Tuesday, June 11, 2013

"Listen and follow the Spirit" story


What’s up family! Well it’s really strange to think of all that is going on over there. It sounds like summer is going to be hot for ya’ll. It’s always hot out here but it’s something you just get used to. The strange thing is that in Utah it will be that hot but you will still be dry. Here it will be like 80-100 and you will just be wet (it’s not all that bad, just kinda the way of life here) but you always are sweating and yep we glisten out here. Haha. It makes riding a bike feel better. Helps keep you cool.

Well other then that, this has been a good week. We were able to teach a lot and were able to have some people start making some steps to help them receive our message.

As for me I had a way cool thing happen this week, well yesterday. I was biking and I passed this lady who was sitting by her porch on the ground (I really didn’t see her till I was already passed) but I waved and we went to where we were going. Then on the way back I saw that she was still there and I felt like I really needed to talk to her but I was at the back of the pack so the other Elders didn’t stop. I had to ride away from her (sight and sound rules) but I went and got them and said that we needed to go back so we did and I rode up to her and just said “I feel like I need to talk to you.” She said “No hablo ingles” and then I started talking to her in Spanish and turns out she is way cool!  She has only been here for 2 months and is way lonely and is from El Salvador and we are going to go back and teach her again! It was a great listen and follow the spirit moment. After we were done we said a prayer with her and she started to cry and I could tell how much she missed her family (she is like 23) and I knew that we had helped her feel better and as we rode off the last thing I saw was her opening the Book of Mormon that we had just given her and starting to read. I want to help that girl know that she is not alone, and see the love that God has for her. That was one of my highlights of this week.

I have really been having fun being a DL. It lets me go on exchanges and because of that I was able to go and work with some of the other Elders in my district and that was great. I have a great bunch of missionaries in this district, Sisters and Elders who are just fun people that love the Lord, It’s showing me that the people who come to do this work are really special. (Not a pat on the back thing haha). There are some really cool people here who just have really solid testimonies. We have a great blessing to come to Texas and learn Spanish because it’s hard. Some missionaries get here and they can just go straight to work and be great at what they do but we get here and learn that we need help (most of us) and that without our companion we wouldn’t know what was going on or how to help the people. We also learn to turn to our Heavenly Father. I don’t know what the difference is between learning Spanish here vs. other countries but it’s hard here because we have people that speak English all around us here. You have to really have faith to walk up to a Spanish speaking person here because you know that the person behind them speaks English and you would be able to talk to them without a problem and yet you walk up to the one that you were sent here to find and you stumble through as best you can. I may not have perfect Spanish, but I have grown so much in my faith. I feel like I can talk with anyone. I feel like I can see people the way that God wants me to. I see them as my brothers and sisters who I was sent to bring a message to. How cool is that. God sent me here just to find them. I know that blessings come from doing what God wants even when we don’t understand exactly why (or what’s going on).

I love ya’ll. I love Texas and I LOVE THE HEAT X 100.

Have a great week,
Elder Birks



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