Elder 'Cocq', Festivals, & Shovels and Pencils

So this week was literally full of craziness as per usual hahahhahaha. Every week here in the offices brings some new twist to the mission that we have to adapt to and ultimately makes life super interesting. For example on Monday last week Elder Gutierrez came in from Tarija and stayed with us for a solid 4 days to get his paperwork/VISA stuff ready to head off to Brazil to serve his mission. He ended up staying with us for those 4 days and was in a trio with us also. Not only did i get to go and stand in basically DMV sized lines for 4 hours, but i also get to pose as being a Lawyer a lot in order to get stuff done for the missionaries here. Just flash my plaque and everything thinks I´m official....nice.

We had a baptism this week as well for Sheila Mangayari Sorando! She has been listening to the missionaries for a very long time (close to 4 years) and we asked her why she has been coming to church for so long and why she hadn´t decided to get baptized sooner and her response was "Well, nobody before ever convinced that the church was true. I just never got that confirming feeling, but now I do." Her family doesn´t have a whole lot of money and she is a very humble person. Her Uncle Henry is also listening to the lessons but has a disease that effects his ability to walk so he has to go to treatments a lot and also has to use crutches to get around places. But I am super happy for Sheila and i know her example she is setting for the rest of her family will ultimately help them all be united in the gospel some day and enter into the waters of baptism as well. (see foto from baptism) Cleaning the church was pretty great also before the baptism...Here in Bolivia the plumbing is terrible so you can´t throw toilet paper in the toilet (go figure right) so you just throw it in the trash bins and we had the lovely opportunity of cleaning that mess up hahahahahahahahaha.

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On Friday we had a stake wide Festival de Danza which was super awesome! All the 5 wards in our Stake all did a different dance based on the different cultures of Bolivia. We had a TON of investigators come to the activity and all loved it a ton! One of our investigators brought her whole family and kids and parents! It´s amazing how little activities like that can bring communities and people together.

Met some street hippies who made me a twisted metal desk thing with my name "Elder Cocq" on it... close enough. Could´ve been worse hahahahha.

Been studying up lately also for the District meeting I´m giving next thursday and it has really helped me understand the importance of being instruments in the Lord´s hands. What exactly is an instrument? In - Stru - Ment : a thing used in pursuing an aim or policy; a means.

  So, how can we liken ourselves unto the Sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger from chapter 28 of Mosiah? The Sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger began to persecute the church and sought to destroy the reputation of the church by any means necessary i.e lying, deceit, stealing away the hearts of the people, etc. But as we know, Heavenly Father loves all of his children equally. Despite the wrong we may do at times, His arms are ALWAYS outstretched waiting for us to come back into His fold. Just as Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, going in contrary to what the Lord had commanded them to do, through a repentance process, they too were able to be faithful and diligent instruments in the hands of the Lord. As for the sons of Mosiah and Alma, they too after an Angel of the Lord had appeared to them, they too were converted into instruments of the Lord.
    35 And they traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people who were under the reign of king Mosiah, zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church, confessing all their sins, and publishing all the things which they had seen, and explaining the prophecies and the scriptures to all who desired to hear them.
    36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.
    37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.

We too, just as the Lord has showed us in the past, can become Instruments in the hands of Him, if we so desire. But always remember that a shovel is great for digging holes in the hands of a worker and a pencil is a strong utensil in the hands of a skilled writer, but the shovel nor the pencil have any use without the hands. We too at times may be very knowledgeable in the gospel, or may have an arsenal of scriptures at our disposal, but if we don´t live worthy of the guidance (the hands) of the Lord in our teaching or in our lives in general, what good does any of it do? What good does that shovel or that pencil do if the worker never shows up to work or that writer never starts writing? Absolutely nothing. Always, always, always strive to be worthy of the Master and his ability to use us as useful instruments in His hands.​

I'm now a true Boliviano.  Got me some Tire and Nail sandals