COSAS RARAS Y COSAS BUENAS
Dear everyone I love,
I have seen some pretty interesting things happen this week, that one
might say are "Journal-entry-worthy." In a mission, you are
CONSTANTLY learning, failing, growing, improving, laughing, and just
plain seeing wierd stuff. I think that the last one and the
"learning" are what have happened to me more than anything this week.
And although some of these things may have caused a little bit of hard
work, weird feelings, or just moments that I´d rather not relive, I
think that they will prove to be for your own personal entertainment.
So, more than anything, I guess that´s why I´m writing them! Haha!
First off, the work IS going really well, so that should be good news.
We have a man that is progressing quite well and wants to get
baptised. His name is José Miguel, and he is a very well-spoken,
educated, and good man. The thing is that he ALSO happens to be a
chatter box. When I first met him, he performed the super-human act
of breaking the record of what I have seen on my mission (and quite
possibly in all humanity) of speaking for AN HOUR AND A HALF WITHOUT
TAKING A BREATH. I was the first one to respond to his... uh
commentary... story... lecture, or whatever it was, and then he did it
again for
another HOUR. However, it was VERY important to listen to
him so that we could resolve his doubts. He is a very good man, and I
have great hopes for him.
Well, the first thing that I´d like to mention is a contact that I had
early in the week. We was a very content fellow. Very content. He
seemed to be quite interested in the
gospel of Jesus Christ, so I
taught him a little bit. I dropped my pen, and then he kind of
awkwardly gave it to me... ok... Then I taught him more. He was very
attentive. He then wanted asked me if I was from Brazil and bunch of
other questions. Normal...ish. And then when we parted, he shook my
hand... and he shook it... and he shook it... and that´s when I
realized that it wasn´t exactly the gospel that he was interested
in... BUT he doesn´t live in my area, so hopefully he´ll find the
true happiness of the gospel with the other missionaries.
Gosh dang it, I don´t have time to tell yall everything that I want too.
But, one of the MAIN things
that has happened this week, was being
with my companion Elder Villa. Quite honestly, if you had asked me to
describe him the first day that I was with him, I probably wouldn´t
have said some nice things... HOWEVER, I am completely honest when I
tell you that that has changed completely. Why? Did he change? Did
you get a new companion? No. One word. Patience. What is patience?
Very good, you return missionaries, it´s a Christlike attribute. But
how do we really do with it? Elder Montoya, my last companion and a
very good friend of mine, taught me quite a lot about this principle.
I´m telling you, he was SUCH a good friend and example to me, but he
was DIRECT with me. The second week with him he litterally said
"Elder Hutchinson, you
are a very impatient person." (I´m still not
completely in agreement with that, but) In that moment I almost
exploded, until I realized that THAT itself would be impatient itself.
I then told him that he, aside from my parents, was the first person
in my life to ever tell me that. And from there on, I kept on
practicing. When we aren´t patient with our companions, co-workers,
spouses, friends, investigators-- you name it-- we can´t learn from
them, and it´s too hard to develope love for them. And because of
what Christ has taught me through his example, I´ve learned SO MUCH
from Elder Villa too. We can learn something from EVERYONE.
Gotta rush!!
Untill Next week!
Love
Elder Christian Patrick Hutchinson
