September 4, 2023
Hey, what's is going on, mi gente!? Espero que hayan tenido
un buen semana y si ooo lo siento 😞
Here's a rundown of my week.
On Monday, we had District p-day where I got to spend time with missionaries from afar, so that was really dope! At night me and my brother in the mission, Elder Sellers, walked all the way to my apartment to grab things for the sister who was making lunch for us the next day and then we walked all the way to the other point of my area 🙃 Walking and talking with him was good.
I spent the next day with one of my trainers. We had a blast. We taught someone and got to know each other even better. After that, I had interviews with the head honcho of my mission (my president). Things are tough right now, so it was good to talk with him.
The next day we had zone conference, and it was amazing. I learned so much about what I need to do to become more aligned with the Spirit and what I need to do to be a better missionary. After zone conference, we had splits where I went with two elders and my companion went with two others. I had a blast with Elders Castillo and Wendell. We taught so many people and ran around the city to help other elders. I loved it.
Now this is where the title of my email will make sense. So, my companion is a great dude, I love the guy. It's just that if someone tells him something he's doing wrong, it'll turn his week from something amazing to a big pile of poop. He just doesn't handle it well, and it's hard to be around that negativity a lot. Since we spent a lot of the week with other missionaries, it was okay, but the next day it was just me and my companion and he was not a happy guy. To be blunt, he was just mean. Looking for things to criticize about me and what I was doing. Telling me I'm a bad missionary and a bad person. I was doing everything wrong. As some of you know, I can put up with a lot, but this treatment has been weighing me down. I felt pretty annoyed, so I ran upstairs and said a quick prayer (BTW prayer works all the time) just so that he wouldn't be so mean. It worked that night, and we were able to have so many great lessons. For example, we had a lesson with a family about the importance of marriage and the Spirit there was soo cool! Also, after that, the family came to church for the 2nd time!! So I felt like it was such a great day and we were able to help so many people. But I had to keep returning to the Lord in prayer to battle the negativity. But it's all good, haha. I'm learning a lot from my comp, and I love the guy. It's just sometimes it's hard for him, and then that makes it hard for our companionship because he points out all the negative that's going on, including all the things I'm doing wrong. But, let me tell you, when I pray when he's doing that, it just goes away! Or I think of ideas to distract him like workout ideas. But it's still hard. Sorry for the rant, haha, but I did learn so much this week, not just from zone conference, but also so much from my companion.
This week I want to finish with this thought. Prayer always
works. There have been so many times in my mission where I've been frustrated
with the language or maybe one of my friends isn't progressing. Serving a
mission is hard. But let me tell you, if you pray, the Lord will make your
burdens light. It always works. You find solutions. You can rely on your
Savior, Jesus Christ. He's been through what you're going through and knows you
personally! I love my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ and I love my
mission. ❤️ In the name of Jesus Christ amen!
Love you all so much and miss you even more!
Peace out
Elder Mergenthaler
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