This week has been surreal. Every one in my district has
said multiple times how hard it is to believe we are in Mexico. It feels like
we are on another planet to be perfectly honest and it is what I imagine heaven
will be like. Everyone is always respectful, speaks cleanly, work from 6 in the
morning to 10 at night, and where else on earth do you look around and see
people discussing the Book of Mormon on a beautiful green lawn or see a group
of teens kneeling in the middle of the side walk deep in sincere prayer and not
think they are high on something? Literally the most amazing place ever. We are
literally on consecrated and sacred ground where our entire purpose is to come
closer to God and serve. How is that not the coolest thing you have ever even
heard about?
So my first P-day was a blessing because we just relaxed and
talked to our families and played basketball for 6 straight hours and then had
a devotional to end it all. My idea of an absolute perfect day. The devotional
was all about obedience and the Atonement and we sang ¨Mas Cerca, Dios, a Ti¨
(Nearer my God to Thee) and the building was shaking with the Spirit.
The next day was our sixth and final lesson with ¨Carlos¨
and it gave me a testimony of the gift of tongues. Elder Germann and I were
rushing to get ready in the morning and were in the bathroom brushing our teeth
when we heard a slam. We turned around and the door to our apartment had been
blown shut by the wind and all of our lesson plans and Spanish notes were
locked in there. We had five minutes to make it to our appointment so we said a
quick prayer pleading for help and went to teach.
The first thirty seconds of the lesson went terribly and we
were struggling when I managed to ask if we could start the lesson with a
prayer. I began to pray in Spanish and for all I know I was blessing food that
wasn´t there when all of the sudden Spanish started flowing through me. I
explained the perfect example of Jesus and His earthly ministry and Elder
Germann flowed in bore his testimony on the Savior´s suffering in the garden
and His death on the cross. I finished by bearing my testimony of happiness and
asked him to be baptized and he committed! Even though he is just a volunteer
and the lesson wasn´t all that critical to his eternal salvation, there were no
dry eyes at the end of the lesson.
Thursday was all language study. We were doing some study on
the computer when a couple of Elders in our district threw up. In only a couple
hours almost 80 missionaries had a very bad stomach virus that caused vomiting
and diarrhea and three people were taken to the hospital because of
dehydration. I was headed to my dorm with Elder Germann when some Hermanas
stopped us. They explained one of their companions had been very sick for about
two weeks and was making a good recovery when she caught this new bug and she
was not doing well at all. She had lost 15 pounds and was very very pale and
was about to be taken to the hospital. They had called our Branch President, Presidente Ruiz, and requested a blessing. As he was unavailable he recommended
they find ME and ask for one. That brings us to when they found me and they
took me to the house of this sick Hermana. Elders are not permitted in the
houses of Hermanas and we did not have special permission nor time to get it so
we half carried this girl across the street to an empty classroom.
I was so nervous I was shaking because I had never been
involved with a blessing before. I asked her if she wanted Elder Germann to do
it because he had many times but she refused and said she knew I was supposed
to be the one to do it. So Elder Germann anointed her with oil and before I
knew it everyone was looking at me ready for me to do my part. I slowly placed
my hands on her head with Elder Germann and silently prayed to some how do
this. I began to pray. I could barely get words out and what I did get out was
choked whispers. I had just finished the set script you have to say when I felt
more power than I have ever felt before. I felt actual, physical priesthood in
my body and I started to shake. I knew what I had to say and I said it without
any pause. I blessed her and assured her and comforted her in words that were
not my own.
As I closed the blessing I felt all of the warmth or
whatever was in me move into my hands and then into this girl. I felt so tired
and weak that I barely uttered ¨Amen¨ and ended the blessing. Then this sister
who had barely been able to stand let alone walk to the building stood, shook
my hand, and RAN to her companion and hugged all her sisters there. It was the
most humbling experience I have yet had in my life. I sat down and closed my
eyes exhausted from what had just happened and listened to the singing of the
sister I had just blessed as she skipped down the hall ( she has a beautiful
voice but had not been able to sing for three weeks). I was about to doze off
when someone softly tapped my shoulder.
It was an Elder I had never met before and he told me a
sister in his district was very sick and she had asked for me to bless her. It
was a girl I had seen maybe twice and the only time we had talked was when she
could not handle her food tray so I carried it to her table for her. Elder
Germann and I said we would and the exact same thing happened. It was hard and
scary at first but somewhere in the middle I felt such power in me and then
released it into this sister. I am convinced that I have never been that tired
in my life. Not after any long day at work or a day of traveling or a 13-match
wrestling tournament. And as before she got up thanked us with tears in her
eyes and went on with her studying as if she had never been sick. Since then I
have blessed about 9 other missionaries.
The next day was not quite THAT crazy spiritual but some fun
stuff still happened. Now, knowing me it probably does not surprise you that
when I was given the option of playing basketball with the Mexican kids who
were about as good with their hands as white people are with their feet or with
the 7-foot college players and kids from Lone Peak High School I chose the
latter. The upside was that I am so small that I can drive hard and lay it into
the hoop. Well about 30 minutes into the game I drove and got fouled hard with
an elbow to the head but came up with that dumb this-hurts-but-I-can´t-show-it
face and walked to the top to take the ball again. Everyone was looking at me
wide-eyed and I could not figure out why for almost a full minute when I felt my
head and pulled away my hand completely red. So that ended the game and long story
short I took a shower, went to the clinica and got it taped up. The best part
of the story is that I was being worked on for about 45 minutes and about 44 of those minutes were used taping it together as best they could. The last minute was used
putting a piece of gauze and two pieces of tape on my eye and I was instructed
to wear this sorry excuse for an eye patch for FOUR FREAKING DAYS!! Their reasoning was that it would keep my eyes closed so I would not move the wound
too much so it would not scar.
I lasted about twenty minutes until I tore it off assuming
that girls probably like a good scar more that an eye patch so I took my
chances with the tape. It has healed quite nicely though.
Saturday and Sunday were a blur of study, blessings, and
spiritual meetings. We watched the best talk I have ever heard by Elder Bednar
about missionary work and the character of Christ given at the Provo MTC and I
know that if any missionary there had needed any inspiration or help that was
without doubt the answer.
Yesterday was just another good day. We got a new
¨investigator¨ and without any books other than the Book of Mormon we converted
her to baptism on our first lesson...in Spanish. Other than that it was just
study and work and being happy. This whole zone leader thing is so hard and
demanding and I often have to be in three places at once but I have never been
happier. I am a total believer in the scripture that explains when you are
serving others you are only serving God. I have also been reading the Book of
Mormon at every possible moment. I am already almost done with Helaman.
Well, I have to sign off for now. I love everyone so much. I
feel your prayers. I feel your love. I love what I am doing. I love service. I
love my family. I love my God.
With prayers and love,
Elder Aidan Daley Rich
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