Batman

Brothers and sisters, another chill week in the books, loving life here, so let's get to it.

The golden arches

One of the greatest things about Oviedo is that, by some miracle, one of the only McDonald's in the country is only a 10-minute walk from my apartment. To be real, this is such a blessing. After a long day's work, every once in a while, we swing by McDonald's and grub out. You already know every time I see those golden arches, eagle cries and the national anthem play in my head. And the thing about it is it's great, the food is so good, even though it's a McDonald's in Paraguay. And the ice cream machine works EVERY DAY. So, if you work at a McDonald's in the states, quit frontin', we know that ice cream machine's not broken. Anyway, the McDonald's goes brazy.

Batman

So, there's a guy in the ward, his name is Reynaldo. One of my favorite guys in the ward, no doubt. He's a more recent convert and he's a little shy, but the ward loves this guy. My guy Reynaldo is so mysterious. On Sundays, he comes in, goes straight to the back, and he's on his phone the whole meeting, same on Tuesday nights for the ward night, bro's just on his phone goin' to work. There are also some nights where we walk past the church and my guy's just posted up outside the church on his phone, and he's just straight handling business on that john. There's no way he's not fighting crime or something on there. And the best part, he finds time to come to church. Bros, literally the righteous Bruce Wayne of Coronel Oviedo. I thought Batman would wear a cape but naw, he wears glasses and a camo belt. Peep the Google Photos for pics of me and my guy Reynaldo.

The Vineyard

Elder Radie and I have been goin' to work, man. Every day we are finding and dropping like crazy, every day we get more creative in finding those people who are ready. What's so awesome is that the work is starting to pay off. This area hasn't had a baptism since November and many elders have called this area dead. But we set the bar high and as my father The James “Jimmy” Pickett so wisely said, when we set the bar high and work hard, God will always help fill your expectations. Anyway, now we have 6 people who are looking to baptize in the next couple of weeks and 2 people this upcoming weekend. There's no better feeling than this, man. Again, forever grateful to be a tool in the Lord's hands.

Spiritual

Had the coolest experience this week. Sunday was just a tough day for the work. First, one of our buddies investigating the church said he didn't want to keep learning. Then, we arrived at this one house, the mom of the family wanted to talk and wanted to learn. As we began to enter, the dad came over and threw a hissy fit and was just super rude and sent us away. He said some crude things about the church that I really did not rock with. Our hearts broke for this mom who wanted to learn, but the ignorance of her husband wouldn't allow her to listen and learn. After this, we learned that one of our other buddies who is planning to get baptized didn't want to anymore and was rebelling after talking with his dad who was anti-church. So we were just catching L after L and it was just super tough, to be honest, it kinda broke my heart seeing all this unfold. So my comp and I sat on this little patch of grass on the corner of these dirt roads in the dark. When we sat down, I began to pray for strength. Literally anything just to give me some grit to keep at it. In this moment, I received one of the most instant, weirdest, and one of the most special answers I've ever received to a prayer. Right after I wrapped up my prayer, a house next door started playing the song "Como la flor" by Selena. What's so crazy is I've loved this song, even before my mission. One of my all-time favorite Latino songs ever. I know it seems crazy, but in this moment, I felt just how aware God is of me, and that he's RIGHT there even if I don't always notice. The song totally lifted my spirits and got me fired up again, He knew that was all I needed. Man, God works in mysterious and marvelous ways and that day he gave me strength and an answer through a Selena song. After that, we went forward and had a very successful day. The scripture that comes to mind with this experience is one that I read this week, in D&C 84:88 it reads “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up”. Man, this scripture hits DEEP. He's RIGHT there, on my left hand, and on your right, as this work is being done. No bad day or negative experience will ever measure up to that. There is so much power in knowing he is right there, eager to bless and assist us always according to our faith in Him.

That's all this week from your boy, straight loving life here in Oviedo.

What do real ones do? They hit my inbox with a life update.

Get after it this week.

Elder Pickett