October 28, 2013

Hello family! 

First of all: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!! :D I hope you had an awesome birthday! I´ll send an email to you after I finish this. 

So we´ve had a bit of a rough week. Actually one of the worst I´ve had in my whole mission. We didn´t meet with a single one of our investigators this week. In fact we had 2 lessons total. Not so great. We just can´t get in touch with any of them. And we had a hard time finding people as well. We´ve been trying to focus on working more with the members again, which is slow, but worth it in the end. There are some really great people here and last night we met with a Peruvian family who were really excited about a new friend who has shown interest in the gospel, so that was really cool. We also met with a new kid, Valencia, who is really great. He has a lot of interest. The day after our first lesson the other elders saw him and talked with him for a minute and he had already read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon. We really want to meet with him again and meet his family. Yesterday we also met with the Bishop and he showed a lot of interest in helping out more with the work. He talked about a ward mission plan he is working on for next year and he gave the names of several less active members to visit. So there are some good things going on, we just have to have patience. I´ve been studying patience a lot this week. And I know the Lord will bless us with success if we endure our trials now. I know because I´ve seen it before. 

It´s been a little bit hard because I feel like it´s partly my fault we haven´t been meeting with our investigators. I think I may have already scared them away a little bit by focusing too much on baptism. The real issue was that I wanted them to get baptized for me not for them. I just wanted the number really. Which is scary for me. I need to relearn how to really love and serve my investigators. Luckly I have some great examples around me, and I´ve at least recognized that I need to change a lot. But that´s life. 

Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot of news for this week. A lot of time out walking in the rain and not feeling too productive. You asked about my companion, though. He is from Salt Lake City and he has been out for about 6 months now (same group as Kinghorn). So far we are getting along really well. We are pretty similar people and we have similar taste is music and movies and such, so we have an easy time finding stuff to talk about. Which is good, but sometimes I think we need to be a little more focused. He´s been doing some adjusting after his last area. But it´s a good thing. He said the other day that just the short time we´ve been together he´s learned a lot about how to have fun but still work hard. He said he was happy too and excited to work harder and be more obedient, so that´s good. I just feel bad we aren´t seeing the results just yet. 

Sorry I don´t want to sound depressing or anything like that! I´m fine, just waiting for things to get better. Stiff upper lip and all that, old man. Thanks so much for sending the package! I´m excited and I hope it gets here OK! That´s really bizarre what happened with it. For Christmas, let´s see. I could use some more socks (how lame is that :P) including maybe a pair or two of really warm ones to sleep in (it´s getting cold). I´ll let you know if I think of anything else. What you sent last year was great. Mainly useful stuff and maybe a few little fun things. 

Well not too much to share today, sorry this short. Hopefully next week I´ll have more to report. Please keep praying for our investigators and for me and my companion. I know it helps a ton! Thank you so much for all you do, for all your love. Take care, good luck with Halloween and have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Cousins

October 21, 2013

Happy P-day!

Hello everyone: family, friends, conocidos. So one week of this transfer is already gone. And it has been quite the week. I´m now the district leader here, so I´m getting used to that again and all the responsibilities of it. I actually really like being district leader. I feel so much closer to all the missionaries here and I like the chance to serve and pray for each of them. Especially since we have such amazing missionaries here! I really love our district right now and we seeing some incredible miracles here and a lot of baptisms. 

I also really like my new companion, Elder Weixler. We get along really well, and although we´ve had kind of a down week, things are going well. 

We didn´t have too many lessons this last week, but we did manage to get back in touch with all of our investigators during the course of the week! That was a miracle for me and an example of how the Lord tests our faith sometimes. We even found Mayte again! I spoke with the Young Women´s president and it turns out that she has been in touch with Mayte through Facebook all this time and that she had already invited her to come to an activity at the church on Saturday. She also went by and talked with Mayte´s dad, and he said that he didn´t have any problem with Mayte still coming to church. We saw her at the activity on Saturday and she came to church. We have a lesson with her tonight, so we´ll see how she has been and where to go from here.

I guess what you said is right Dad, that maybe we shouldn´t pressure people too much, at least not until we have helped them create the faith they need to be able to make such life changing desiciones. For example with Mayte, she isn´t quite ready to ask her dad again about baptism yet. I guess the reason I was getting discouraged is because we had set a goal of 4 baptisms this transfer, and I was trying so hard to have the perfect faith they are always drilling into us. I felt like 4 was what the Lord wanted from us so I just trusted that He would provide them, that if we worked hard we would get those 4. But I guess it´s important to remember that the people we teach also have their agency, that probably more important than my faith is the faith they have. Thanks for helping me to see things from the investigators´ point of view. It´s true that we get so caught up in everything that sometimes we forget how new and foreign this all is to them and really how big of a change it is. 

