Long time no see

Here are the questions Robbie was responding to this week:

• Tell us more about Elder Holman and why you guys get along so well.
• How often do you teach English classes? How many students are there?
• You said some of your English students have turned into investigators, tell us about them.
• You said Mondays are a pretty set schedule, what else in your weekly schedule is set?
• Spiritual highlight this week? Is it harder to have a spiritual highlight when you're busy with administrative stuff?

Hey all,

It really doesn’t seem that long, haha. The posters look sick. Looks like cap 4 has a good rep. (The varsity water polo team has banners hanging at the high school...cap 4 was Robbie's number. :)

I don’t know what it exactly is about Elder Holman that makes us get along really well. I think part of it is that he’s American. The American elders are all really cool. Most of the the time the Canadians spend WAAY more money, it’s definitely helped me realize that money issues definitely matter a lot in relationships. It’s nice that Elder Holman and I are both really cheap. He’s also just a really humble guy, which brings a lot of miracles. He’s a super hard worker. It’s great.

We teach englishconnect (that’s the English class) once a week, every Wednesday. Our Wednesdays and Fridays are both pretty similar week to week. Wednesdays we have District Council in the morning, studies in the afternoon, lessons or finding, then dinner and English class. Fridays are weekly planning, lunch, out to find or teach, then back for studies and dinner, then coordination and institute. 

Right now we’re teaching some Congolese, as I mentioned. They came to the English class. They kinda all know each other, and so when the elders found them, they started teaching a ton. We have a plan to talk to the head of the clan and invite them to a special cottage meeting with all the Congolese and have us and president teach them all. Paul, the head of everyone already said we should have a group of the Congolese all coming to church, so it totally could happen. We could totally start a Congolese group here in Hali, cause the First Presidency is super down to start groups like that. (These people are the ones that Elder Boardman was talking about him finding, like the ones in Hali, not back in Africa.) It’s going to be pretty cool.

I don’t think it’s too hard to have spiritual insights even though I’m busy. I think it just takes a determination to make sure our priority is on God, not just on trying to do our administrative stuff. It’s kinda like life though, if you don’t set time aside for spiritual experiences then you’ll miss them. I’m grateful for the study time we get, to have that time to listen to the spirit's voice every day. One thought I’ve had recently is about when Nephi talks about hearing the voice of the Lord in a changing and growing sense. As he starts his account he talks about a confirmation of the revelation Lehi recieved, and then more and more he hears God clearer and clearer. It’s a cool thing to know our hearing improves as we listen to God. We receive more and more direct revelation.

I love you all! You’re the best fam ever.

Elder Marsh