Dear family,
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| Elder Marquez, Ludlam, Castro, Retuerto |
We have a few people we are working with. We are working with the son of a member named Javier. He used to be close to accepting the church, but his catholic wife doesn’t like that he is listening to us. We are going to try and see what we can do for him. We are also working with Rosa, the mother of two young daughters. She was going to come to church this week but then left town, so we still need to figure out what happened to her.
So far, I have felt I am a much better missionary than I was the last time I was here in Cuenca. Things are much more peaceful up here in Cuenca.
Well, I am looking forward to another Navidad Andina (Andean Christmas). It has been great to see all these old faces again. Make sure you give the Calamardita (little Squid, our cat) a good squeeze for me.
Love,
Elder “Douglas”
Well, this change came as a shock. When I first learned about it, I was kind of sad I was going to be leaving Elder Johnson. I guess this has happened a few times. When you learn about a change, all those silly, petty differences no longer feel important at all and you kind of feel you lost an opportunity to be a better friend. Then I slapped myself awake and said, "What am I talking about? I'm free!" I guess the last few weeks I did a lot to try and have a really good relationship with Elder Johnson. I guess he reminded me of Elder Sanchez a lot.
When I first realized that that was where the relationship was going, I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever it took to make sure we could leave each other as friends. I decided I'd find 20 things I liked about Elder Johnson, things that he did really well and that I could learn from him. He was really good about jumping over the little barriers that people make when you first try to get to know them. He also was aware of the investigators and remember the different people we talked to. I geared myself up to try and watch and learn everything I could from him right when they changed us. I guess I will have to try and follow his example here in Cuenca. Those skills will be very useful considering people here in the Sierra are known for being very closed.
So far I have felt that I have been a much better missionary than I was the last time I was here in Cuenca. I also found the great value of humor in a relationship. One time when Elder Johnson was angry, he called up the district leader. The DL asked us if it was possible to make each other laugh. I thought it was really good advice. I put in practice what you wrote me earlier, Mom, about forcing yourself to talk and it really helped a lot. If you are at least talking, then you have to work to be angry. But sometimes, you need to make good feelings, too.
I made it another goal to try and make him have a really good laugh every day. Having him beat me in chess provided many opportunities to put him in a good mood. I am not really sure what went wrong. I keep thinking it has something to do with passive aggressiveness. I am still not exactly sure what that is, Dad, but I think that is what you used to talk to me about. I think sometimes he would try to get a reaction out of me on different things and I would just say, "uh-huh" or a distracted, "Oh, wow." I think that is what drove him up a wall. I guess that was a much more painful way of learning what you had been trying to teach years ago.
Well, this change came as a shock. When I first learned about it, I was kind of sad I was going to be leaving Elder Johnson. I guess this has happened a few times. When you learn about a change, all those silly, petty differences no longer feel important at all and you kind of feel you lost an opportunity to be a better friend. Then I slapped myself awake and said, "What am I talking about? I'm free!" I guess the last few weeks I did a lot to try and have a really good relationship with Elder Johnson. I guess he reminded me of Elder Sanchez a lot.
When I first realized that that was where the relationship was going, I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever it took to make sure we could leave each other as friends. I decided I'd find 20 things I liked about Elder Johnson, things that he did really well and that I could learn from him. He was really good about jumping over the little barriers that people make when you first try to get to know them. He also was aware of the investigators and remember the different people we talked to. I geared myself up to try and watch and learn everything I could from him right when they changed us. I guess I will have to try and follow his example here in Cuenca. Those skills will be very useful considering people here in the Sierra are known for being very closed.
So far I have felt that I have been a much better missionary than I was the last time I was here in Cuenca. I also found the great value of humor in a relationship. One time when Elder Johnson was angry, he called up the district leader. The DL asked us if it was possible to make each other laugh. I thought it was really good advice. I put in practice what you wrote me earlier, Mom, about forcing yourself to talk and it really helped a lot. If you are at least talking, then you have to work to be angry. But sometimes, you need to make good feelings, too.
I made it another goal to try and make him have a really good laugh every day. Having him beat me in chess provided many opportunities to put him in a good mood. I am not really sure what went wrong. I keep thinking it has something to do with passive aggressiveness. I am still not exactly sure what that is, Dad, but I think that is what you used to talk to me about. I think sometimes he would try to get a reaction out of me on different things and I would just say, "uh-huh" or a distracted, "Oh, wow." I think that is what drove him up a wall. I guess that was a much more painful way of learning what you had been trying to teach years ago.
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