Sept. 30, 2013
Hello dudes and dudets! This week was crazy and I learned a lot. Like I said last Monday, it was the last week of transfers. Elder Castro and I only tried to kill each other like 3 or 4 times haha just kidding! but it was and interesting couple days that definitely tried my patience. Lo and behold we made it to transfer day. Sunday morning I receive a call telling me that I would be serving as a Zone Leader in the Zona Pitic! My companion id Elder Joyner, he's from Georgia, he's a bomb singer, and he seems like a pretty down to earth guy! I know we will have lots of success here in Satelite (the name of our area). From what everybody has told me, Satelite is one of the richest areas in all of Hermosillo, and the ward is filled with old rich people. Puros x obispos!It seems like I am working my way up through the social classes, first in Cananea, then Cuauhtemoc now Satelite. I am definitely excited for this change and look forward to the next couple of months here in Hermosillo. Im am also looking forward to being zone leader. I will have more responsibility and an even greater cause to be a hard worker as I will need to be a good example for 16 elders and 6 sister missionaries!
This week I learned ever more about the importance of humility in missionary work. As much as we wanted to baptize this week, we accepted the Lords will while 1 by 1 our investigators told us they didn't want to be baptized quite yet or they didn't feel ready. One of these future baptisms is Mercedes. She has been battling the temptation of drinking alcohol since the day she understood she wasn't obeying a commandment! She has so much faith and her positivity is contagious. She was interviewed on Thursday night and passed with flying colors. She was ready, but just needed to give us the ok for us to prepare her baptismal program and fill up the font on saturday. She didn't give us an answer that night but told us she would pray and know by the morning. She was true to her word and gave us a call at 6:27am friday morning. She explained to me that she wanted more time and knew she would eventually be baptized, but not this weekend! I know I have progressed tons in these last few transfers, because 6 months ago, if I were to have heard Mercedess answer I would have been heart broken and down in the dumps. Although I was bummed, I explained to her how much we loved her, supported her and wanted her to feel 100% prepared for her baptism. From what I could hear on the other side of the phone call, I knew she was crying. She explained to me how much she cared for us and how she considered us her own kids. Mercedes is an absolutely incredible person and an even more incredible daughter of God. D&C 121:24 teaches us "there is a time appointed for every man according as his works shall be", I know God has appointed a time for Mercedes and its comin up soon. We remove a pavillion when we feel and pray "Thy will be done and in thine own time" His time should be enough for us since we know that He wants only what is best for his children :)
This week we also found a new house for the Cuahtemoc elders to live. it only took us 3 entire days to find. Looking on internet is almost impossible to find a house for rent. The people here tend not to let the cyber world they are willing to rent their homes, so we were forced to search by foot. Walking nearly every single street in the north side of our area we found a sick house, safe, sound, and within the mission budget that we could use! Yeah the sun is dyin down now, but we had a good laugh when we returned to our home in Las Lomas drenched in sweat. Life is grand
Considering it was my last week in the ward, Bishop Valdez unexpectedly gave me the opportunity to give a talk in sacrament meeting. And I unexpectedly accepted. The first 3 speakers blazed through their talks, and left me with a chunk of 20 minutes to work with. I shared the importance of being diligently obedient. I also compared 3 different kinds of church members: the good, great and excellent. I felt like a motivational speaker up there. I felt very confident with my spanish and was able to let the spirit take over as I was blessed with a very fluid message. As I concluded I shared my testimony and my love for the new ward family I had met in Cuauhtemoc. I said to these faithful members, "When we got here, Elder Castro told me he could see a lot of empty chairs and that we were going to fill the chapel. Now I look at this chapel today full of smiling saints of God." We were truly blessed to have seen so much growth in that ward. Now it is the strongest ward in the stake and they have 6 missionaries working within the ward boundaries!
I wish I could type a little bit more, there is so much goin through my head right now, but times is up! I gotta go haha love you all. the church is truer than true and God loves you. I look forward to an awesome week and General Conference!!! Have a good one too missionaries
Elder Farrow
