Elder Jakob Lutze: Semana 48 (101 Grave Building)

Buenas!!

This was quite the interesting week, I'll tell ya that much! Definitely not how I thought it would go, but here we are!

The week started off well with an amazing Pday! We went to a place called "Pozo Azul.'' It was absolutely stunning! The only downside is we aren't allowed to swim...

Tuesday was a very strange day all around. We had to wake up at 11:45, meaning we got a whole 1.5 hours of sleep! Then we were off to the city! Elder Keck had to go get his migration card. We got back to our area later in the day to do some normal work. But then we received a call from Prezzy Arrocha to go to a member's house with him. Apparently the member had died the day before, so we were going over to give our condolences to the family. We sang some hymns, and we bore our testimonies.

Little did I know that we would be roped into a lot more than a visit! The next day Elder Keck and I were asked to go to the funeral, in which we obliged. We thought it would be fairly short, but we were wrong. It was indeed the opposite. We actually ended up going on a bus 2 hours up the mountain! No complaints here tho, because it was super pretty! We got to the site, and there were people still constructing the grave. Yes, they build the graves here. They are just cement boxes. To help pass the time in a reverent manner, the 4 of us that were members, sang hymns! It was a very spiritual time. They finished building the grave, and then they had me dedicate it! I had never done that before, let alone in Spanish, but it was pretty neat! Then we had another 2 hours to go back down!

The next day I thought my week could finally go back to what we had planned! Well, I was wrong. We went on exchanges, and I was with Elder Moran. We had a fun time! We taught a guy (the most Evangelico person I've met) who was most definitely 'high out of his mind' when we got there. The man's name was Phineas. We were talking, well listening to him talk, all about the gospel. I learned that Mormons don't believe in God and that Elder Moran and I don't have the spirit because we don't speak in tongues. (Even tho we both literally know two languages.) Phineas on the other hand does speak in tongues! It sounded a bit like gibberish, but I'm sure that it was the spirit talking through Phineas! Luckily for me and Elder Moran, Phineas decided to close with a prayer, and during this moment he put his hands on our heads blessing us with this great gift! I am happy to say, I can now speak gibberish!

Also that same night we went to a noche de grupo with the family of the deceased man. We weren't aware that we were the ones who had to prepare a message tho! It was a good spiritual time! Then we found out that we would be having the noche de grupo every night until this coming Friday. Not sure how we were the ones that got put in charge of this, but so far we have taught many lessons and watched many videos!

Lots more happened this week, but the highlight was the baptism of Yasmina! Whooooo!! It was such a special day! She was so, so excited! And she gave one of the sweetest testimonies I've heard! It was just such a happy day!

For my spiritual thought I wanted to use the example of the Liahona. The Liahona would give direction to Lehi and his family according to their faith. As I was thinking about that, later in the week I read D&C 109:7 which says

"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith."

I ended up combining that scripture and the Liahona because God still gives us tools to guide and direct us! They are the best books and words of wisdom - scriptures, words of prophets, etc. But these tools only work to guide us according to our faith and diligence we put into them.

To compare further we can use the example of electric tools. The tools are there to help us, and to make things easier for us. But, they require a power source to function. Just as electricity powers the tools of man, faith and diligence powers the tools of God. Think about it.

I love you all! I hope you are all doing great! Keep praying for my people! Until next time!

- E. Lutze