On the Up End

Howdy Family!

Can’t believe another week’s already gone by! Luckily this week went a lot better than the last one, thanks to your prayers, I’m sure! I really am so blessed to have all you guys back at home, and also in Argentina, supporting and praying for me. You’re the best.

So this week I learned a lot about the mission but I don’t have a ton of time, so I’ll just share a couple of things.

First, we have been teaching quite a bit of older people recently for some reason and it’s taught me so much patience, but also makes me think a ton about my own Grandpa Crump back at home. Just like him, our investigators are a little stubborn at times and like to be a bit of a hassle, but all you can do is just love them. I now try to think of every older person we teach as my own Grandpa, and convey the same love I have for him, to the people here. It helps a lot. I think back on the many hours I spent working in the park with my Grandpa and know it was a blessing-to teach me patience and an understanding of how older people, well... function, haha.

Another thing I have learned with my companion and the investigators we have, is to just worry about their lives instead of my own. Pretty much people want to talk about me, me, me, and don’t really care to listen to what the other person actually wants to say. We teach with members here and it’s just really difficult because all they want to talk about sometimes is their own lives and how they use the gospel. When really we are all there at the investigators house to help the investigator, not to talk about how great our lives are. So this week my goal is to try really hard to share the experiences I have had in my life with total humility and then just sit back and listen to what our investigators want to say. Even if it means hearing a Grandpas-hour-long-war-story. It’s all worth it in the end.

My companion decided to change a whole bunch of stuff recently and it’s been a little rough adjusting, but things are definitely on the up end. This week I have learned to just laugh when he gets mad and focus on the people we are teaching, not on my comp. Really, overall things have gotten much better than last week and it’s been such a blessing. I can finally make my comp laugh and we are doing a lot better, relationship wise, than last week. Thank heavens, haha. He may use my bar of soap and eat all my food all the time but that’s ok. I’ll get over it. I just gotta do my best to continue to love him is all. 

That’s about it for the week. It was a good one and definitely made me a lot more excited about the future here out in the field. Times get rough yes, but everything is already on the up end of things so I’m just hoping next week gets even better! It’s crazy to think of how terrible I felt last week at this time but how I have already gotten a little better. I really have been blessed. Love you guys!!

Elder Crump 

 

Matthew, his companion and other elders at the El Salvador San Salvador Temple

The Chalchuapa Zone at the temple.