Yep, thats me in Little Ceasers, with a 5 buck pizza (here its 99 Limpira Pizza)
The Coke is not mine, they are against the rules for missionaries here (because we are being examples), but the table next to ours didn´t finish theirs, and not knowing we couldn´t drink it, gave it to us.
We gave it to a member we happened to meet (at least I think he was a member...he liked sitting with missionaries at least, maybe it was the soda...)
We´ve had it a little rough because we don´t know our area very well, and its all very hilly. On Friday, we went to La Montaña, and because we finished up there late, and it had rained all day, we decided not to take the little trail we usually take for safety reasons. The other option was to walk along the road, so we ended up walking about 1.5 hours to get home. In total I estimated that we walked 12 km that day (about 8 miles), but that may just be me bragging. All I know is that we slept well that night!
This is me in the Montaña on Friday, the day it rained a ton and we walked a ridiculous amount. Yes I used my jacket. I have been told it snows up there sometimes, so I´m going to have a sort of white christmas.
This week we had a great little District Meeting where we talked about how you can receive the promptings of the spirit. One of the things that hit me is the difference between studying (estudiar) and really studying (escrudinar). One of the things one of the Hermanas in our District mentioned is studying with questions. I realized that even though I have been studying, and I pray before and after my study and everything, I hadn´t had a really directed study like that for a while. So Saturday (the first day we really had to study after District MTG) I started reading the Book of Mormon with questions. It became a powerful experience for me as I read and found answers for the difficulties of God´s investigators (that we have the opportunity to teach) and some of my own.
One of the things I´ve struggled with in the mission is that when things don´t work out, when the people we wanted to teach aren´t there, or when you get the feeling that they don´t want to talk to you, its difficult for me. I get depressed, and for me that means I focus on the failures, or what I think went wrong. Although this is good to a point (its how you improve), when I dwell on it, it drives the spirit away and with that goes the best of my Spanish, meaning I can become kind of useless in a lesson. Its something I´ve been thinking about for a while, and on this Saturday, I asked what things I could think about to lift me from my sorrows.
Surprisingly (for me at least), the answer I got was that I needed to remember my Temple Covenants, or the ones my parents made that affect me. Or just to remember the feeling of the temple. Doing this helped me remember the best of this life, family, and God. It brings the spirit, and with the spirit, comes the confidence to do the Lord's work.
Our new house (or at least part of it). It is pretty big, and I like spreading out.
There is also a spacious yard and a Patio.
Our new house is great, I feel comfortable, and I love to relax in one of the large comfy chairs and read the book of Mormon. I actually didn´t eat that many oranges this week, but I plan to eat more this week!
Know that I love you all and can feel your prayers.
Elder Henrie
PS. Thanks to all the people that send me letters, I do get them, I just don´t usually mention it. Thanks Aunt Debbie, AUNT Connie, The Davis Family, Mom (of course), Tyler, Melanie.
