Day 17

THE BEST WAY TO TEACH IS THROUGH INVITING THE SPIRIT!

 

Wow! What an amazing day today! It seems as if everyday I am here, I learn something new and exciting! I'd like to begin off today by saying it was just a regular day and at the start, not much seemed to sound like it was going to be different then any of the others!... But I was so wrong! Lets begin with the negatives today. One of the boys in my district, (The one who re tore his ACL) got sent home today and it was probably the hardest thing a district could go through together. His name is Elder Mulestein and he was 1 of 2 of my homesickness friends.  Our district thinks that he used the opportunity of rehab of his leg to go home.  Our district thinks after he is done with his rehabbing his leg, he probably won't come back. It brought tears to my eyes to see him get in his car and drive away.  This was a friend I have made over the last couple of weeks.  We were all sad that we lost one of our amigoes!  All of my prayers have asked for blessings for him and I surely hope he receives them all!  After that, we ate lunch and I ran into Elder Sip.  He was on his way to the travel office because I guess his whole district didn't end up receiving their visa's so some might have to get reassigned.  (I'll be honest, I hope its Sip who gets reassigned to the MTC mission for 3 1/2 more weeks then he can leave here when I leave).  I still didn't find out who got theirs and who didn't! Well I think my best way to describe tonight is AMAZING, SPIRITUAL, BLESSING!  So me and E had to teach one of our investigators and me and him were so unprepared for it! We didnt even have a lesson picked out so me last second "panic planned" a lesson (which is frowned upon by most MTC teachers). We were going to teach about Prophets and Jesus Christ but then the PMG saying popped into my head. "Teach people, not lessons".  Our "investigator" happens to be gang affiliated with the Latin Kings and he wants out and to enjoy the gospel, so guess what pops into my head... "La Expiacion" or "The Atonement"! I knew the spirit was guiding me to teach that so I told E that our game plan has changed last second! He was questioning me why and I told him "we just need to". So we go to the room where we are teaching the investigator and he invites us in. We decided to do one of the hardest duo topics "True Prophets of our Church and The Lord's Atonement." Me and E begin talking about exactly what prophets are and explaining why we need them in our church. He seems to accept it pretty well but he was still kinda skeptical (I remind you this is in Spanish) me and E bear our testimonies and he still has a tad bit of questions for us. He asks "how do you know they are true prophets?" I blanked! I was about to shout at him "because they are OUR prophets!" but I refrained. E looks at me and could tell that I was frozen so he picks up and says "Oramos saber que el profeta es verdadero" or "we pray to know that the prophet is true!" I was really proud of him! Our contribution in lessons is usually 80%-me 20%-E! We testify that we can know through prayer and that helped him understand! Now, this is where those 3 words come in (Amazing, Spiritual, Blessing) I begin asking him what he knows about Jesus Christ. He looks at me and E and says "Yo se que Jesu Cristo muerte en el cruz u el nos ama. No se que muchas sobre El." Which translates to "I know that Jesus Christ died on the cross and He loves us. I don't know much about him." Let me rewind just a bit for dramatic effect. Right as we were walking towards our "investigators" door, E looks at me and says "I didn't study much on the Atonement because you changed it last second. I'll let you cover it then I'll testify." I just give him an "Alright." in return. Back to the story I tell him that he was right, Jesus did die on the cross and he does love us (in Spanish, I've learned quite a bit!) I then tell him its like, we sin and God wants to help us so he sent his son to atone for our sins. He looked at me weird when I said "Expiara" or "to atone" for our sins! I told him to atone means to take away all our sins so we can feel happy. His eyes question me and then he spills his guts about his gang affiliation and how he wants to be free from his sins but doesn't know if he can believe. At this moment, The Spirit fills the room as I realize, I'm not teaching a fake person, I'm teaching an investigator. I looked at him and saw a Dominican man (The "investigator I was teaching is white!) It was as if I fast forwarded to the D.R. and I was actually teaching a Dominican. Right as I have this thought, my mouth begins to move! I didn't know what I was saying! The Spirit was bringing a tear to my eye because of it's strength in the room! The words ended up being Spanish and the words ended up being my testimony on how The Atonement is what can bring true happiness to everyone! I was crying (not bad) and testifying at the same time! The Spirit was blessing me with The Gift of Tongues!!! It's so powerful! I ended my testimony and E just looks at me like "what did you just do?" He then testifies about prophets and The Atonement and we then end with a prayer. Alright so this was probably one of the craziest moments I've had yet. It was like killing me he couldn't just understand how amazing this gospel was! I really felt as if he was a real Dominican Investigator! So amazing! Our investigator then gives us feed back. The first thing he says "The Spirit is so strong in this room. That is how you should be teaching. I liked your lesson a lot. There is some things you need to work on but overall, great lesson!" I was so proud of myself and E! We got back to class and our district asked how it went and I said "I don't know anything of what I just said. The Spirit is real!" It was such a crazy moment. I have only felt The Spirit stronger in my life not many more times! I love this work I'm doing. I wouldn't be doing anything else! Well that was my crazy day! My Dear Elders today got totally jacked so I didn't receive them all if people wrote me either last night or today. I only got dads but I knew Justin sent one but that's all I know of. I guess the computer went wack and gave the wrong letters to people so someone probably got my letter from Justin and whoever else. I hope they reprint them tomorrow! I guess every bodies got jacked. Well I love and miss you guys all so much! Continue to send letters and Dear Elders, they truly help! I love you guys!

Elder Tyson Garfield