queen creek

The Spanish Ward for the Queen Creek East Stake is wonderful. The members here are missionaries. They are hardworking and goodnatured. They are good to help others. And Dad, you are right, they are humble, humble people. I have never felt so comfortable with my weaknesses as with these people. We all have things to improve, and we work at them.

This knowledge has been important for me. It seems as though I hadn't learned anything in life before my mission. Why did I not seek out the answers to doctrinal questions? Did I even care enough to have questions? I take comfort in the powerful influence of the Atonement. Beyond repentance for sin, we, especially I, have the ability to repent for my apathy. I have met people who don't accept missionaries into their homes, although they accept that what we say might be true, simply because they don't care enough. I wish I could persuade them to care.

As I become adjusted, I am getting more bearings and more of an awareness of the kind of missionary I want to be. It is exciting to me that there are thousands of missionaries in the world, and their differences are what makes them powerful. I hope to find my differences in this work and strengthen them.

The members are kind to be patient with my Spanish. The trick is that many of them, even most of them, speak English at least as well as I speak Spanish. They are kind to play games with their children to not speak English at all for the new Elder. Their help is helping and I have already seen an improvement in my ability to communicate. But even still, there are interesting things to being a Spanish missionary in the states, at least where I am. Chances are good that I will not be speaking Spanish regularly in at least 1 area where I serve. If I ever serve as a Zone Leader, my Spanish status is dismissed. We'll see how things actually turn out.

-Elder Sam Bostwick