March 23, 2015 -- 0 to 12 in One Week

Well, this week we went from 0 people with baptismal dates to 12. No one went to church because we had stake conference, and everyone was afraid of a gathering like that.

Things that have been reaffirmed in my mind right now:

1) There is no growth in a comfort zone, and there is no comfort in a growth zone. We offer higher knowledge and understanding. Many people reject this because it does not fit into their established world bubble.

2) People create their own version of truth. People have a tendency to believe want they want to believe. They convince themselves of the truthfulness of things with constant repetition and `logic`, which consists of whatever thing gives credence to what they want to believe, and that which refutes it they discard as rubbish. (You can see this in little kids, too. When they decide a toy is theirs and they are not going to share, they use the possessive. My truck. My toy. My barbie. When someone with higher knowledge comes along and refutes this knowledge--the parent--and says it belongs to them or a sibling, the child can react in one of two ways. They have entered a crisis. Basic truths of their personal universe have just been challenged, and proved wrong. There are therefore two options, accept or reject. Most reject. Once again they convince themselves the toy is theirs. Some will go into the fetal position and repeat the following: ``My toy. My toy. My toy.`` until they believe it. Rejection. Some will become angry and refuse to listen. Rejection. Some will get violent and fight against the truth and whoever said it. Rejection. Some, will say, "ok, this is not my toy, so what do I need to do then? Acceptance.) The ones who reach acceptance are the ones who repent and who change. I have realized that I only have 2 years here and do not have time to waste on people who refuse to hear. Those who see shall choose to be blind and those who hear shall choose to be deaf. Jesus said something to that feeling, but I do not remember how it was worded.

3)People believe want they want to believe. This world is set up very ingeniously. We are encouraged to believe falsehoods. Anyone who says differently is encouraged to do so. The basic norms of society are nonexistent. People create their own churches, religions, whatever they want. (For more information on this; please see info about the church of the giant flying spaghetti monster.) Anyone who speaks out is seen as offensive, behind the times, and basically an enemy. And why? Because Satan wants us confused. He wants us to use our free will (which he didn't want in the first place) to put us in a position worse than his. I am not the judge, but I imagine that outer darkness will be infinitely many times worse for those of us who receive bodies than for those who did not keep their first estate. Many choose to discount what we bring as of no importance. Cast not your pearls before swine, lest they trod them underfoot and turn again, and rend thee (more or less the quote, this is difficult translating from Spanish to English).

4)There are battles you cannot win. We are all going to die. Likewise, certain people would rather die than accept the minimalist belief in what we preach. I accept that. It is accepted. The lord does not waste resources on people who are unreachable. Jesus never said a word to Herod. Likewise, missionaries can not waste the lord`s time talking to people who repeatedly refuse him and his truths.

We walked to presidentes, which takes about 2 1/2 hours in the middle of nowhere, but we did it.

I have now officially been spit upon. Many of the rejections I received this week were stronger than those in the past. It is rather amazing how violent some people choose to be when two missionaries show up at their door and offer to help them with household chores. That I was not expecting. One of these told me he will never have time to hear us, and he was a baptized member that we wanted to visit to figure out why his family is not going to church.

The Paz Martinez family got married legally for our efforts to help them. Unfortunately, that is all we could accomplish it seems. The brother rejected us, and will not deign to see our faces or talk to us. The sister is confused now, and we are going to see if she prays in order to know if she needs to be baptized in the church like she wanted to. So, maybe I could not baptize them, but we helped get them married.

We provided service for a normal woman in the street--cleaned up her yard. Afterward, she gave us Little Debbies chocolate brownies and showed us the pool where her husband baptizes people during the summer. We also cut down a tree with a machete. The brother and sister are inactive members (more than 20 years) are not married, and we are going to teach the kids to see if they want to be baptized.

My time here is very interesting. I hope to be able to relate more good news next time.

Love,
Elder Scott

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,
Elder Scott

March 16, 2015 -- No Time

No my camera didn`t break, it was the cord, but I have yet to find a replacement (the head is really strange). So I still have photos, but I am unable to send them.

I am now in one of those suffering stages. The Paz Martinez family dropped us the day of the interview of the daughter for her baptism because some other missionaries showed up at their house and preached to the brother things he wanted to hear: that getting baptized again is a sin, the Mormons are from the devil, it is not a commandment to get married and you don't have to do so because in Gods eyes you are married,etc.

Also, I cannot walk well right now because I have an intestinal issue that I am taking medication for. Well, I can walk, it just isn`t comfortable. Everything went wrong the same day this week, and until now it hasn`t gotten better. Sure hope it does.

I have also learned that you have to be incredibly blunt with most people or they do not understand, which stinks because I feel like a jerk a lot, but it is stuff they need to hear and understand. It is the best way to help them grow.

I cannot believe how normal lieing is; we get lied to all of the time. It makes me feel sick. Right now I just feel exasperated. All the good intentions in the world cannot lead to salvation because you have to actually follow Christ in your daily life to be like him not just do him lip service once. Apparently that is a foreign concept. You`d think people would understand. Back to work then...

My answer to an atheist:

Faith is a gift I have yet to receive.... hmmm. Well, first: Is it something he would like to have? Does he want to have faith or to be an atheist? If you want to be an atheist, you do not want to recieve faith, and we reject all gifts we do not want. (people are mean like that) If, however small the desire you would like to know there is a god, well I have good news! You can know! Religion is based on a couple of principles.

