March 31, 2014

I have been here in General Rodriguez for about 6 months now and I have had 8 different companions. All being very great, just struggling with some aspect of the mission. President has put his trust in me to help those missionaries. As you know, I struggle in focusing and sometimes the Obedience is hard for me, but having the Opportunity and Responsibilty of helping to save the missions of these missionaries has really helped me a ton. I have learned the importance of obedience and trusted soooo much in the Lord. The scripture found in Ether 12:27 has never been more powerful than it is now. I have been show just about every weekness over the past little while and been able to slowly, little by little, with lots of Faith and Patience, become a stronger person.

This last month we had the blessing of baptizing 3 different families here in Rodriguez. I have come to LOVE them so much. They are awesome. Augusto Szendrei is the dad of the fmily and he reminds me of what would be an Argentine version of Silvester Stalone. He and his wife Debora and their kids Abril and Ramiro are awesme. We had a District (stake) conference yesterday and it was an hour of travel to get there but they did everything possible to go. They wife and kids even went alone early because Augusto had to finsih working and then was going to go there in Bus. They don´t have a car, they bike everywhere, and they literally were a miracle. They waved us down in the street because they wanted to know why we were always so happy! There is nothing more amazing than seeing a family make changes as they repent in their lives.

In the Conference, President Carter (mission president who covers the district becasue it is technically not a stake yet) talked a lot about the importance of members in the mission work. He also talked a little bit about the power of true conversion. As I went to bed last night thinking about that, I ended up dreaming about giving a talk in the branch that I am serving in. 

The talk had 1 Topic: Conversion, and 3 things that are required to gain that.

First being TRUST: So many people look to God for answers, but they have a hard time trusting that he will be able to answer them. That can´t be the attitude. It is like saying "I can´t" and then trying to do something. The odds that whatever you are trying to do will actually turn out well are very small. We all have to have the Nephi, " I will go and Do" attitude.

Second being Commit: Making and Keeping Commitments are probably 2 of the most important things that anyone can do to make changes in their lives. (PME)

The third being Receive: After haveing the faith, making and keeping commitments, that is when you are able to see the blessings in your life and the lives of others. We receive what we needed/wanted, and more importantly what God had in store for us. 

It is definitely not easy. Life isn´t easy, but theJoy that we get when we are really searching and living everyday for a deeper Conversion is exactly what we need to feel recharged in this life. The promise is SO real, that we will receive the Peace in this life when we live it how we should.

I lvoe you and hope everyone is doing well! I think about you and the family whenever I have some sort of time (which isn´t a lot) haha. but I am alwas praying for you deep down in my heart.

--

~Elder Hazlett

Hello President,

So the end of this transfer has ended up being a little crazy with the change of companions and everything. At first I had a hard time with it because I really enjoyed working with elder Sepulveda and the people in Rodriguez were really warming up to him. When Elder Martinez got here everyone was a little bit bummed. But now we are getting accustomed very quickly. He now has no problems with getting up on time or going to bed on time, and I am having him lead the lessons and stuff so that he can feel more involved and less trunky. He is doing well and realizes that he messed up and really wants to finish strong. I know that he is going to as well. All he needs is a comp that wants to be obedient and knows the rules and he follows them. I am positive that if I got transferred in the future that he would be able to lead rodriguez and finish strong. He has already gained the confidence of all of our fechas and he is working hard to be as obedient as possible.. He knows how to do it, he just needs a little bit of help sometimes. He knows that he has lost your trust, but he really is and will continue to push himself until the end.

I am doing well, strugging a little bit with the members. I have gained the confidence of all of them, and I have learned to be more Bold in speaking, but I still have not been able to get the message through to them about the importance of members in the missionary work. These last 8 baptisms that happened in Rodriguez were miracles of our diligence and desires. The members haven´t really grasped how effective they can be in this work. 

I know each of them very well and know their problems and struggles and I understand that they themselves are still trying to develop true conversion. It is just super frustrating because I know that if they just help 1 family become converted to the gospel then they will have the heart full of joy and will love the missionary work.

I had a dream last night and I was giving a talk in sacrament meeting here and the topc was "Prioritizing your life by making and keeping commitments." It included 3 topics. Trust, Commit, and Receive. Trusting in the lord being the first part. Having the faith that he can and Will give us the strength to succeed in this life. Second is Committing ourselves to make choices and following through until we have achieved what we were striving for. Third, receiving the blessings that God has in store for us when we put him FIRST. When our Priority is focused on Him and not on US, when we make commitments to become more like HIM, we then recieve the blessing of becoming perfected through the Atonement of Christ. 

I have the BIGGEST desire ever right now to be a succesful missionary and I know that I am having success but I am not satisfied! I don´t know what I have to do to satisfy...? and as I have been praying, my answer has been that I will never be satisfied...I interpret that as God telling me that I have a lot of potential and if I am ever satisfied than I will stop trying as hard to reach that potential. But at the same time, It is super discouraging.

I will be honest, I feel like I have kind of reached my potential here in Rodriguez and I was expecting some sort of change after this transfer at least to a different area, but now I am pretty sure that I am hre for a little longer. I love it here, and I would love to stay here to be able to help the branch, but I have always been the typer of person that adapts really well to small changes and just kind of gets comfortable, but when there are bigger changes..that is when I really have grown. 

I know that you are a very inspired Man and that the changes that you make are revelation and I will agree completely and give it my all in whatever changes you make.

Love you President. Thank you for trusting me. I will do everything possible to never lose that trust.

Elder Hazlett