Hoooooola!
So we're here a little later this week, because of interviews with President Saylin. But now I'm here!
It's been an interesting week. We're going into the last push for the Gladys Knight devotional, which is going to start up this next coming week. Elder Burbank will be helping to usher and receive tickets, so Elder Ruske and I (Elder Ruske's companion, Elder Christensen, will be doing the same thing) will be working in both areas during those nights, but hopefully we'll also be able to bring one or more investigators to those performances. I'm pretty sure all of the tickets are gone, but the mission reserved 60 tickets for each session - on a first come, first receive basis. So today, we're going to be looking for the person or people whom we can bring to the devotional!
Grandpa had a surgery over the past week? It's good to hear that he's doing fine. Was it planned or kind of 'spur of the moment'? When are they going to Utah? I guess it really must not have been too big if they're still planning on going over to Utah soon.
Oh, and about the EFY CD - Kaytlin sent me the lyrics to one of her favorite EFY songs on the new CD - Maybe she has a copy of it that you can take the songs and put them on there? And I'm really looking forward to hearing all ya'lls voices! They don't have to be super long (I'm not even sure on how much it'll hold in the first place!), but I'm still excited to hear ya'll!
President Saylin talked about really becoming "Houston Latinos" because there are so many people here from South and Central America. At the Spanish Conference about 2 weeks ago, one of his counselors, Presidente Del Aguila, talked about people who will come back from their missions and be able to say, "You know, I served in Mexico." And we can say, "Yeah...me, too!" And there are people who will be able to come back from Guatamala and say, "I served in Guatamala." We can say, "Yeah...me, too!" The same with El Salvador. There are so many people here from all the southern parts of this continent, that this really can be Mexico, or Guatamala, or El Salvador, or Honduras. There are places, even right here in Houston, that you can walk down the street and not see a single store sign in English. It's awesome!
President Saylin, in the same Spanish Conference, said that we cannot become them, and we shouldn't pretend to be them, but we can become Houston Latinos. He talked about getting to know their customs and culture, their likes and their dislikes, what makes them laugh and what...doesn't.
So, I was thinking of a way that I can get to know them better, and I thought of something that you sent a while ago, but I've replaced over the past year: those little maps of Mexico and Honduras. Could you possibly send a few more? They don't have to be big; I'm just kind of looking for some maps of where I can see the country, the states (or 'Departmentos' as they're called in some places), and some of the major cities. That way, when they say, "I'm from Usulutan," or something along those lines, I can say, "Oh! That's on the east, right next to the ocean, isn't it?" And then we've already got a little bit of a better connection! I hope that's not too much to ask. Would you be able to send maps like that of Mexico, Guatamala, El Salvador, Argentina, and Honduras? They could probably even be those that you can print off of the computer or something like that. That would be great!!
We had something called 'Fiestas Patrias' this past Saturday at the Church. It was an activity for the ward, Houston 2, where Guatamala, El Salvador, Mexico, Uruguay, Honduras, and Puerto Rico had booths set up with food (the best part!) and just different parts of the culture (America was represented there, too - but with just a flag behind the table and some lemonade for people to try ). That's the majority of the population of the ward - and there are a lot of people from El Salvador. After the fiesta, I just felt like I wanted to be Guatamalteco, or Mexicano, or Salvadoreno! It was just a super-cultural celebration! Elder Burbank, the next day, pointed to the sign on the gym that said 'Cultural Center' and said, "You know, yesterday is probably one of the first times it was actually used as that!"
Things are going well here with Elder Burbank. President Saylin, in the interview I had with him today, suggested that I try to be more of myself. He told me that I need to work on breaking down a little bit of that wall, because that Elder Collins is the one that was called to be the trainer of Elder Burbank. I'm looking forward to bettering our companionship even more, and really returning to feeling comfortable with being myself. It's going to be interesting!
And now, we're already into preparing for General Conference! Wow, time flies. The first week of October is coming up fast! It's definitely necessary in these days that we have the comfort and counsel from prophets, seers, and revelators of God in these days. How great of a blessing it is to have Special Witnesses of Jesus Christ who continuously talk to us and help us receive direction for what we need to do in these upcoming months!
Justin - CONGRATS ON THE DRIVER'S LICENSE!!! Remember - "With great power comes...insurance, fees, and yes, responsibility." Be safe, be responsible, but enjoy it! Congrats!
Kristin - How are you? I miss hearing from you! I still have one of your pictures up on the wall, right behind my desk. It reminds me of you!
Kaytlin - I couldn't get a letter written so far, but I'll have one written on Thursday. Thanks for your letter!! Keep up the good work!!!
I love you all!! I have to go (I think we actually have a 30 minute ride back to our area today - different library). I'm looking forward to getting those letters in the mail! I'll be keeping an eye out!!
Les amo a todos, con todo me corazon!!
A infinidad, y mas alla!!!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Devin Collins
P.S: Mom, Dad - I'm not leaving you out!! Thank you for all you do, and how hard you've always worked and tried so that we stay on the right path and Choose the Right!! Keep up the hard work, your examples mean so much to me.
I love you!!!
Elder Devin Collins
No comments:
Post a Comment