What's up everyone!?!? Had a real good 2 weeks and I'm excited to tell ya bout it!!
Ricardo
Ricardo was someone who was found through English class. We have been posting English class fliers in every Facebook group in Hialeah/Miami known to mankind. And because of that he ended up pulling up to class one day out of the blue. He's from Cuba but speaks really good English already!! We introduced the gospel and gave him a chapel tour after the class and he loved it!! And the best part... HE HAS A CAR!!!! Miracles really do happen, lol. This last weekend there was a Latin devotional from ya boi Elder D. Todd Christofferson that he came to!! We will get into that more later but he really enjoyed that as well. We had a lesson with him after English class on Sunday and he talked about how at the devotional he was looking around and noticed that all the families and people seemed genuinely happy and there was something different about it. We talked to him about those feelings and the Holy Ghost that he felt. We went through the gospel of Jesus Christ which he really understood. He told us about some experiences he's had in the past that pushed him to continue believing in God and to be baptized. So we put him on date for May 26th and he really seemed excited for it!! We told him specifically that we are going to do our part and help teach you and guide you, but he needs to do his part and do the "homework" we give him because it will help prepare him and help him come closer to Christ!!
Christofferson / Bowen / Amado / Godoy
Well these last 2 weeks we had the wombo combo of the century!!!!!!!! It was such an amazing experience to have all of these chats and meetings. First off we had a mission wide zoom with Elder Godoy talking about working with Latinos and he gave us some tips and tricks to help us with our friends and especially church attendance. So we are integrating that into the mesh of stuff we are working on, lol. Then we had a mission wide devotional IN PERSON which was wild!! We met up at the chapel with ALL the missionaries at around 7:30am all in suits ready to go. It was so fun to be able to see all my comps/really good friends I've made throughout the mission and it just made me so happy!!!!! Then we all had to squeeze on the tiny little stage width and fit every single missionary, ready to go about 30 min before Elder Bowen and Christofferson got there, lol. We were literally body to body, absolutely ZERO room, lol. It was super hot but we were having a good time throwing some jokes out there!! Then Christofferson, Amado and Bowen arrived and there was an immediate shift in the room. It was wild, there truly are living apostles and prophets from God on the earth today. We took a mission picture with them and they went into the hallway. We all left in a single file line and got to shake all of their hands which was such a crazy, cool experience. Elder Christofferson liked my name ("Harbertson") And we heard some talks from Elder Amado and his wife, along with Elder Bowen. Then after we heard from Christofferson and it was basically a super cool Q&A for like an hour and a half. It truly was an amazing experience and it turns out that Elder Christofferson is a really hilarious person. Almost every question that was asked he started off with a really funny response that legit had everyone laughing. After that, we went back to our areas and continued to work.
But that night we had the devotional which was amazing!! It was all completely in Spanish and it was at an arena which was super hype!! Elder Bowen, Amado and his wife, and Christofferson all gave their talks and it was an amazing experience for everyone there. Ricardo ended up pullin' up to it like I said before which was super cool!! Also Elder Christofferson's Spanish is absolutely cracked, he sounds so good!!!! That was also a super amazing and tender time for me as well because there were members from all over south Florida who came, and it was a member reunión!! I saw so many of the past members and it made me so happy to see all of them!!!!!
Then the next day, on Sunday, we had Stake Conference and the Mission President, President Cluff and Sister Cluff spoke, along with Elder Bowen which was once again a really spiritual experience.
R&R
We had a R&R which just means Return and Report. The entire zone gets together with an objective in mind, for example our objective was to see how many people we can invite to the Christofferson Devotional, how many MPL's we can get, and how many new people we can find!! Then the entire zone does an exchange, so everyone is with a different comp, and I ended up going up north to work with Elder Miller which was a nice change, we got along great and worked hard. It was a super good time and I loved it!! We ended by inviting over 250 people to the conference which was exhausting, lol. Overall it was a super fun exchange and we got along great, it would be fun to be comps with him sometime!!
Those were the highlights of the last 2 weeks. We have also been working super hard on member relationships and now we are actually getting some member meals in, which is always great!!! The district is also having some struggles of their own so we are trying to help in every way that we can, so if you have a second, please pray for our district, that would go a long way!!!
Spiritual Thought
A scripture came to mind and I'd like to share it with you guys.
Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses
These Scriptures remind me of a quote from Elder Holland in a devotional one time, he said: "Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve."
We all need to let others repent, we need to forgive them for their trespasses, or however they may have harmed us, we need to let eachother grow and to move on. To help progress further in the eyes of the Lord and to become more like christ. I know that as we forgive others, and look to the Lord for strength in doing so, we will receive that strength and mentality necessary to do so.
I love you all and I hope you all have a super amazing week!!
Elder Harby
