La Fin

September 25th, 2017

It was my last full week as a missionary and it went pretty well.

To start off, we got to teach Molly again about the restoration. And it went pretty well. She's really cool. She talks a lot and is kind of all over the place but we managed to control the lesson and present what we needed to. 

Then Tuesday night we had our first sit-down rendezvous with Emmanuel. He is so cool, man. He was very curious and asked lots of good questions. He very happily took a Book of Mormon and committed to read it. The spirit was very present in the rendezvous and we all felt it.

We also had exchanges with our ZLs here in Brussels. It was cool to teach in French again. We taught this middle-aged flemish lady who seemed a little strange at first but then realized she had a lot of hard things in her life. She's met with us before in the past but doesn't remember a whole lot.  She had a BOM already but hadn't read it because she didn't have the time. Hopefully she will give it another chance. 

We had many a mangezvous as well. The members in this ville really know how to take care of their missionaries. I once again had to say goodbye to this ville. And it was a little sad but I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to serve here for six months. 

And there you have it. My mission is now coming to an end in a couple of days. It's been and incredible journey. It was a long roller-coaster ride and it was so worth it. Everything has its season and I know despite my mission ending that the next one will be great, too. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

I love you all and have an amazing week. 

Avec amour,

Elder Aburto

Mon Objectif

September 18^th, 2017

Another week gone,

It's been yet another week gone by in the mission field. Little by little the time just gets shorter and at the same time the work gets more enjoyable. We had some nice experiences this week.

We were pretty unlucky in terms of being able to get rendezvous with Amis, but c'est pas grave because went you're not able to set up rendezvous, that's the Lord telling you to go finding. And that's what we did. 

A couple of nights ago we went street contacting, and we came across a man and stopped him. He stopped to listen and seemed very happy to see us. Though the time we had to talk was extremely short, the good feeling of the spirit was present and he told us at the end of our exchange of words that he felt good to see us and felt the good feeling inside. We both felt it, too. We're going to see him this week to share more of our message with him. 

A few minutes later a very similar experience happened. We stopped another man who most happily stayed to listen to us. He was a believer, baptized in another church but doesn't necessarily associate himself with just one church. We came in and explained our beliefs a little, and he was captivated. He said he felt a good feeling inside while talking with us and hopes to see us again, soon. 

It felt good to know that we were able to bring the spirit with us to those people, so they could recognize us as representatives of the Lord. There's just nothing quite as satisfying. 

Mais bon, the week to come will be in effect the last full week of my missionary service so I'll try make it a good one. 

Until next time. 

Love, 

Elder Aburto

Multilingual

September 11^th, 2017

Bonjour, tout le monde,

Yet another week has gone by on my mission experience. It's great to be able to be in the service of others soon before I go back to focusing on my life and my future. It's been a nice week. It was a lot like any other in a lot of ways. But at the same time it was unique.

Something we've noticed is that there are a lot of Portuguese speakers in this ville and some of them don't understand Spanish super well, so my companion and I have taken on the task of learning some Portuguese. We aren't close to fluent but we can manage to communicate with people. We found this Brazilian lady who seemed pretty interested through that. We have lots of Portuguese members as well, so no problem.

We found a cool Peruvian lady, named Rosa. She's pretty catholic as usual, but she very kindly accepted to hear our message. We're going to try to see her sometime this upcoming week.

Boy, it sure has downpoured here the last few days. It's almost like Hurricane Harvey made its way up to Europe because we've had our fair share of precipitation as well.

We also had a rendezvous scheduled with Molly. She wasn't there, but her sister was there, so we ended up teaching her a little. We introduced her to the Book of Mormon and she seemed pretty touched by it. She already has a strong conviction of Christ and she openly accepted a copy. Looks like good things could happen there. 

 And there you have it. Another week down the drain. Only a couple more left. May you all have a great week. 

With love, 

Elder Aburto

It’s Wonderful

September 4^th, 2017

Hey, 

This last week was full of mangezvous and rendezvous. Man, it sure is exhausting to run around busy all the time. It was great. We got to see some of our Amis and we can start to kind of see the work continue progressively since we've came in. 

It started off with Zone Conference and interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had my last interview ever which is weird to say. It was my last zone conference ever and it was six hours long. It was nice to hear more from the new mission president and see what he expects out of us. He's definitely got the fire and the energy to motivate us. I know he is doing his best effort and it doesn't seem too terribly rough on him so far. 

We had a lunch appointment with Vilma. She cooked us a full course meal including salad and dessert. She told us she was firmly Catholic, but accepted the Book of Mormon quand-même. She seemed pretty interested in it and she committed to read it. It was so cool to have her cook for us and listen to us as well. She's super nice. 

We met with a current ami for the first time, Marie. She is a young Ecuadorian. She works long hours everyday so we went to her house Saturday morning. And she cooked us breakfast. She's very respectful and she believes in her ways, but took in the message well. She is going to start reading the Book of Mormon, too. 

Then we saw another current ami, Molly. She's from Haiti and super cool. She was pressed for time but it was great to get to know her. I feel great about the people we have here and I know we can advance the work here in this sector. 

It's definitely going well. As I'm arriving at the finishing line I realize more and more how precious time is for a missionary. Before I'll know it, my plaque won't be on my chest anymore and the mission will end. I just need to use the time I have left to serve and help this ville. 

Take care and have a good week. 

Sincerely, 

Elder Aburto