Find the Fallen Placa

                                                                             Crazy Cows.

 

 

 

 

 

Querida Familia,

 

Thanks for always writing and sending love from the States.

This week was pretty pilas (awesome) We ended up having lots of success. This weekend was the weekend of our stake conference. The talks given were amazing and brought a wonderful spirit into the chapel. We had a family of investigators sitting on the front row. I watched them as they listened to the beautiful choir sing, and could tell that they had felt the joy and peace of the Spirit this day.

I also was filled with a super great energy after leaving church this Sunday, feeling positive, thinking positive, and being positive. Right now in our ward we are planning the baptism of little Sofia, who is a young 11 year old girl in a partial family. We are always working really closely with the familia Pac. They are a huge family of 7, and they are super pilas, Katy, the oldest daughter also came to church by surprise. And the family up front was Hermana Elsi, Hermana Sylvia (Elsi´s mom) and Elsi´s two young daughters. One Elder from the 70, Elder Maravilla, came and spoke, He was super awesome. He had this huge Honduran accent, but super awesome.

It’s funny now, how I can guess where anyone is from just by listening to their accents. The accents from Honduras, Peru, and Nicaragua are super easy to tell apart.

 

This week a few chistoso things happened.

My companion had super bad back pain this week, like super mal, entonces he called the nurses and of course they said, lighten you load, and take ibuprofen..... Duh da duh, what inspired advice given from certified nurses....... seeing as we had already tried that. Anyways, his pain got so bad, that I was like, bro, elder, you need to call them again and let them know that it hurts to breathe, like obviously there is something wrong. He insisted that we first asked one of our investigators who is a doctor what was going on. So we went to Maritza and Fernando´s house- they are Sofia’s parents, the girl who is going to be baptized, and after sharing a lesson. Elder Muse asked Fernando what he thought could be wrong with his back. The wife, who is also a doctor immediately started to yank on my comps shirt in front of everyone... The bishops wife, other members, sofia. Maritza was ready to do a full on check up right there in the living room. Well, Fernando stepped in and was like, Bueno.... lets take him to another room, I´m going to see what’s wrong here. So fernando went with us the back room and started feeling my comp´s back, he said, that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and that it could have been some sort of painful spasm. Anyways, so he left the room mumbling and I heard him saying something like... well, we may as well inject him, and I was like uhuhuhuh..... And so I looked into the living room where he had left, and what would ya know He was pulling out a huge needle from this box, and the wife was filling it with some sort of medicine, ¡SABER de Que? And I looked at E. Muse, his face like, eeeeeehhhhh, mmmm, uhuuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh, and the next thing that happened was muse was one the bed, and they shot him in the butt, with some pain killer, and in an hour his back pain was cured...... it was super funny cause it just happened so fast. The good thing is, that they shot him up with real medicine, and that they are actual certified doctors, and not some crazy kíché speaking corte ladies, haha. So ya, lesson learned, never mention your sicknesses of pains to members- you never know what might happen.

Also this week, I wanted to tell you all a story.

As we were walking yesterday around 7:45 pm. down a rocky dirt road, I felt like I had dropped something, but it was super dark, and I didn´t think anything of it, and decided that I must have just kicked a rock of something. We kept walking, arrived at our cita (apointment) and taught a complete lesson without realizing until the end of the last prayer that I really was missing something... ¡MI PLACA! (My nametag)

As I looked down at my white shirt pocket, searching for my pen, I noticed that the small black name tag, that contains the words "ELDER DALTON, LA IGLESIA DE JESUCRISTO DE LOS SANTOS DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS", was not there. Ugh, I thought, instantly wishing that I had my placa back, I started to think and ponder and realized that it had to have fallen down back in the rocky dirt road. I had walked for so long without noticing, and even had taught a whole lesson without looking down at my placa.

Immediately after leaving the last lesson of the night, I told Elder Muse, Hey, we have to go back and look for my placa, its the same placa that I received back in my house in Utah before leaving on the mission. So we started to make our way back to the dark rocky dirt road. Not to far after from leaving the cita, I decided that we should pray before embarking on the search for my fallen placa. We reached the dirt road within 6 minutes, and began searching with the light of the cell phone in the dark, and the rain, for my placa. We searched for about 10-15 minutes, maybe even less, and finally I saw the small dark outline of what I thought could be my placa. Luckily, yes it was my placa, unluckily it had broken in half, and was covered in mud. (But that ain´t nothing that good ol´super glue can´t fix.)

