QUUUE MAAAS?!?!?!? I got a mean 5 days left till they send this gringo packing to Barranquilla Colombia. It is weird thinking I will actually be in a different country by then. Please do not cry for me too much. I will always be straight forward with you guys cuz you are my friends so we will see how it goes. I haven’t blessed you with my presence in over 2 weeks so this one will be longer.
The days seem to fly by super fast. Ya boy is still trying to learn the language and discover more truth for himself, so keep me in your prayers. Those two things are kinda sorta really necessary. Jaja. Some highlights...
Lightning? Ok let's climb up this tall metal thingy.
Ya boy is still un poquito estupido. For my break day (pday) I got my friends together and we hiked in Black Balsam Knob. On the way back I saw this tall metal tower on the top of the mountain and I said to myself, “It would be super cool to go climb that metal thingy”. The only problem was that it was thundering all around us. (FYI-Tall metal objects = excellent electrical conductors) This kinda scared the pants off me, but we climbed up, took a quick pic for posterity and scurried down the tower. Yup.
Seeking Truth (this was weeks coming!!)
A DiAMOND is pure and highly valued, but a diamond begins as a dirty lump of coal. Inorder for coal to form into a diamond extreme pressure and heat must be applied to it. Afterwards, the once dirty coal is now impermeable, steadfast, pure, highly valued, and beautiful. God has applied pressure and heat to my testimony. There is so much confusion between doctrines that it seems to me that I can not distinguish God's truth solely on logic. I often would ponder all aspects of the gospel and their truthfulness. The Gospel made sense to my mind, but ultimately I could not come to know it for myself without asking God. Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon state that we need to “ask of God” and he will manifest this unto us. Ya boy was like bet, let's do it!
I prayed with faith, but didn’t feel anything. This shook me a little cuz I was pretty stinking sure this was the true church. So, I did some research. Turns out THERE ARE CONDITIONS! We need to study the scriptures, ponder it in our minds, come to our own conclusion, forsake our sins, and ask in faith. When we ask we need to be willing to change our lives based on the answer (scripture references below). How can we expect God to do everything when we haven't even put in the work. I realized that the only way that I could truly truly know the truth was to read the Book of Mormon and pray. I read the book, forsook my sins, came to my own conclusion, and asked God if it was right. No angels descended from heaven or thunderstruck, but I could feel a peaceful feeling in my heart and I knew it was the Spirit of God confirming it to me.
Ever since I have been able to recognize the same feeling many times a day when I read or teach the gospel. It feels awesome.
GOAT in C Minor
Your boy is an absolute beast at the C minor scale on piano, but the only problem is that it is like the only key that I ever play (with a few exceptions). I am running out of hymns to learn. I can’t play songs that I am not familiar with, but if I hear a hymn in class I will go play it on the piano during a 10 min break and have a pretty solid rendition of it down by the end of the break.
WAY MORE STUFF< BUT I ALREADY HAVE TALKED WAY TO LONG! The days are long and I actually fell asleep in my class (peep the image link) and shout out to the Millers for cooking me Colombian food. If you wanna talk more about spiritual knowledge lemme know cuz I have been studying it like a ton. I love you guys. Scripture referenced from paragraph above and the photos link is below.
Do something stupid, but not too stupid,
Elder Rouse
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