Arise from the dust, my sons, and be men: January 2015

Monday, January 26, 2015

With the gospel in their eyes

This is the beginning of my letter to President this week:

President Cook,
This week we had two inter-cambios. That was a really cool experience working with Elder Poulter and Elder Sircable. I have learned a lot from both of them and really enjoy both of their company. I reiterate the words of Elder Mendenhall in saying that Elder Poulter is one of the best missionaries I have ever seen. He is so loving and kind to everyone. This is something I wish to learn. Investigators wise we started afresh this week in searching for solids. Sharon, our convert of last week, is incredible and has given us a few. Not only this, but she has had some really cool testimony sharing experiences. It is amazing to see the change that has come over her in only a week.

It goes on, but thats all I want to share from it.

This week I had some cool experiences. As I stated in the letter I was able to go on two inter-cambios (changes / exchanges...... when you switch companions for a day) this week. Haha, the first one was with Elder Poulter. LOVE THAT GUY!!!!!!!! It was his birthday that day. At one point we were in a charla (lesson) when he got a call from a member. Excusing himself, he left the room really quickly to respond to an urgent call that we NEEDED to go to the members house immediately following the charla. Well we finished up (it was a really good lesson that I learned a lot in), and rushed over. Upon arriving, they sat us down and gave us this giant cake. This happened twice. I felt so full of sugar after the day was over. Haha it was a good day.

Now this week I dont want to tell to many more stories (last week my computer shut off before I could print out any letters and I want to make sure I can get those today), but I do want to explain the title of my letter.

I have a firm belief that you can tell a lot about a person (from how they're feeling in that moment to the basis of who they are) by the look they have in their eyes. Now with that said, You can see the gospel in a persons eye. Sharon has been a boss this week in helping us with missionary work It really is incredible to see the change that has come over her. You can see it in her eyes. Both elder Mendenhall and I have noticed that she has a new aura. She seems so much happyier all the time. Not only this, but she is at peace.

Two days ago we had a super cool experience with her. She had invited a friend over while we were there and we began to teach him. At one point, Elder Mendenhall asked her to bear her testimony. She totally had a "Im so and so and Im a mormon moment." Literally, she said the words "Im a mormon" after bearing her testimony about how the gospel has blessed her. It was like watching a Mormon message. Shes a stud.

Thanks guys for everything. I love yall a ton. Thanks for the letters,

La Iglesea es verdadero,

Elder Eliason

Elder Poulter told me that reading the scriptures in spanish out loud with a pen in my mouth would help my accent improve. Surprising take out the pen deal I kind of look like mr. VanGelder in the pic.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Sharon

Man this week has been crazy. As the title of my letter states, pretty much every part of it links back to our investigator Sharon. I mentioned her in my past letters and promised her story this week. Given that its super long and heavy at parts, I will tell the abridged version.

So first off, I must say that This girl has had a crazy amount of opposition to her baptism. Acording to Elder Mendenhall, this has been his baptism with the greatest amount of opposition he has seen yet. After it all was over, I went through and counted 20 different "coincidences" or problems that arose to oppose her entering into the path of exaltation.

We first met her through Sonia (haha as always. Love that woman). Sonia had been tutoring her for years and, one day after we had visited, started talking about the gospel with her. Well she ended up commiting her to baptism that day and setting a date for it. Can I just say that Sonia is incredible.

As we began to teach her, she was super receptive, understood everything, and even asked deep questions to help her understand everything. She was the picture perfect golden investigator.

Thats when Satan opened up his wrench shop (sharon is the reason I made up that analogy a couple weeks ago). I will just list a couple of challenges that came up.

!) her dad got sent to jail for the next 15 years for some bad things he had done to his children, leaving Sharon to testify against him in court

2) her grandparents turned against her and blamed her for puting their son/son in law in prison. They accused her of lying and stirred up a ton of contention.

3)When Elder Mendenhall first got to this area he began teaching a girl named Camilla. The day before her baptism, Camillas mom read some antimormon lies on the internet, decided to become an antimormon, and ended up calling the entire baptism off. Well, guess who is Sharons cousin and aunt. La tia (the aunt) began telling Laticia (sharons mom) and Sharon all these crazy untrue things about the church. Sharon started to avoid us, untill we were able to sit down, have a charla (lesson/chat) with her, and dispel all of her doubts.

4) her mom kept changing her mind about weather or not she should be baptised

Yah. There is a lot more that happened, but I dont want to go into all of it here. It is sufficient to say that 16 more similar things came up to stop things from happening. The week of our final attempt with her before either her baptism or us dropping her, she had decided she wanted to postpone her baptism again because of another huge thing that went down. She was super upset and we didnt know what to do to help her. Thursday night (2 days before the scheduled baptism) we had a super spiritual charla, found her final fear (that her mom wasnt going to support her), resolved it, and this past saturday, she entered the waters dressed in white.

I had the opportunity to confirm her the following day in sacrament meeting. That was a super special experience that I will never forget.

I also had with her and Laticia a charla in which I had never felt the spirt prompt me so strongly. I was able to promise them things I knew were true. That was cool

Thanks guys for everything, hope you have a great week,

Elder Eliason

Tortugone! You can barely eat a quarter in one sitting

Monday, January 12, 2015

Filling bags of potato chips with salt

Dont worry, the title of this weeks email will make sense soon, but Im not going to start there. This letter will be mostly spiritual things, for those are the words that have come to me this week. The pictures however will show the other side of the story. (also, I think Im going to do the list of things that happened again. that is an easy way to organize my thought).

