Hola a todos! Espero que todos se encuentren muy bien :) I'm bored and I have time so I might write this email in english and then write it in spanish. I won't say I'll translate it, because it probably won't be exactly the same, or even related to what I said in inglés, but ya fue, no me importa jajaja.
Ok so what did we do this week? We had a pretty normal week in general, we went to Montelibano for pday, ate hamburgers at a member's house, and just walked around the town. The next day we had an intercambio. I went back to Planeta Rica with Elder Ponce and Elder Escalante stayed allá en Libnao with the district leader Elder Jameson. It was a good intercambio, I've only been in Planeta for about 3 weeks and during the intercambio only 2 weeks so we almost got lost twice but somehow we got through lol. The next day the other elders were going to come back to Planeta but on their way they had to pass through a paro or a protest. There were people burning things and blocking the road because they were mad. From what we understand, the peoples were mad because their houses were flooded. Apparently at this time it always rains a lot, they call it "winter" but it's more like a rainy season. ANYWAY, the people always build right next to the river because it's pretty there and it's a bit cheaper. The problem is that every year that area always floods. Every year the people "discover'' that indeed every single year without fail it does in fact flood and that just because they build a house there doesn't mean that the next year will be different. So they get mad, block roads, burn lots of things, and blame the government.
Someone in church this week talked a little about this situation and how we can relate it to the gospel. At times, in our life, it feels like we are in a flood. But the thing about floods is that you need to prepare for them before the flood gets there, not when the water reaches your knees. If we are strong in the church, serve faithfully in our calling, study the scriptures daily and try to apply them to our lives, pray in family and individually, find ways to serve others, etc.. we can be prepared before the flood comes. At times tho, we can get a bit more relaxed, we can say that we don’t need to read the scriptures today because we already read them yesterday and we don’t have time today. We lose that support and preparacion that we need. You start to relax and start building your house a bit closer to the river, and you don’t notice that the water is starting to rise. Because you were living in the world, you might not even realize that something is wrong, because the world’s standards are different from the standards of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The world will say that it’s normal if a little water seeps in from under the door, and then you realize that you need to change something when the water is already at your head.
OK so what else happened this week?
We extended another baptismal date this week so that's exciting, her name is Keila and her husband gets to baptize her! He got baptized about 8 months ago but she didn't feel ready to get baptized yet. But we have been working with her and now she feels ready! :)
That's all I have for this week, if I think of anything else important I'll add it next week :)
OH YA!!!
I bought a hammock :)
Ok that's it.
Elder Crenshaw :)
My attempt at speaking Spanish: I wrote almost all of this and then is got deleted :( so so this is a shorter version because I don't want to write all of that again.
Español: Escribí casi todo esto y luego se borró :( así que esta es una versión más corta porque no quiero escribir todo eso otra vez. Jaja
Tuvimos una semana normal en general, fuimos a Montelíbano para pday, comimos hamburguesas en la casa de un miembro y pasamos por algunas tiendas el el pueblo. Al día siguiente tuvimos un intercambio. Regresé a Planeta Rica con el élder Ponce y el élder Escalante y el élder Jameson se quedaron allá en Líbano. Fue un buen intercambio, solo he estado en Planeta por 3 semanas y casi nos perdimos dos veces pero todo salió bien jajaja. Al día siguiente los Élderes iban a volver a Planeta pero en el camino tuvieron que pasar por un paro o protesta. Había gente quemando cosas y arboles y bloqueando el camino porque estaban enojados porque sus casas se inundaron. La gente aquí siempre construye al lado del río porque allí es bonito y es un poco más barato. El problema es que cada año siemprw se inunda las casas y cada año las personas se enojan. Alguien en la iglesia ayer habló sobre los inundaciones y como son relacionados al evangelio. Sabemos las normas del evangelio y que va a pasar si construimos al lado del "río" pero la tierra es más barata, es bonito al lado del río, y muchas otras personas dicen que es normal. Entonces nos acostumbramos a vivir en el río. Y no entendemos cuando el río comienza a inundar. Decimos que todo está bien y que éste es normal. Y cuando llega a nuestras rodillas no entendemos como todo pasó. Si estamos preparados antes de que las inundaciones llegan, vamos a estar seguros.
Este semana entendemos otra fecha bautismal a Keila. Su esposo va a bautizarle. Él se bautizó hace como 8 meses y está muy emocionado que ella quiere bautizarse también.
Este es todo para hoy, compre una hamaca y probé salchipapa y Salvajada :)
Tengan una buen semana y nos vemos
Elder Crenshaw :)
