SO! To begin this email I need
to tell you about what happened on Tuesday. So on Tuesday my stomach was
not feeling good at all. As we were walking and I was smelling all of the food
on the side of the road.....Ya I knew it was going to be coming up soon....So
we went on the taxibe and after we started to drive....it was there...I quickly
went to the seat in front on my companion and threw up out of the taxibe. As we
went off I saw that some of my excess got on my companion. I felt so bad for
that! He washed it off with some water. But dang... Malagasy food tastes SO
GOOD!!! But now I can' stomach it. T.T
Besides not being able to
stomach the food, I have had a pretty crazy week. I can't believe it has already
been 13 days since I have been in the country. I love the people we are
teaching. We are teaching about 5 FLF's or (Father Led Families) and they are
just the boss. My Malagasy is still pretty bad but when one of the
investigators asked how long I had been in Madagascar. I told him that I had
been in for 11 days at that point. He was like (That is impossible!) My
companion then told him that with God anything is possible and that he had
blessed me with the gift of tongues to be able to speak as much as I had. It
was a pretty cool experience then.
Now I do need to talk about yesterday.... not going to lie,
but it was probably one of the hardest times for me. After church I just laid
on my bed for a couple of seconds and was consumed by this incredible
homesickness. I did not know how in the world I was going to survive Madagascar. I missed having water that was pure everywhere. And I missed being
able to know that I could stomach my food with a full assurance that I would
not be sick. But more than anything I missed my family. All I wanted was to have
my family with me because I knew that if they were going through this with me
that at least I could go to them for reassurance. Truly it was incredible about
how alone I felt at that point. As I was feeling these intense emotions, I felt
the need to write down the feelings that I was having down in my journal. As I
finished about how I was feeling a thought came to me about 2 Nephi chapter 4
where Nephi says "O wretched man that I am!" This was how I felt. Then
later words of the same chapter came to my mind where Nephi says "Even
though I feel this way, I know in whom I have trusted...Awake my soul! No
longer droop in sin! Rejoice my heart!" When I remembered these
words.....This became my cry... "Even though I feel this way....I know in whom I have trusted.." As I wrote this in my journal and began to stand up
from my bed......I was filled from my head to my toes with the most wonderful
feelings of strength and peace.....Through the atonement of Jesus Christ......I
had been given a most precious gift...My tender soul had found healing and I
was able to "Put my shoulder to the wheel."
Through this experience I hope
to convey to you that the Lord is ALWAYS THERE! He was there in a super dark
moment for me. He WILL be there for you. I am SO Happy to be here right now. I
love the Lord with all my heart. Because of HIM I will be able to endure these
2 years. Because of HIM I can see people change. As I felt this renewed
strength within me, it was so cool to see that when I went outside...The city
smelled a little bit better and I was more focused upon my investigators, and I
was able to have a smile the entire time that I worked because of HIM.
Mother, the zone leaders just
called me and said that they had received something for me. Haha it makes me a
little bit bummed that Brother Luque was SO CLOSE to me. I wish I could have
seen him, but that is ok. Also if you ever wanted to make me truly
happy.....you could send like 10 packages of beef jerky :) That is probably the
most wonderful thing in the entire world right now. :) It's ok if you don't do
that though :)
Since I have a little bit more time left let me tell you
about Lucian, Nicole and Jeonne. Jeonne is a girl that is a young adult and lives
with her father Lucian and her mother Nicole. Jeonne has been coming to the English classes that we teach every Saturday and wanted to have us teach her.
(Seriously the English classes have been a gold mine of referrals and new
investigators,,,,I think in part because I am a native English speaker and so
they are like "WOW! You are so Mahay at Malagasy! Why are you here? I want
to be a missionary like you. How can I do that? My response: Well haha...let me
tell you a little thing about the missionary lessons and about the gospel of Jesus Christ :) Anyway so on Saturday we went
over to her house and met Lucian and Nicole. THEY ARE SO AWESOME!!! They are
protestant but oh my giddy aunt! They are so ready! The mother had some problems
comprehending God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost being 3 separate people, but we
didnt even have to say anything because Lucian and Jeonne helped her
understand. They were like. This totally makes sense!! So we told them about
church on Sunday and where it is....AND THEY CAME!!!! It was so cool! After
sacrament meeting I saw one sister go straight to Nicole and take her to Gospel Principles and then to Relief Society. I love the ward here :)
I think that is all I will
write for now. But I love you all and pray for you every day. Thank you for
your prayers and thoughts and letters. If you could understand how much your
prayers help I think you would do it more. BUT! Thanks for what you have done.
Love Elder Lehr
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