Email cincuenta y ocho

Sept 25, 2017  

Hey y'all,
I don't have a lot of time today because I got to go to the temple today! This was the last time I will be able to go the Memphis temple on my mission because it is closing down at the beginning of October for 18, and who knows when I'll be able to do a mission tour and come back and visit.

I'll cut to the big news...this Thursday at Zone Conference the whole mission got a Samsung smartphone per companionship, and Facebook was authorized for the whole mission. As some of you might have already noticed from my posts, but I am now using Facebook for missionary purposes. The purpose of this is to teach others the Gospel by contacting them through Facebook. As a missionary my purpose is to invite others to come unto Jesus Christ and Facebook is simply another means to do that. Facebook should not be used for any other purpose, which includes contacting friends or family, or checking my feed, or trying to get as many likes as possible.

So far we haven't seen success using Facebook to proselyte, mostly because all the Hispanics have very common names, so when we try to look up the people we contact on the street, there are hundreds or thousands of people with the same name. But not to worry, there are many ways that we can be more creative with Facebook to find more people to teach.

It has been extremely weird using Facebook. To clean out my profile, I had to comb through all my posts and delete any post that had political or controversial material, and I used to post a lot of political stuff (waaaaaaay to much). Also, the temptation to misuse Facebook is definitely very real. Every time I open the app, it automatically opens up at the news feed, which we are not supposed to look at. For a moment I will see a post, and the temptation comes to get a closer look at it. I've seen posts on accident of friends back home getting married, getting mission calls, and other stuff that makes me want to look, but I know I can't. I mean I definitely could look, and no one would know, but I couldn't feel good in my standing with the Lord if I did.

I'm really grateful that the mission is an opportunity to master my use of technology, and let it be my servant instead of my master. Before the mission, I spent so much precious time on my phone! How I wish I could have spent more quality time with my family and loved ones instead of mindlessly spending time on the internet, without a purpose. I pray I won't make the same mistake when I get home.

This week I focused on talking to as many Hispanics as possible, and trying to talk to every single one that I see. It lead to some interesting finding techniques, such as riding my bike out in the middle of a field to talk to a couple guys playing soccer. I would have been weirded out if I was them, but it actually was a super solid contact, so who cares! We worked hard this week, and I'm enjoying peddling my buns all over South Memphis. Life is good.

Anyways the mission is awesome! The Church is true! Have to go for now, but I love all y'all so much!