First off: SHARON IS FINALLY GETTING BAPTISED!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness that girl has had so much opposition come at her. She alone is the reason for my wrench shop analogy a couple weeks back. After she gets baptised, I will tell her whole story, but for now Im just stoked that her mom finally agreed and might in fact follow her with the rest of their family in the coming future.

Next: Thank you so much to Mom, the Winters, and The View Point Scouts for the letters I received this week! They made my day! Yall are amazing

third thing Ive been thinking about: so Elder Pope left during changes, leaving us with a new roommate named Elder Sircable from Texas. The guy is super amazing and cool. I have had some super spiritual discussions with that guy that have caused me to think a lot. One quote he gave me that I found kind of cool was "When you pray before you do something, you are consecrating the proceeding actions to the lord. This means if you concentrate on it and work hard at it, well the lords attention is on you and he will help you." Fascinating huh?

4= okay, this is where I get to the title. This is something Brandon Blake will understand from his cooking. I have come up with an analogy between potato chips, salt, and our spiritual progression. The number of potato chips is how much our testimony and faith have grown/are growing. The salt is spiritual knowledge/doctrine that we come to know/receive. If you try feeding someone too much salt at once on their potato chip, It will taste unnatural and will be confusing if not overwhelming to where their testimony is at. I tried to explain intelligences to a guy this week who we had never taught before and explain that God doesn't create our personalities. He was really confused. Well its just some things you learn.

fifth is that people have the ability to change. If we try to take the standpoint of Javert from Le Mis, we are denying the power of the atonement. Now that sounds pretty intense, but its true. The hard part is erasing our impression of that person and seeing them solely as the changed person God sees them as.

Here is something fascinating Elder Bernett told me this week. Elder Bernett is the elderly missionary (as in he is a couple missionary with his wife and is in his 60s or 70s). We were discussing testimonies and he voiced a story that he had had and its analysis (the guys a genius). A while back, he had been talking with a lady about the gospel, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, etc. The following day, the Lady returned and told him that She wanted to be baptised. When she was in high school, a friend had also told her all the same things about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, etc. She had felt the spirit, had recognized the good peace that comes. However, afterward, she had never felt that way until Elder Bernett had shared his testimony. In that moment, the testimony of her friend was brought back, and she recognized the feeling again. Moral of the story is that the Spirit can bring all things to your remembrance. EVERY time you share your testimony, that testimony WILL be remembered at the right moment; In this life or in the next. Bear your testimony often. Thank you to those who have emailed me with stories of doing so:)

I have also had a cool experience of where I have been thinking of the same ideas as Elder Mendenhall for our investigators (always when he asks me what I think we can do). Every time so far It has been a great idea that he has already put into action. He told me that Im learning to follow the spirit more. I havent felt that as much, but it was a really cool experience.

Finally, Elder Solano had a dream The other night. In it he was in some part of his mission in Uruguay that he didnt know when he saw the savior approach him. Christ told him "Elder Solano. Work hard. My hour is coming quickly." He awoke in a sweat, filled with the spirit. I just got shivers telling that story. It is so true.

The work is hastening.

I love you guys a ton!

La Iglesea es verdad,

Elder Eliason

pìchis (pronounced Peachys) are the gangsta guys you see on the streets here. I call this picture either Da Pìchi Nephite or Nephite from da hood

I love Elder Salono and Elder Mendenhall. We thought this was pretty great

So any person at Physical Therapy is probably rolling their eyes saying I didnt learn my lesson when Chris dared me to. They would be right. These were pretty hot

Elder Sircable eating his pepper. That was a fun night.

Monday, January 5, 2015

hmmmmmm, a bunch happened this week. Haha, I know thats profound, but Its true.

the pictures I figure are the main part of my letter this week, but here are some things that happened or lessons I learned.

First off, Elder Solano (the Peruvian missionary who live with us) got a new trainer this week by the name of Elder Sircable. The guy's from texas and is a total stud. Its weird, every time I ask him about things from his high school years, its as if he is retelling my life from a different point of view. He was in marching band (melophone), and did a different sport at the same time (football), was in ap classes, had early morning seminary, ect. The cool part was when we discovered that we had the same huge trial in our lives that we both had to resolve. It was a really cool moment.

Next = spanish. It is fascinating. when I hold normal conversations I struggle to find words and understand what the other person is saying. However, amongst a gospel discussion, especially when I testify, I can understand the better part and speak to the point that the listener can perfectly understand what I am saying. The gift of tongues is real and the spirit does bring light to understanding.

3rdly (yes, that is now a word) The Lord can bring peace and joy to the soul, especially when we find ourselves focusing our thought on him and what he would have us do. I like to daydream and just think of random things, however, I have found that when I think about the mission and what I can do for my companion, I feel so much happier. This has been one of my biggest struggles, but at the same time one of the most powerful things I am learning. Thoughts lead to actions, actions lead to who you become.

Cuatroly (my intense spanglish coming out), this week we received a referral to a place a little farther out than normal. Now, I had heard that there were places in Uruguay that were really poor and where the people had nothing (there is no middle class here. you are either rich or poor). I thought I had seen the poor when I walked in to the cement 2 room houses, but that still even had a bathroom. This house we visited really opened my eyes. I was a 1 room wooden box, sized about 12 feet by 12 feet by 8 feet high. Oh yeah, and 6 people lived in it. Man. that really humbled me. We have so much in the states. never forget how grateful you are for that.

Anyways, love you guys. Hope you have a great week.

La Iglesea es verdad,

Elder eliason