We met with Viki once this week and she is doing well, but she is really scared of getting baptized. We pushed pretty hard to still go for the 26th but she didn´t promise anything and she didn´t come to church so we can't baptize her on the 26th. But she is definitely going to get baptized. No doubt, just a matter of time. She is super good and she is growing a love for this gospel. She already is talking about inviting friends to listen as well. 

We finally talked to Arthur about meeting with him everyday and he said that he would talk with his sister (he watches the kids at her house) to see if we could come by. I feel like he is so close to breaking this addiction and being baptized. I feel like he just needs a little stronger desires, to give a little more importance to giving up smoking. We have a program we are going to try with him if he will commit to it. I´m also sure that Arthur will get baptized, just a matter of time. In the end though, I won´t care about how long it took or if I reached the goals of a certain month, I´ll just remember the faces of the people who accepted the Gospel and changed their lives. 

Beto is progressing little by little as well. At the end of a fairly long lesson we finally got him to commit to pray to know if this is the Lord´s church even though he doesn´t feel ready. We tried to help him understand that sometimes we have to have faith to act first before the Lord will tell us what´s right or wrong. We have to ask. He didn´t show up to church (-_-) but Patricia (his wife) said that he had prayed. So we are making progress. 

Please keep each of them in your prayers (Andrés as well). They need all the help they can get. Also pray for me to have more love for them. I appreciate your advice, and I think I see where I need to make a bit of an adjustment of focus. The people are the most important and they always will be. Thanks for helping me see that again. 

Also, if you could also keep Hermana Heims and Hermana Cabellero in your prayers this week, I would really appreciate it. They are going through something really difficult with one of their recent converts right now. This last week was really emotional. They are doing a lot better, but it´s still going to be rough for a while so pray for them. Thanks. 

Thanks for keeping me updated. It´s good to know that everyone is doing well back home. Be safe and be good. I love you all so much!! I can´t say it enough. Thanks for everything and have a great week!

Elder Cousins

October 14, 2013

Happy Monday! (That´s about all the break we get)

That´s nice you all had some time off, though. Don´t worry about the email mix up from last week. I totally understand. I was just surprised because it´s never happened before. 

It was so wonderful to see Bea and Kancho! I honestly don´t know too much about how the marriage thing works. They just tell me that they don´t have a date yet because of paperwork or something. But in March they will complete one year and be able to enter the temple! And I suppose be married there, right? I guess I don´t understand how it works. 

Currently we are working mainly with Viki and Arthur and Beto. Sadly we´ve lost touch with Mayte. Since she came to conference last weekend we haven´t spoken with her. She fired us 3 times and now won´t answer our calls or texts. I´m really worried. I don´t know what happened and since she asked us not to pass by because of her Dad, I´m not sure what to do. I think we´ll try going by sometime this week and after that, I guess it´s in the Lord´s hands, and we have to have faith that everything will turn out right. Sometimes that is hard though. 

We had an amazing, super spiritual lesson with Viki a few days ago. We invited her to be baptized the 26th of October. She was a little scared and hesitant, but promised to pray about it. Sadly we haven´t seen her since then. But I´m sure there is some reason. She is too well-prepared to disappear now. It is her time, she needs this gospel so badly and just needs to overcome her fear through faith. 

Beto we met with yesterday and had a very spiritual lesson with him and with a friend who has met with the missionaries before. We testified strongly about how baptism is the way to access the Atonement and invited both to be baptized. They both said they need to know more first, they need to get to know the church better.

I´m a little frustrated to be honest. I feel like we are so close with these people but we can´t quite get them to baptism. I feel like we are working so hard here, but we can´t catch a break. I don´t know. I just need to focus more and give even more. I know what we are doing is important even if we aren´t seeing baptisms right now. I guess it´s not for me to decide when the fruits come or who reaps them. In the end it's the Lord who does both, we are just tools in His hands. Sounds like I need to study humility and faith a bit more. I know miracles do happen and we will still get to the 4 baptisms of this month. 

Oh, one kind of sad story. We went and talked with Juan Carlos last week about our purpose as missionaries and what he expects of our visits (he has never progressed), and it was obvious that he just likes having us over as friends and that he really is not interested in our message. I tried so hard to bring the spirit and express to him how much this gospel means to me, but he would just change the subject every time to something else like work. It was so painful to see someone I care about reject what means the most to me in all the world. The mission isn´t all smiles and miracles, I guess. But his time will come. 

