Semana 8: "Of course I believe in God! Why are you calling me?!?"

Hi guys! I cannot believe that it is already week 8! I feel like the time is starting to pick up a lot faster so that is good! I finally get out of quarantine later today and I am so beyond stoked! This week has been pretty slow with finding people, not going to lie we found I think 2 new people to teach this week after hundreds and hundreds of calls. I'm pretty sure one of them just wants to Bible bash us so we will see how that goes, we teach him tomorrow. But he seems like a nice guy! 

My companions are so awesome they make the mission so fun! Thank heavens they love Christopher Nolan just as much as I do we love quoting the Dark Knight and Inception. We also listen to the Interstellar soundtrack just about every night which is so awesome. We have been teaching this guy named Jeremy and he is so awesome and we have seen a lot of progress with him the past two weeks. We have been going through the commandments with him slowly because we don't know what ones he struggles with at the moment but he seems willing to make the necessary changes to turn his life around and be baptized! He is really the only progressing person we have at the moment which is hard but we are continuing to work hard. We were teaching this man named Julio and he only speaks Spanish and he was SO elect! We were about to put him on date for baptism because he seemed so so ready. We asked him for his address so we could have a member drop off a book of Mormon in Spanish and some pamphlets and he lives in Manhattan! That was so hard to hear for Elder Culebro and I because he was the only one we were teaching in Spanish. We had to transfer over his records to the New York City missionaries where hopefully they will take care of him and continue to encourage him to push forward. 

Elder Culebro and I during prime time!

My branch is so awesome! The people here are so sweet and nice. There is this one boy, his name is Xavier and he is 19 years old. He is from the Philippines and his family immigrated here several years ago. He is such an awesome guy and he is the perfect example of being Christlike. He got his mission call last week to the San Francisco mission and he will be speaking his native language which is so exciting! We got to listen to him speak in church over zoom and he absolutely killed it! Speaking of giving a talk in church, the Branch President asked me to speak in church in 3 weeks ahaha! I guess that is what happens when you are over a branch with 41 active members. 

The finding is pretty difficult at the moment especially with winter rolling around and the sun setting so early. I called this one random guy and he was so angry with me for calling and I asked him if he believed in God and he said "Of course I believe in God! Why are you calling me?!? It's way too late to be calling random numbers!" It was 6:45. 

Just one of my edits that I made!

Besides that nothing really crazy went on this week. I am really excited to get out of quarantine and actually talk to people in person. I want to share something with you guys that really wowed me. We had a training/lesson with President Vest and he talked about the process of becoming and it was so so powerful. I will attach a picture of my notes down below this. Our goal on this earth is to learn and gain experience like our father in heaven. We are trying to be like him and be exalted. But how do we obtain exaltation? It starts with a testimony. We need gain a knowledge of what the things the prophets and scriptures say are true. But we also need to understand that although a testimony is necessary, it is not sufficient. It is called eternal progression for a reason and we must constantly work towards this goal of becoming like God. The driving force from testimony to exaltation is Humility. I know that if we humble ourselves and recognize that Gods will is far more important than our own, we will be a lot happier and we have already made that step in the right direction. This is something I've been working on a lot lately. I know that I really need to humble myself in order to be the best teacher and disciple of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the life I have been given and I know this church is true. 

The Process of Becoming Chart

I am so beyond grateful for each and every one of you! I love you all! I hope you have a great rest of your week and remember that Jesus loves you! He knows what are you struggling with and I invite you to take to your knees and ask God for help and I know he will help you in ways you wouldn't even expect! Till next week!

- Elder Scown

One of my favorite pics of Jesus Christ!