Ave Maria

This week was a good one. I'm not quite sure why. It wasn't spectacular in terms of results. It was just fun I guess.

 

First of all, today is the Virgen de Guadalupe's birthday. Elder Zeledon is still trying to figure out how they know that. So the idolatry has gone up to 11 in the Phoenix area. It's quite the show. On Friday we were eating dinner with some of our members and we heard these wild drums outside the trailer. They said it was the "matachines" which apparently are some indigenous Mexican dancers. They were dancing this sweet Aztec war dance with costumes and everything. But upon closer inspection we found that their Aztec costumes also had pictures of the Virgen Mary on them. And instead of Aztec mallets they had crosses. It was a nice blend of Christianity and paganism. There was also a guy dressed up in a skull mask who had an evil laugh who I think represented Satan. They told us that that guy scatters rose petals which represent sins and then there are small girls who come and take away the sins from the people. Needless to say, I felt a little less like I was living in the United States and more like I was in some third world country. It was a fun night.

 

The other Elders have been having trouble with their investigators because they're all getting sucked into it. The whole thing is just completely foreign to me.

 

We also learned a bit about Mexican Christmas traditions. In Mexico, the celebrations start on the 16th with Las Posadas, which are basically just nightly parties until Christmas. Christmas Eve is a much bigger deal than Christmas, because everyone stays up until 12 to welcome in the actual day of the 25th. Then, in Mexico, the presents don't come until the 6th of January with the Reyes Magos (the wise men). That day, everyone eats a round cake with small dolls hidden in it. Whoever gets one of the dolls has to through a party for everyone in February. Throw New Year's in there (which is a way bigger deal than in the US) and you've got quite the holiday season.

 

We had stake conference this weekend which was awesome. The more I understand the gospel the more I enjoy things like that. I think before I just didn't understand how things work well enough to appreciate it. I got to translate for part of stake leadership meeting which was fun. Translating takes a lot of mental energy and you have to be quick on your mental toes. Our stake presidency is super focused on getting everyone to the temple. The stake president drew a picture of a path with a fence and a gate in the middle of it which led to a house. He said the gate represented baptism, and he talked about how there are people on both sides of the fence who needed help to stay on the path that led to the House of the Lord.

 

Sunday morning we were at the recent converts meeting. The stake president invited a member of the temple presidency to speak. It's amazing how much just working in the temple helps people. I just felt the Spirit when he spoke and I could tell that he was a lot closer to God because of his temple calling. He encouraged all the recent converts to make a plan to get to the temple. He said a cup of coffee or something similar may seem like a little thing, but it becomes a big thing if it keeps you from receiving all the blessings the Father has to give to us. He said that the scripture that talks about wailing and gnashing of teeth applies in large part to the members of the Church of Jesus Christ who could have qualified for more if they had just made better choices.

 

I'm trying to focus more on real conversion and on getting people to the Temple rather than just baptism. It's harder, but when someone is really converted, that's what actually counts. Baptism without conversion doesn't do any good. We've been working with a lot of less actives or even active members getting them ready to go to the Temple. There are some members that we have found are less active mostly just because they don't understand the Gospel. True understanding of the Gospel normally brings a desire to live it. When we help people to truly understand what is presented to them, then they can use their agency and make their own choices.

 

We're going to the Temple for our Christmas Zone Conference on Friday. I'm really excited. It'll be great to be in the Temple with all of my friends.

 

Merry Christmas,

Elder Grasley

P.S. I totally forgot to tell you that someone who me and Elder Zeledon found while tracting got baptized in the English ward on Saturday. It's nice to see that someone we found got baptized. We've actually found a large percentage of the English Elders' investigators. Now if we could only find more for us!