Elder Aaron Peterson: Week 16

This past week has been good. We went on companion exchanges with some jovenes about half the time. Due to how things work out, Elder F. will stay here in Honduras for at least another month. We will be able to get a whole lot of extra work done with his help. I'm beginning to learn while being a senior companion and working to the best of my ability. I am learning that being a good missionary is a lot harder than I thought.

At times it can be very dissapointing and frustrating when things don't go how you wanted or expected, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve the people here. It's difficult, but I'm learning a lot. Meeting random people, starting a conversation with them, convincing them to listen to a message they've never heard (and that this message will bless them and their families), teaching that message well, and leaving an invitation to pray, read, and go to church isn't very easy, especially in a different language! I learned that without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to teach. A general authority said that two minutes of the spirit is worth more than two hours of men speaking. This is so true. Every day I try to learn more and teach better.

I learned more about the value of service this last week. As Jesus taught, one of the two great commandments is to love and serve others. We had the blessing and opportunity to put that in practice. It wasn't much, but it made a whole lot of difference. We have been teaching an investigator, G. for about two weeks, and have been getting to know her mother. She didn't want to hear us at first, but last week when we asked her if she needed help with anything, she took us up on our offer to help them around the yard. Elder F. and I did some yard work for her while Elder Cruz got to know her mother. Through our service, we gained her mother's confidence, and the permission to bring her to church. G. came to church and was befriended by a lot of leaders and girls her age. It was and experience super mas hiza. Teaching with members can be an amazing benefit for missionaries. Through going on splits with young adult members, investigators can really relate the power of the gospel to their lives as the members testify of the realness and blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We hope to have two baptisms this month, Hermana

A., and G. We have been working hard teaching many different people this past week. We've had some disappointments, but without disappointments, the successes we have aren't as special. I am so grateful for what this gospel has done for me and my family, and am so happy to spread that with the people of Honduras.

Elder F. is very funny and loves fútbol. Learning through the added responsibility of training does help you learn faster and forces you to do everything well haha. I'm very grateful to have Elder F. as my companion. It's a big responsibility to train a missionary.

It's hard being a trainer and senior companion. I really need to develop my Christlike attributes (patience, humility, dilligence) to get better each day. The immensity of the task and my desire to be the best missionary I can be,and helping lots of people to get baptized really frustrates me at times. There's so much to do at times I don't know where to start. I want to speak well, contact well, not be awkward while trying to get to know and teach people in a foreign language, teach well and precisely and simply the lessons, be direct and loving, yet firm. It's hard to do all of these things. I want to know all the scriptures, speak well, teach well, find people well, get to know people well, help people well, and I don't have much patience haha. Confidence and calmness can be a very powerful tool when speaking Spanish and teaching.