I´d like to apply this story to the Gospel in our own lives today.

How long are we going to take.... before we look at ourselves, and realize.... wait- am I missing something?? Do I have everything I need? Am I doing everything I need to be doing? Or have I left something behind, that I once knew, or that I once held dear and important. As we enter into the covenant of baptism, whether performed at the age of 8 or any age above that of 8, we promise that we "are willing to take upon (us) the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them." How long does it take before we start to forget, leave behind, or take for granted the promise we have made. How long does it take us, before we look down at our shirt pocket and realize.... that our placa, or our covenant has fallen, and we have lost it. Maybe we don´t lose it completely, and that’s the most scary part. Maybe we stop reading the scriptures regularly, maybe we never started at all; Maybe we slowly stop going to regular church meetings, Maybe we start to miss taking the sacrament; Maybe we start missing tithing payments, and start spending our money in places that don´t serve us in the way that Heavenly Father would like. Have we stopped doing these things? Have we stopped keeping the covenants that we have made with our Heavenly Father. I invite us all, I included, to look around, and take note... Are we missing something??

When I noticed that my placa was missing, I immediately felt sad, but after recognizing, I went straight out, and searched for it. And thanks to a simple prayer I was able to find my placa half buried and broken in the mud.

Once we notice the habits and customs that have fallen from us, (maybe daily prayer, or spending time with the family, or whatever it may be) we need to get up and search for them. And the best way to find them, get them back, and start putting them back in practice comes with help from God. I testify to you all, if we have left something behind, He can help us get it back, with humble prayer. It doesn´t matter how far your placa has fallen, how far it has sunk into the mud- even it reaches the point of snapping in half, the Lord can heal you, and he will help you.

As before said, I invite us all, to look at ourselves, and realize that we aren´t perfect, but that doesn’t mean we can´t become better. Look for the things that might be missing, for the habits that might have fallen from us. I challenge us to pray for help from our Heavenly Father to become better, to find the fallen placa, and repair the damaged one. Realize now, what needs to be changed. Search now, for the solution.

So... Will you do so, will you all search for you "fallen placa" whatever it may be, find it, and put it back on.

I promise as you do so, you will receive many wonderful blessings from above- Less stress, more peace- Less fear, more hope- Less anger, and more happiness.

I leave you this promise, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

My companion had super bad back pain this week, like super mal, entonces he called the nurses and of course they said, lighten you load, and take ibuprofen..... Duh da duh, what inspired advice given from certified nurses....... seeing as we had already tried that. Anyways, his pain got so bad, that I was like, bro, elder, you need to call them again and let them know that it hurts to breathe, like obviously there is something wrong. He insisted that we first asked one of our investigators who is a doctor what was going on. So we went to Maritza and Fernando´s house- they are Sofia’s parents, the girl who is going to be baptized, and after sharing a lesson. Elder Muse asked Fernando what he thought could be wrong with his back. The wife, who is also a doctor immediately started to yank on my comps shirt in front of everyone... The bishops wife, other members, sofia. Maritza was ready to do a full on check up right there in the living room. Well, Fernando stepped in and was like, Bueno.... lets take him to another room, I´m going to see what’s wrong here. So fernando went with us the back room and started feeling my comp´s back, he said, that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and that it could have been some sort of painful spasm. Anyways, so he left the room mumbling and I heard him saying something like... well, we may as well inject him, and I was like uhuhuhuh..... And so I looked into the living room where he had left, and what would ya know He was pulling out a huge needle from this box, and the wife was filling it with some sort of medicine, ¡SABER de Que? And I looked at E. Muse, his face like, eeeeeehhhhh, mmmm, uhuuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh, and the next thing that happened was muse was one the bed, and they shot him in the butt, with some pain killer, and in an hour his back pain was cured...... it was super funny cause it just happened so fast. The good thing is, that they shot him up with real medicine, and that they are actual certified doctors, and not some crazy kíché speaking corte ladies, haha. So ya, lesson learned, never mention your sicknesses of pains to members- you never know what might happen.