Reflection

I had a great week. Due to little time, I will only contribute a paragraph or two about this past week. Overall, I must say that everything has gone well up to this point. I have lived in Pergamino for almost a complete transfer now, which means we have already completed half of our training program! Like always, we have a full plate, loaded with investigators and tons of members. We try to help out wherever possible, and during our service this past week I had a really powerful experience, one worth sharing with you all.

Washing the dishes for the Bishop´s family. Like I´ve said before, the people here struggle economically. Amongst those that struggle, which is the majority of my area, is the Bishop and his family. They come to church faithfully every week and offer us food each Friday. Overall, I feel accepted and really comfortable in their house. However humble or difficult the circumstances might be, they always extend a helping hand to everyone else--members of the church of not. This past Friday, we ate some sandwiches with them at their house. After the the meal, a quick spiritual thought, and a prayer, we prepared ourselves to head back home. We offered to assist with the dishes, explaining that we would like to contribute a bit since they always do so much for us. They gladly accepted. Long story short, my companion and I had to clean plates and cups for close to 30 minutes because this poor, faithful family doesn´t have running water. We had a small tub that we filled up with water from the hose. Later on, using the same hose, I then filled up a liter jug of water, which we later used to pour on the dishes and rinse the soap off. It was quite the process, and it really hit home withe me. The saying "you never appreciate something until it´s gone" really has profound meaning for me now. Just running water and a faucet makes everything so much easier.

At the beginning of my mission, I always complained since we didn´t have a dishwasher and had to do everything by hand. Now, I am grateful just to have a faucet since it takes almost twice as long to wash with just buckets of water. This humble family really taught me a lesson, and I admire their faith and commitment.

May we all count our blessings a little more in our lives is my hope and prayer, and I leave this quick thought with you guys as my main weekly message today. Thanks for all you do.

Elder Jones