Be Thou an Example: Help, They think I'm a Superstar!

June 24, 2013

Sooo this week has a lot of stories! Unfortunately there arent a ton of really spiritual ones...but hey dont worry, we are still on a mission here haha so its not like there arent spiritual things too. We will get there, but firstttt the stories!!

So on Thursday we are sitting in our house and hear the old familiar call of "joven!" which means like youth in spanish and if you are like 5 years older than someone, you instantly get the right to call them joven haha so we hear it and its our next door neighbors. So Elder P is like yah this is def your turn bro haha so i get up and the lady next door is like hey....if i gave you a guitar would you play it? and im like ummmm YESSSS haha well i said Claro que Si but thats what it means haha and she straight up hands me a guitar adn says she has heard us(me) singing and thinks it would sound really good with a guitar in there too! And im like wait....are you saying i need it orrrr haha nah i was like thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou and went back inside with a guitar!! So the thing here is that ive been refusing to buy a guitar on the mission. They are cheap but i felt like that was something i gave up to come on the mission. But everyone keeps telling me i should write a christian song and i wanted to buttttt no guitar. But apparently im supposed to write one haha cause God provided me with a guitar! Soooo hopefully i will get something sick going.

Okay, even more rediculous story- So we are at a members house doing a baptismal interview for a different area. But heres the thing. One of the Elders in our district found out that i had songs on youtube (I swear i didnt tell him) haha but him and the other district Elders were singing my songs and then they asked the members if they had a guitar adn i was like noooooo. But they did and they brought it out and i started playing it and singing and the other Elders were singing along with me and Elder P was adding all the "add libs" that go to the song Over You....but then heres where things get outtt of hand haha So they are all singing and im playing....but then the family is like how do you all know his songs and they are like cause he is super famous in the United States! He is on the radio and everything! And then they were like wait really? And they pulled up youtube on their TV and started playing my songs and when the family saw the album cover they were like yo thats him!! and then they started freeking out adn taking pictures hahahahah it was sooo funny. They were like can you sign something for us! and then the dad who is getting baptized asked me to sing at his baptism hahaha so needless to say things escalated very quickly haha but it was soo fun and then we told them im not famous and they realized they had overexagerated a bit but they were still stoked that i had written songs and i had recorded them. But it was fun to be a superstar for a seconddd haha

Elder A gave me this tie just for being awesome!

So now for the spiritual part of the email. As you all know, this week we were able to see the broadcast on the missionary work and it was very enlightening. But what you DONT know is how it applies directly to Elder Parrish and me right nowww. So this week we have been fasting, working, searching, asking, and even begging for new investigators. We are sooo hopelessly out of progressing investigators its rediculous. Sooo we have been trying sooo hard to get more investigators. But then a line in the broadcast really touched me in a way i believe was revelation. When Neil L. Anderson was telling the stories of all the converts and less active members he shared a story about a bishop of one of the wards was concerned about their baptisms and investigators and he realized something that i think applies so directly to Elder P and I. He said, "The Lord will not bless us with new converts until we take care of the members we already have." I realized that we have been visiting less actives more these past weeks because we werent so caught up in investigators. Clearly thats what the Lord intended for us. So instead of looking for new investigators, we are going to try and focus on helping the less active members of the ward first. It makes me think of how concerned the Lord must be for every one of his children. Those who have already been adopted into his gospel family are JUST as important as the people who are looking for the truth. With the new push for helping the missionaries I just wanted to remind everyone that investigators and sharing the message of the gospel with your friends who arent members is sooo important....but equally important are those people who are already in the fold and have strayed. Look for ways to help less active members and I will promise you that you will not only be blessed for your efforts but you will find more sucess with sharing the gospel with your friends and neighbors.