last week i was told all Elders going to paraguay would need to stay an additional week, or until we recieved more news. on saturday night i recieved my schedule for an 8th week in the CCM. the problem in paraguay was some government issue. Problems with visas in the country had made them decide not to let any elders into the country until it was fixed. Knowing how slow govt works, we prepared to stay at least until december. However, on sunday, the 7 elders to paraguay decided to fast together. i fasted and prayed that we would be able to enter the field this week. whether that meant the visa problem would clear and we would travel to paraguay or that they would send us to the states to work until we could leave to paraguay. i asked heavenly father to send us to the field in a maximum of 7 days. Moroni 7:26 assures us that whatsoever thing ye ask in faith, which is good, believing ye shall recieve, it shall be given you. i kept this scripture in my heart all day long, constantly praying, telling Heavenly Father that i didnt hope we were leaving this week, but that i really believed we could leave. i believed He would give us a way that we could begin our ministry this week.
it was quite the spiritual experience. and since that day every prayer i have included the same plea. anyway, last night elder Lovelace and I arrived to our casa late. our district leader let us know that we had recieved a phone call 5 minutes earlier. we would be leaving to paraguay not only this week, they said, but tomorrow morning!
so we spent ALL night packing our things, and i leave for the airport in about an hour!
this can be nothing short of a miracle. the front desk had told us that govt issues take weeks to solve, maybe even months, and that we had to be patient. im still not sure why heavenly father decided to extend my stay here, but i feel like this was it. my testimony of Fasting and the knowledge of the power and the magnitude that faith has is way more important that one more week in the field. my testimony has been made so much stronger through this experience. through my many latino classes and other things i´ve been through this week, i have been taught how to love people i dont even know, people that are very different from myself. i have learned how to see the children of God the way that god sees them - by their potential. i have learned how important faith is. and my desire to teach and bring souls unto remembrance of their father in heaven has increased to the point of no return. i cant wait to be in paraguay, understanding nothing anyone tells me, waking up to coconut spiders in my bedroom, and loving the people that heavenly father has sent me to teach.
and so, i probably wont have time to write later this week, i dont know when it will be, but thanksgivings is this thursday. not until i was given a missionary mind set did i realize how important thanksgiving is. without gratitude an individual is nothing. it is the basic ingredient that makes an ordinary person extraordinary in the sight of God. we have been taught here that as our understanding of the atonement increases, our desire to share will equally increase. through our gratitiude for the savior´s sacrifice and our willingness to use it as often as needed, we can be made more selfless, more loving, and more strong in our resolves.
im thankful for you all and the examples you have been for me. you have all had a part in shaping and molding me into the person i am today. have a good thanksgiving, eat some mashed potatoes for me, and God Bless.
Con Amor
-Elder Glasgow
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