1) The written word. In this case the bible and the Book of Mormon. If those books were written because someone with more power told the writers to write them, well great. This is also the case for textbooks, whatever type of written document for the accumulation of knowledge. And so we arrive at 

2)There is a God. Faith is believing in absolutely whatever thing. That some event or individual or group of persons more powerful than we as humans understand is the cause for the reason we are here. Atheism does not make sense. Believing in the big bang theory: faith in science and the power of the human mind. That there is an order to all things. Action-reaction. Believing in god(s): faith that a being (or beings) with infinite power caused you (an infintesimaly small individual in the scheme of things) to be created for a purpose wether that be a)salvation (god is our father, wants us to go to heaven) b)continuation (gods created us, and we are here to amuse them and maybe if they want to they will put us in a good place when we die (greeks-romans) c) negation (we are here to progress to a point of nothingness and ultimate peace for this, otherwise known as reincarnation) or any other number of things (i will not include here because I do not know everything, sorry).

3)There are messengers. People, specially chosen for some type of characteristic (not important, be it brains, brawn, humility, etc.) Transmit knowledge to others. Prophets give us knowledge of what god wants us to know. Proffesors give us knowledge of math, whatever subject in school you may find. They have a special relationship with what they preach. They learn about it, and they are more qualified than you are to explain what it is. Please prove to me that 2+2=4 without using any equations or gestures, whatsoever type of helps you can find. Go on. I am waiting. The person who figured that out had to have studied a ton, had to have a reason behind why he came to this conclusion.  Ok, great. Maybe, on the off chance you can prove that, please imagine that I have never tasted salt, and describe to me how it tastes. Can you do that? Well, these points lead up to 

4) There are many things that are unprovable. Or unexplainable. With our limited knowledge we are unable to explain things very simple to others if they have not knowledge of these things. We need a base, a comparison. And there are some things we just take on faith. Wind for instance. Does it exist? Are you sure? Why?I cannot see it, therefore it does not exist right? No. Faith is to believe in things which are true, which are not seen. Like the wind, there is a force that helps us to know things that are true.

5)The holy ghost. Religiously speaking of course. For science it would be reason. A force that tells us what is possible, how we can prove it. It provides reassurance of the answers we have already found. We have to have faith that there is a reason. If we do not have reason, well life has no purpose huh? So, broadly, and probably very offensively speaking, whatever person who professes to be an atheist is lieing to themselves. If this person really didn`t believe in something more than him, He would not waste his time inviting others to argue with him about theology. He would come to a decision. If there is no purpose to this life, well why live? 

6)hope. Religion provides hope. Without a hope, there really is absolutely no reason to do anything. Might as well just sit and wait to die. If you do not believe in something, this life is all you have, and nothing you ever do will fill the void of emptiness you carry with you. To accept that there is a god is to accept happiness. The hope of a better tomorrow. That someday, somehow, everything will be better. And it is free. Pray about it. I don`t care if you still say you do not believe in a god. Tell him that, because if you didn`t believe in him you wouldn`t waste your time talking about him and belittling those who do, there would be no point. Pray to him and ask him to tell you he is there. Ask him to send his spirit to comfort you. Go to church. Try to want to know. Other than that, there really isn`t much to be said. Good Luck. I hope at some point you can accept this wonderful truth. He is waiting for you to do so. Know that even if you do not love him, he loves you.

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,

Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,

Elder Scott

March 9, 2015 -- baptizing Cesar

Well, I baptized Cesar Saturday. It was really something. He is the single most spiritually prepared person I have ever met. He teaches the lessons Sundays sometimes from his seat. Also he already received the Aaronic priesthood. He's already a priest. He sure does move fast!

So, my 4th companion Elder Hancock does work. It is good. He is from Utah. He is a pretty serious type guy. But he plays the piano very very well.

I literally have nothing to say. My life is kind of boring. We do contacts all day, and every once in a while we get a lesson and baptize those who are ready -Cesar- and that is really it.

Oh. We are now teaching a sister who has a partner (not spouse) who is an excommunicated returned (full time) missionary. Those lessons are very interesting. He cannot say anything during the lesson due to his status (which his partner doesn´t know about), and he talks using hand motions and omits words that are harsher and in place makes squeak noises. He feels very off, but he is a nice person. The sister is very hard to explain to. We cannot get the spirit into the lesson due to the presence of the brother (cannot visit without him) and that makes things difficult.

Cambios would be transfers.

And I really have nothing else to talk about. It is work, and it isn`t all that interesting. Usually the people reject us outright, refuse to answer when we talk to them, or lead us on hoping but never do what we ask them to. You get desensitized. Yeah. Sad.

But I can keep hoping. There are people like Cesar who really want to know out there. This I know. I just have to find them.

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,
Elder Scott

March 2, 2015 -- Cambios

I do not remember that word in English, but it means new companions. I will be with Elder Hancock, who I have yet to meet, and we will be running like mad on lessons so that Cesar can get baptized Saturday. Hope we make it.

It was was nice being with Elder Phelps, and now I am going to be with another gringo. "Hancock" sounds pretty gringo to me at least.

We are going to have to start over on investigators basically. We figured out that those we were visiting were in love with Elder Phelps and do not want to come to church or progress if he won´t be there. That seems to be a pretty common thing, actually. The Paz Martinez family still wants to get baptized, which is good; we just have to get them married, and yeah. Woo!

Cesar had to drive a Narc around for 5 hours on Sunday; the guy showed up at his house and ordered him (stoned and drunk) to take him places, nowhere in particular, just around the city. His daughter is not married to her boyfriend (she is 15, he 18), and she also is not legally the daughter of her father due to her parents never being married. So marrying them against their will is impossible. We are working on how we can help them with that. His son (6) has the same story book game of the Disney movies that we had and played with a lot. We explained a bunch of things to them--namely much of the Law of Chastit--and we gave them The Family: A Proclamation To The World.

Life is really complicated for some reason right now.

Thats is all the time I have. Bye!

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,
Elder Scott