Hey, how´s it going?
This week was full of work. We talked to drunk people, got in a minor car crash, got a new bishop, and found lots of awesome people to teach. Overall I´d say it was a great time :).
We´re starting to go to a part of our area called the Periquera. It´s a little town that´s kinda far from Palin, and it´s the poorest place I´ve ever, ever seen. There´s muddy water and trash in the streets, and kids don´t have shoes. A lot of the people don´t even have enough money to make their houses out of rusty sheet metal, so they just use sticks and tarps. But the people there are the most humble people I´ve ever seen. They really are ready to hear the gospel, and always let us in and listen. We´re working on a way to help them to get to church right now, because they don´t have enough money for the bus ride.
This morning we got a text from a number we didn´t know that said that they were the next door neighbors and they were really upset and tired of calling us every night to tell us to be quieter. They were honestly not happy, and if it happened again they were going to make us move out. "If you want to jump up and down and play and have really loud conversations, go to the soccer fields; that´s what they´re for." We were honestly kinda scared, because we really didn´t think we´d been making much noise. We were thinking like "sometimes when we go up the wooden stairs it makes a little bit of sound...?" So we asked if they were really talking about us. We quickly got a message back that said "oh oh sorry! We were trying to reach the Elders from Amatitlan! Not you guys, sorry." So we sent the messages to the zone leaders of those Elders. We were relieved for us, but those guys are really gonna get it...
Yesterday, my companion and I had to go to the capital so he could get his hurting knee checked out. It was all fine, and afterward we went to Oakland Mall to eat lunch. That place is the richest, nicest mall I´ve ever seen. I´ve been to some really nice ones in the states, but I´ve NEVER seen a place as nice as that one. Everyone was wearing weird expensive clothes and didn´t even look at me if I said hi passing by. There were a million types of clothes, makeups, creams, phones, pens, watches, and everything anyone could ever not want. I really felt out of place there. I didn´t really talk much to my companion in there, because I just felt uncomfortable and kinda confused. When we left, I was exhausted and just slept on the way back.
Thinking about the week, I couldn´t help but think about the contrast I experienced. I went to the poorest place I´d ever seen, and then I went to the richest place ever. When I was in the rich place, nobody cared about who I was or what I was doing there. If they looked at me, it was probably to wonder why my shoes were dirty and I needed a haircut. But when I went to the poor place, everyone wanted to meet me, listen to me, and tell me about all the wonderful things in their lives. People shared, played, and just sat to talk about life. I couldn´t help thinking about how happy people can be when they aren´t focused on things. Walking through the mall, my companion gave a really profound insight. He said "I don´t think I really would be happier if I had all of this stuff..." And I think he was right. Material things are really attractive to the human eye, but distracting to the spirit. If we just stop for a little while and try to think about other people, we will see past the wall that so many people have in front of them. God doesn´t want robots who dye their hair green and wear window curtains that cost a thousand dollars. He wants servants. He wants people who love other people, and care about making them happy. He wants people who have faith that life is for our good, and that it will be better for us if we make it better for others. The poor people who live in the Periquera will die someday, and maybe sooner than the rich people in Oakland. But after they die, they´ll have a lot more than the richest of the rich, because they already found the most priceless things in the world. I hope we can all take some time this week to think about the most important things in life.
Love you guys!
-Elder Cloward
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