptized.  One of which is Elsa she is awesome!  She reads and has something new to comment about the Book of Mormón every time we come and loves asking great questions. She is about 65.  She has felt the Spirit and is doing all she can to attain a testimony—which has renewed my hope for this area haha. One great person, that’s all that is needed (like my dad has been telling me).

I thank you all for your prayers and support—thank you for everything!!!

The church is TRUE!

Love,

Elder Albrethsen

The Choice to Be Grateful

We all can make the choice to give thanks in prayer and to ask God for direction to serve others for Him--especially during this time of year when we celebrate the Savior's birth.
--President Henry B. Eyring 

First Presidency  (lds.org)