Yesterday Is History, Today Is A Gift

¡Feliz año a todos!

Haven't done this before, but it feels fitting to share the entire movie quote with you all:

"Tomorrow is a mystery, Yesterday is history, but Today is a gift; that is why it is called the present."

This quote causes me to reflect on how I'm spending my time and focus. Reflect on past experiences and make goals for the new year, but don't let them distract from or take away from the now.

Before we get into it, it's gotta be said:
About time I send an email, it's been since last year!!

This week was a solid week. We were able to meet the family of a member in the ward's brother. He'd invited them to the ward Christmas party and (with the help of the other Elders) gave them a tour of the church. Their daughter, the member's niece Emily, who's in her 20s, especially was excited to see the baptismal font and wants to be baptized! Had an awesome lesson with the parents, Juan and Amelia, where we taught them about Jesus Christ's gospel, and they accepted a date to be baptized! Later in the week (while on exchanges), they had a lesson with Emily, and she accepted their invitation to be baptized before they could even finish the sentence.
They truly have been prepared, and I know they'll be baptized soon.

A bit of a low this week was that Marisol once again feels she needs more time. It's difficult to see because she's made such outstanding progress and wants to be baptized, but has a fear she believes needs to be gone before she can be baptized.
However, I'm simply grateful for the chance to be a part of the journey. I know she'll continue to feel the Spirit leading her, and the members here will continue to help her grow. It may take time, but it's the Lord's time, and that's what counts.

Finishing off with a description of the pandemonium that is el Año Nuevo en el Valle. To prepare, there have been fireworks stands on every corner since the beginning of December, and everyone's been prepping food for their New Year's pachanga. New Year's Eve, the night was filled with the smell of meat, the sound of gunshots, and the sight of fireworks in every direction. When midnight hit, it sounded like a warzone as everyone's fireworks hit the sky and people shot off their guns. Some must've been extra excited because they were still going at 3 a.m. when I got some water. Hats off to the Mexican Fiesta culture; it truly was a great way to start the year.

It helps me realize that while 2023, my entire calendar year as a missionary, held lots of difficulties and struggles, it held exponentially more joy and growth. Both of which deserved to be celebrated. While this next year surely holds more uncertainty, we can almost rely on the constant that is our Savior Jesus Christ. Happy New Year to you all, and may you find more growth and happiness in Christ this coming year.

-Elder Teeples

Last week's email: "God bless us everyone!"
Movie: A Christmas Carol - Tiny Tim says this at the very end to usher in the happy ending.

Pics:
Fountain pic,
La Pantera,
Gym ft. blur jump,
Tortilla grilling,
Polaroid with Ruby the goat,
Teaching a dog that really kept trying to come into the church building on Sunday.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You're Not Invited To My Birthday Party!

Image
Had my birthday this week, oficialmente tengo 20 años. No puedo creerlo. Sorry, but seeing as you all weren't here and I was doing missionary work, I unfortunately couldn't invite you to my birthday party. It all went well, though, and overall it was a pretty good day. Shoutout to Ruby, one of the members, for getting me a cake. We were able to help our friend Noe come to church this week, as well as his family, who are members and are coming back to church again! It's so cool to see how Noe's desire to be baptized is able to have that impact on his family and help them once again receive the blessings that come through Jesus Christ and His church. Things are going well with Noe, and he's getting baptized in two weeks! So hyped for him. Another cool thing is we were able to visit another part-member family and teach their daughter Emma. She remembers a lot and is super excited to get baptized as well! She eagerly asked her parents if she could become a member of Chr...
Read more

Did I Leave The Stove On?

Image
If you remember, toward the end of my email last week, I mentioned a tropical storm was coming through Corpus. What ended up happening is it rained super hard for two days straight, drizzled a bit the next day, and then stopped. I had to stay inside most of the first day but was able to work the second and third, which was nice. After the rain stopped, it's been SUPER humid, which has made it really hot; hence the title this week. Not a whole lot to report on this week, but it wasn't a bad week. I got an online referral for someone named Addisun. What's significant is that under the category "topic of interest," she said baptism! When we called her and introduced ourselves, she sounded excited to hear from us. She told us she's actually been wanting to get baptized for a while now, which is super awesome to hear. A slight issue is that she also said she wants to have her baby baptized too, but we'll read some Moroni 8 and help her see why that's not ne...
Read more

I Am Your Father

Image
That's right. The time has come. As of Saturday, I'm training and have a mission, son! His name is Elder Longson, and he's awesome. (He's even already got "son" in his name, how about that?) He's super awesome and already has such a strong and amazing testimony. He's seriously doing great sharing with everyone and promising blessings. It's really crazy to think a year ago I was in his shoes. It feels like I just came in. In case you're wondering, Elder Kuzmic didn't leave, and he's trio-ing it up with us! Definitely takes a load off of training in tech squad a bit since he's here to help out with tech stuff and be a good example to my greenie. This week, church went super great; we had 6 of our friends show up! Super hype. Our homie Mike came with his daughter Layla, and he even shared his testimony about the power of God during fast and testimony meeting. We talked with them a bit after, and they accepted baptismal dates for the 28...
Read more