This week was a good but crazy week! I feel like there is actually a ton to write about this week but not sure if I can remember everything.. I guess I will start out with the big events that I do remember:
First, we had a branch talent show on Friday! It was super hectic and kinda disorganized but I thought it actually turned out super well. We invited everyone we could think of but the problem was no one really wanted to share a talent so it basically was up to the missionaries to do all of the talents in the show. We are lucky because we had Andres Cruz to help us out. Andres Cruz (the guy that you talked to on sunday) is amazing at planning and running activities. We always have to fight to get him at an activity because all the missionaries know that he makes any activity become fun and meaningful. Andres helped us plan all these skits so we did 3 different skits in the talent show. They all turned out super good and funny and I got the video so I will have to show everyone when I get home. There were about 4 other talents that fell through that ward members were going to do, but the missionaries are always there to save the day when no one has anything planned. We had quite a few investigators come and Ramon, our recent convert, even decided to sing at the end for everyone. He all surprised us because we had never heard him sing before! His wife, Gloria, was dying because she was so embarrased that he went up in front of everyone and started singing. They remind me of Granda and Grandpa Armstrong because I remember that Grandma would get embarrased of Grampa sometimes haha!
The other thing that happened is we had a Zone conference on Saturday; the last one with Pres. Prince. It was one of the best conferences we had I think because he talked about something that we need to apply as much in our lives as the mission work. He taught us how to plan and set goals. My favorite part was that we learned that we should each have a vision in the mission and in our areas. He taught us that we need to have a vision then we need to set goals and plans to accomplish our vision. I think we could all accomplish so much if we applied that. I don`t think I have ever really had many visions in life, but now I am starting to learn that I can have a vision and I need to set goals to accomplish my vision. The other thing he taught us is that we need to take account for our vision. If we are not reviewing our goals and not having people verify with us then we will probably never reach what we want. There is a quote in Preach my Gospel in the "using time wisely" section by Elder Ballard. It says something like that if we don`t learn to set goals in life then we will arrive to an old age and look back on our lives and realize that we only accomplished a small part of our potential. I hope that you all can learn to have visions and set goals because there are already moments where I look back and realize that I could have accomplished a lot more! I realized that I need to have a vision for our zone and area and I am so excited to apply what I learned in this conference in the rest of my mission and when I get back from the mission too.
The other big event that we had was the district conference with the district of Palmira. It was cool because it was like the farewell for Pres. and Sis. Prince from Palmira. On Sunday there were about 500 members that showed up and after the conference, we all took a picture with Pres. Prince. It was sad to see the first little goodbyes from Pres. Prince, but we know we are going to see him at least a couple of more times before he leaves at the end of June.
Well that`s about all the news I have time for because I want to send you all some pictures of the talent show and stuff :) Thanks for all the pictures from Brandon`s wedding! Those were so cool and I am so sad that I couldn`t be there, but I guess that`s how it works sometimes.. I am glad that you guys are getting prepared for the trek too. I know you will do a great job! Love everyone a lot and I will talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Armstrong
