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February 24, 2014

"¡Espera! ¡Espera!" (Feb. 17, 2014)

As a wise man once said... "Well....that was an interesting week."

First off, logistics: I found out that my companion from the CCM, Elder Fordham is now in the office of the mission! It was very exciting to run into him again and get some time to chat (but this time in Spanish). After that, I met my new hijo: Elder Quispe. He is 20 years old and from Cusco, and he has a sister serving a mission also. Other than that...I know nothing else about my companion hahaha. Oh well, at least I am a Papi! 

Also, to demonstrate the fruits of language study in the mission: Watakushi wa Dax Kanemochi desu.  (Apparently in Japanese it is I am Dax Rich. Bacan.)

Okay, now the explanation of the title. We had stake conference on Saturday and Sunday, and it was nice and spiritual, and we had investigators there, and people were smiling and singing, and yeah. It was all a good stake conference should be, until a man bore his testimony. A returned missionary got up and bore his testimony, and then said something about how even though Joseph Smith was born 200 years ago, we can still appreciate his story today. Well, that was a mistake. In the congregation of at least 500 people, the man 3 persons to my right stood up and yelled, "¡Espera! ¡Espera! (in Spanish) My grandmother was born BEFORE Joseph Smith! Therefore SHE is older than him!" (Direct translation, by the way.) No one knew what to say or do, and the poor returned missionary stood speechless. We finally got the man to sit down and be quite, until the Mission President’s wife got up and started speaking, to which the man stood up again and applauded her. Yeah....it was certainly worth writing in my journal hahaha.

To finish off this entry for the blog, I´ll share a quick thought from my study of the scriptures. About 6 months ago, I had a meeting with the mission president in the CCM and he talked about how he loved the story of Nephi in the Book of Mormon, because Nephi grew so faithful and righteous that he got to the point that he just flat out hated sin itself. In 2 Nephi 9:49 his brother Jacob writes: "He aquí, mi alma aborrece el pecado." It is short, but it is awesome to see how both Nephi and Jacob grew so faithful and righteous that just sin itself became displeasing and horrible to them. It is certainly a goal that I want to set for myself: to one day also have such a hatred for sin itself. And that is the beauty of the Gospel: we can always improve ourselves and come closer to God. Anyways, I recommend for everyone reading the blog to study 2 Nephi chapter 9 specifically. It is just full of everything to explain this life, the next life, and well God’s plan for us really. 

Anyways, thanks to all for reading the blog and keeping up to date with me. I am praying for you all and hope that you are all seeing the Lord’s hand in your lives in one way or another! 

¡Gracias y cuídense mucho!

- Elder Dax Rich

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