8 February 2016 - News from the DL

Dear Friends and family,

So, my first week in the new area was pretty good and I think I am gonna like it here. Let me tell you why.

First off, my companion is a missionary that I knew from my last zone, Elder Guerrero. He is from Sonora and he is really excited about the work. He is teaching me the area and doing a good job.

But, that is not all....I have a second companion! He is a ward missionary and a relatively recent convert. Elder Emmanuel Fuentes has a form of Cerebral Palsy (I think) and has very limited use of his arms and legs. He uses a motorized wheelchair and comes to work with us about half of the time that we are out working. He has a badge and everything.

Elder Fuentes is an artist. He used to be in a Hip Hop group called Garganta de Plata (Silver Throat) and can beat box and rap with the best of them. Also, one of his hobbies is drawing on wood panels with a hot pencil thing. His drawings are excellent. Much better than I could do, and he uses his mouth!

Now if that wasn't enough, here's the vaguely tear-jerking-testimony-building part of the story:

For those that don't remember, I used to be a home care worker for Salus. I had three Clients with major disabilities and took care of them during certain parts of the week. I loved that job, and I thought that it was a good preparation for my mission, but I didn't realize just how much until I got to this area.

I told Elder Fuentes about my old job on Wednesday and then on Thursday he told me this story: When he was talking with the bishop about serving a mission, he had concerns about his disability (obviously) and didn't know how he was going to be able to do basic things like use the bathroom if he was always around two inexperienced missionaries. The bishop assured him that all would be well and that one day, a missionary would come to the area who had nurse type experience. He saw that revelation fulfilled with my coming to the area.

Se que el Señor nos ama y que nos pone los medios para cumplir con nuestros deberes. Se que hay revelacion en este tierra y que los lideres de este Iglesia son llamados por Dios.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert