So here are the details about
my back and what happened with the cambio.
Cambio: Presidente
Obeso made some changes. I did not go to Punta Arenas. I went to a neighboring
sector- Martines de Rosas. Like literally the neighboring sector. I walked to
it. It is in the same district as my last sector (Los Encinos).
My back: I am on rest.
That means I don’t leave to work for 30 days. I have permission to go to
church, meetings, and scheduled appointments. We basically never leave the
house. I normally don’t even go to scheduled appointments because my back hurts
really bad after walking. After going to church, my back hurt from the walk. I
can’t walk or stand for extended periods of time. I’m not doing exercises. I’m
not chopping wood. But I can walk around the house just fine and without really
any pain. I can always feel my back. But it only really hurts after walking or
standing for more than a little bit. This week my back has gotten worse. Haha.
I totally feel like Betty White in that Snickers "You’re not you when you’re
hungry "commercial. "My baaaaaaack hurts!" And then she gets
tackled. Hahaha
To pass the time, I’ve
basically been gratifying all of my disobedient missionary desires I’ve ever
had. For example: after lunch naps, studying Spanish for longer than I’m supposed
to, and watching movies (mission approved of course). But we are going crazy. We
are also making a division calendar with the members and other missionaries in
our district so Elder Hobbs can work in our sector.
Movies we have
watched: God’s Army, The Other Side of Heaven, Legacy, The Saratov Approach, The
Work and the Glory 1, 2, and 3.
I’ve also been able to
cook a lot: frog eye salad, brownies, scones (twice), sloppy joes, cookies,
muffins, chicken noodle soup, chicken Alfredo pizza and normal pizza. And we
have also boiled chestnuts with sugar (that’s a thing in Chile).
Last pday we watched
the sea lions on the river side, made a pichanga as a zone. Today we had Elders
Griffin and Camargo from Paillaco come over. Elder Griffin and I got our calls
in the same week while at Lone Peak. We took the same AP psychology class. So
it is way fun to jut chill with him. We made pizza and scones.
My new zone leader
that replaced Elder Ryan is Elder Davis. I spent my first day in the mission
with him.
I’ve made some goals
for the time I’ll be in the house. I’m going to read Jesus the Christ all the
way through. I’m reading 22 pages a day. I’m also studying an hour of Spanish
every day and memorizing 30 words daily.
I absolutely love my
new companion. He is from the group that arrived right after me. His name is
Elder Hobbs. He is from Taylor, Utah. Tyler Anderson is serving in Hooper. My
comp’s grandparents live in Hooper. Cool connection. My companion went to Roy High
School, and played football and basketball. He has a scholarship to play as a
receiver for Dixie after his mission. He is super fun. We get along great.
The former mission
nurse just ended her mission. She was serving in the same ward as I was. When
she heard about my medical rest, she told me not to be down. She said a lot of
times when missionaries have rest like that, they feel disobedient and want to
work really bad. She said right now, obedience for me is resting so I can work
later on. That has helped me a lot. Because when I got the news from the doctor on
Monday about the rest, I was pretty depressed the rest of the day. I felt
worthless. Especially because I didn’t go to the office where I could do
something even as a "broken" missionary. But I’m good now. I’m growing
still. That advice from Hna. Laguna was a tender mercy.
On the day of Cambios,
Elder Ryan was feeling sick. He had thrown up all of the night before. He asked
me for a blessing. I’m so grateful for the priesthood. I felt the power of the
priesthood in that blessing.
While watching The
Other Side of Heaven this week. A part hit me. Feki was talking about how the
missionaries taught his drunk dad and he turned around. Feki then thanked the
missionaries for their sacrifice for leaving their families and traveling a huge
distance to teach his dad. The missionaries than told Feki that their sacrifice
was small, and that there were other missionaries who were injured, or
persecuted, or living in worse circumstances. I felt the Spirit. I felt
included for a minute with that "other missionaries" group. I have
walked until I can’t. Like, literally. Because now I am in the house. I
have walked until I’ve had back problems. I felt good.
This week, I found
some scriptures that have helped me. Doctrine and Covenants 61:36; Isaiah 41:10;
and 1 Nephi 21:14-16.
I have had a lot of
time to think this week. I was thinking about how we grow by grace to grace as
we have faith and humility. I feel like I have humility. But the faith had me
thinking. I could have more faith that the atonement can help me with MY weaknesses.
I felt distanced a bit from the enabling power of the atonement. Like could it
help me with MY weaknesses? I read in Jesus the Christ how Christ healed
multitudes of people. And I thought that if I could only be in those multitudes,
He could heal me. I would see Him face to face, and He could help me. Then I
remembered how Christ healed a man’s son. The man asked him to heal his son who
was hours away, and Christ said his son would be healed without even going to
him. And it happened just like that. He also healed a Roman gentile centurion’s
servant with just His word. He healed him from a distance. And here I was
feeling a bit distanced from the atonement. And the Spirit taught me that I don’t
need to be in direct contact with Christ to receive His healing. He loves those
in the multitude just as much as those who are in a house in southern Chile.
Christ can heal me from a distance, just as if I were there in the multitude.
Elder West