Thank you all for all your prayers and support. I can´t tell you how much it helps. I love you guys so, so much. Sorry if this email is a little down. I´m working hard to keep up the animo and I will. The Lord will bless us with success here, I´m sure of it. Thanks again for all you do. Be safe, have fun and be good!!

Elder Cousins

October 7, 2013

Hey everyone! 

I´ll right into the news for the week, though I´ll have to be a bit short again, sorry. We went to Segovia today and we´re running short on time. It was a great time though! We had beautiful weather and I got some great pictures and saw some parts of the castle I didn´t see the first time. 

Well the biggest news for the week is that Conference was amazing!! Did you guys love it? I´ve gained so much more appreciation for Conference since being out in the mission. It´s amazing how what they share is so relevant to our lives and how what they speak about continues to become more relevant as time goes on. For example, one of the Apostles said that The Living Christ would become more relevant in coming years and I felt impressed to make a note to study it because I would need it in the future. Any thoughts or goals from Conference for you guys? 

Also, we went down to the stake center in Pavones to watch it, so we were there all day on Sunday. And guess who I got to eat with in between sessions? Beatriz and Kancho! It was so awesome to see them again and be in their house again! It was such a special time to be with them again. They mean so much to me and I´m so happy that they are still doing good. They are receiving visits from a senior couple to prepare them to enter the temple at their one year mark (March!). Unfortunately still no date for the boda (the wedding). Also Kancho seems to be resisting receiving the Priesthood, I´m not sure why, but the missionaries are working with him and I´m not too worried. I know in the end he will do the right thing, even if sometimes it takes him awhile :) 

We also had a few investigators attend various sessions. We have 4 main investigators right now, or those who are progressing most. Mayte is doing better than ever. She came to two sessions of Conferene and loved it, but said some stuff she didn´t understand. In between sessions we took her on a tour of the temple grounds and explained why we have temples and what we do there. It was good. Sometimes it´s a little hard with her, because I´m not sure she´s paying very close attention to what we are saying. But she says she loves the church and has been praying about doubts she has and is feeling better, so that´s good. Unfortunately she does no want us to talk to her dad about her baptism. She feels it would be better to leave it for a time, until she is better prepared as well, and maybe he will see how happy she is here and let her be baptized.

Arthur also came to Conference and enjoyed it, although he thought we were going to actually see people talk, in person. Maybe we didn´t explain that very well. He is amazing and wants to be baptized so bad, but has trouble with smoking. We have challenged him to pray about being baptized by the end of the month, and he says he hasn´t received a direct answer, but he is warming up to the idea. We fasted with him yesterday to be able to leave behind all of his addictions. I know you pray for me and the people we teach, but PLEASE pray for Arthur. We are going to do everything we can to help him, but it is the prayers and faith of everyone that are going to cause a miracle in his life. Also, please keep praying for all of the people we teach. I know, know, know without a doubt that it makes a difference. I can feel it. Please don´t forget them in your prayers.

Viki is doing well although she didn´t show up to Conference. Her member friend went to get her and she wasn´t there. We´ll have to see this week, but she is wonderful. Also set a goal to get her baptized by the end of the month. We have a goal of 4 baptisms by the end of this month that we set in Zone Conference, so if you also want to pray for us that we can reach those goals, it wouldn´t go unappreciated.

Finally we have Beto, who has made a huge change since the strong lesson we had with him. In the last week he has read about 30 chapters in the Bible and bout 20 in the Book of Mormon. This is the man who would tell us week after week that he hadn´t read anything, that he didn´t have time. I´m so excited for him! He says he knows the Bible is the word of God so he is comparing the 2 to see if the Book of Mormon teaches the same thing. Which is great but we may need to focus on spiritual certainty a little bit there. In any case it is already helping his family. Their 10 year old daughter has noticed her father reading in the scriptures and mentioned to her mom how it makes her want to read more and be better too. :D 

That is all I have time for this week, I´ll try to take a bit more time next week to write more. Time, time, time. El enemigo de todos. I hope you all know how much I love you. It may be hard to feel through an email like this, but know that there are 2 things in this life that are most important to me and that I love more than anything else: this Gospel and my family. And I don´t plan on changing that ever. I love you with all my heart and am aware everyday of how much you each have blessed my life. I thank the Lord every day for the blessing of growing up in a family rooted in the truth and bound by love. I can never repay all that you have done and continue to do for me. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Thank you for your love. I love you.

Elder Cousins