A Book a Day

Woah! This week was pretty eventful. This Tuesday in district council, the invitation they gave us was to gift a Book of Mormon to someone everyday. Now, I cant lie, normally I forget the invitations from district council, and don’t do them, however, after district council we were in exchanges and we were able to have a cool experience giving away a Book of Mormon in a bakery, so me and my comp decided to follow the challenge, and give a Book of Mormon away, everyday.

On Wednesday, we were coming back from exchanges on Mexibus. Mexibus is a long, train like bus that has its own special lane in the street. Every few blocks there’s a station. It’s always very crowded and almost always we’re standing up. About halfway through the ride, I spotted a woman and the end of the bus, who was crying. The thought I had was to talk to her and see if she was okay, but man, even having 20 months in the mission that’s hard. Approaching someone who’s obviously in distress, crying, at the end of a crowded bus is not something I felt prepared to do, plus I didn’t know what to say. In my mind I honestly decided not to do anything about it and my mind was forming a ton of excuses: “well, were almost at our station”, “ah, theres a lot of people around her, it would be hard to get over there”. Stuff like that. But my mind wouldn't leave me alone. I thought of the baptismal covenant we made to, “mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” and a quote from general conference that says:

“Heavenly Father is more interested in [our] growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ than He is with [our] comfort.”

At that point we had arrived to our station, which is the last one in our area, and the woman was still on the bus, and was still crying. I decided not to get off on our station and just freaking man up and go talk to the crying lady. My comp looked a little confused and I told him what was going on. Finally, we walked over there, and at this point we were like 4 stations out of our area. We asked if everything was alright, wiping her eyes, she said yes, everything was fine. Then we presented ourselves and offered to share a message with her. She said “no, thanks” at that moment I was lost for words, but Im grateful for my companion, cause he acted fast and told her to at least accept a free copy of the Book of Mormon, and that it would help her a lot. We had written our testimonies and our phone number in the front of the book as well. She accepted it, and we finally got off. 4 stations out of our area. We felt really good though and we were very happy we were able to to that and give away a book of mormon. We also had a good lesson with our friend Jorge that night.

Thursday. In the morning we went to go make visits with the Elders quorum president. We visited some folk, including Gabriel, Carlos, and Griselda, our friends in the store. After the visits, me and my comp went home to do our weekly planning (which has never been my favorite). After the planning and stuff, it was time to go eat with members, so we left. On the walk over we passed a very distressed looking woman sitting on a curb with 3 young children. We saw her and.......we kept walking. We didn’t say or do anything. We walked a little farther, stopped and decided to go back and see if she was alright. We approached her and asked if she was okay, if she wanted to hear a message about Jesus Christ. She said no, but half a second later she burst in to tears. She explained that her husband had taking her phone and keys to her house and that her husband hits her and her kids and stuff. It was quite sad. We didn’t know exactly what to do, but we were close by president Francsico’s house, and I knew he’d know what to do, so I called him while my comp entered a store and bought something for the family eat and drink. It turns out the kids were aged 12, 3, and 2. Pretty dang young. President Francisco was very willing to help and they let him enter his house and sit down. He gave us some money to go out and buy something for them to eat. We bought a roasted chicken and some sides and 2 large water bottles. As they ate, the woman explained her sad story. They didn’t have a phone, but president Francisco literally had an extra phone and gave it to them. Before leaving, we gave the family a blessing and of course a Book of Mormon. We had to go so we left them with president Fransico. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

On Friday morning, we were walking by the center of Ecatepec. Its a large center with a lot of people and places to sit. We had a Book of Mormon with us and we wanted to write our names, number, and testimony in it before giving it away. We were actually going to the pharmacy to buy something, but before that, I had the brief thought to go sit on a bench at the other end of the park/center. It was kinda random, but we went. We sat down and started writing our testimony, when we saw someone come up from behind. It was a lady. She asked us what we did. We told her we were missionaries and she seemed really interested. She sat down next to us and we started to explain what we did and get to know her. Her name is Ericka and she’s a government worker. She said she didn’t know what made her approach us, because normally she doesn’t like talking to and approaching people like that. She was extremely kind, we shared that we were there to share the Book of Mormon and explained it. The fact that Jesus came to the Americas seemed to interest her. We gave her the book and she bought us a water and a convenience store near by. She was extremely nice and she gave us her number to talk to her again. Insane experiences with the Book of Mormon, man. That night, we had an activity in the church. Jaime, the ice cream kid came, and Ivan and his brother and mom came. They’re super cool and its been awesome to see them come to the activities.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 5:30 to go to the temple with the ward. Some members had brought an investigator and they wanted us to show her around the visitors center while they entered the temple. The investigator's name is Thaily. She’s pretty young, but seems to have a lot of interest. The sisters in the visitors center gave a really good tour and it was a really good visit. The temple was extremely crowded and I know now, why they’re building 4 temples in the Mexico City area alone. As we were walking through. I heard someone yell my name. “ELDER RIVERA!!” I turned and I saw Elder Sparks, one of my best friends from when we were a lot younger. It was really awesome and we were super excited to talk. We were talking so much that a visitors center sister came up to us and told us to quiet down. It was really a crazy experience and we took a few photos. Its crazy the experiences one has.

That night, we still hadn’t given away a Book of Mormon, she we entered a store and there was a really nice couple there. We talked to them briefly and gave them the book. They accepted.

Sunday. Church was ok. No investigator showed up which was sad. That evening though, we were teaching Armando and Paty, when Armando’s daughter walked in the house. She sat to listen and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon thus, completing the goal of giving a Book of Mormon away everyday. It really was a miraculous week, and we saw the power of the Book of Mormon and were gonna keep up with the goal for the rest of the transfer, ‘cause literally we were able to give a book away EVERYDAY since we pit the goal on Tuesday. Anyway thats all from me. See ya!

Pics

1, 2: Me and Elder Sparks