Monday, October 27, 2014

The Swing of Things

Hola!

Bueno, I have finally gotten into the swing of things down here in Obrerro and am now able to help out in the lessons, which is good.  It is crazy to think that two months ago I could hardly speak a lick of Spanish and now the whole world has changed, granted the Spanish that comes out of my mouth is difficult for others to understand, but, they can understand what I am trying to say if they try hard!  I got to teach the Gospel Principles class yesterday, which went alright. Woo-hoo!

Bueno, on Tuesday we found an amazing family, Migel Angel and Marian.  Migel has cancer and is bedridden, and Marian has been looking for a different religion because they never come and visit with Migel. Marian is looking for a job and is struggling financially but accepted baptism for the 15 of November.  We promised her that as she continues to learn of Christ and make the changes necessary in her life she would be able to find a job.  We set an appointment to pass by on Thursday, but when we did, she had already found a job and works until ten o’clock in the night.  We have passed by their house every day so far and she has been at work. So this was really sad because now we are struggling to find her.

Isaias decided that he does not want to have any more contact with us because his friends and neighbors belittle him about it, so that was disappointing.

Gesenia. Well she is nine months pregnant and is waiting for the baby to come any day now.  The baby is going to be named Nicolas Martin.  She has accepted to be baptized now but still has not read anything that we have given them, and they need to get married before she can be baptized.

Anyways, all is good and enjoy the cool temperatures at home.

Love,
Elder Call

Monday, October 20, 2014

This Week's Adventures

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty exciting.

On Monday, I got my hair cut, so that was nice because it was getting pretty long and a pain to take care of.

On Tuesday, we had interviews with the President which was great.  I told him that at some point in my mission I would like to serve in Piribebuy, which is the area that Justin also served in. He said that he would try to make it work.  So it might just happen, Justin.  Anyways after the interviews we had divisions.  I went with Elder Wilson from Utah to Barrio Republicano and had some success teaching there.  He is a fun guy that also loves to fish and his dad was a contractor so we had a lot to talk about.

On Wednesday, we had District Meeting and then we moved houses which ended up taking all day. Oh, and Evan, if you think we packed a lot of stuff into the truck when we helped you move, NO, NO, these people know how to load a truck up.

On Thursday, every single one of our citas (appointments) fell through, but we were able to find a couple of people to teach anyways.

Friday, well Friday was almost like Thursday, but we did have one cita that was planned that did not fall through.  It was really good because the whole family, including Menos, the Dad, was there for the lesson and then near the end he came in and wanted to know what we were teaching but then that made the lesson drag on and the interest of the others fell away. They study the Bible every Friday as a family and usually invites a couple of friends to join as well.  It will be interesting if they will read from the Book of Mormon.  We have a cita set up for tomorrow with them, so we will see.  Oh, and I found 20,000 in the street which was nice.

Saturday we dropped Sergio for good now, which was kind of sad.  We tried to find Isaias, because we had not talked with him since last Sunday, but we could not find him and then we asked one of his member friends and she said that he did not want to be baptized anymore and did not tell us anything more.  We were able to find him after Church yesterday and it happens to be that his friends and some of his family are making fun of him because he is hanging out with the Mormons, which just is awful because I do not know how best to help him with that but we are trying to help him out.

Saturday was a civil wedding of one of Elder Woodfield’s convert’s named Francisco Javier and his wife Matilda which was cool.  Gesenia is almost ready to have a baby and is in a lot of pain so she was not able to come to the Church yesterday which was ok.

Anyways I love you all!

Love, Elder Call

Monday, October 13, 2014

Do Not Let the Devil Win!

Dear Family and Friends

This week was full of cool things.  First, transfers were on Wednesday morning.  They do not tell you that you are being transferred until Tuesday night after planning.  So, all of the goodbyes to the members and investigators have to be over the phone which is quite a bummer.  Elder Blackett was the only one in our room that left and Elder Parecho is the new missionary.  Elder Ruis, which I went on divisions with, is now training an American, so he is quite lucky.

Wednesday, Lider and Ginina, (I cannot remember if I told you about them), but Lider is a recent convert as of May and Ginina is not a member yet.  Her baptism was going to be the 11th of October, whoo-hoo!!!! But we were not sure who was going to baptize her because she had at first said that she wanted to be my first baptism, but Elder Woodfield was pushing that Lider should be the one to do it, but she had already told Lider that she would like me to do it, so he was going to let me do it. But after explaining that the Patriarch of the home should be the one who performs the ordinances, Ginina accepted this fact and wanted Lider to do it, but then Lider did not want to do it. =( what to do?

Friday we stop by again to try to get Lider to want to perform the baptism and they were both there.  So we begin talking and they tell us that they had a big fight the day before and have separated.  Lider had slept somewhere else that night.  AGHHHHHH!!!!!! Bad News!  So we, or Elder Woodfield continues to talk (because that day was bad for me and I could not understand well) about the importance of families and asked if she still wants to be baptized tomorrow and she says ''si o si'' which is kinda like ''of course'' and that she still wants Lider to baptize her, but he shook his head and after a little while we left wondering what was going to happen.

SATURDAY, the big day it all happens. We got all ready.  We cleaned and filled the font and the baptism was to start at 7:00 pm, but 7:10 roles around and they still are not there!!! What is going on? Oh, and a key fact our phone charger broke Thursday, so they had no way of getting a hold of us if they decided not to do it.  At 7:20 the members start asking are they going to come or not?? We do not know what to say.  Finally, at 7:35 they come walking up and Lider says that he is going to baptize her!!!!!!!YES!!!! That was good news!  After the baptism, there were a few moments to share testimonies and he gets up and relates that the devil had worked hard on them to prevent this baptism, but now their relationship and love for each other is so much stronger YEEEAAAAHHH!!!! I was so stinking happy that the Devil did not win out on this one.

Anyways, do not let the devil win, because he will try to prevent you from doing good things.

I LOVE you all!
This Church is True and Jesus is our Savior.  Rely on him in all that you do.
Love,
Elder Call

Monday, October 6, 2014

General Conference

Hello Home!!

I hope everyone was able to watch the General Conference sessions this past weekend.  It was definitely a highlight in my week. But, if you were not able or decided not to watch, that is okay because there is this little, big thing that you can do.  You can repent and watch it this week or like right now, because, those were the Prophets of God speaking directly to you and they might just find it offensive that time was not made to listen to them speak the word of God.

It truly is a miracle how much more I was able to get out of Conference when I was not insulating a house and could only hear a few of the words that the prophets spoke between the automatic stapling. My Favorite overall session was definitely Saturday afternoon topped by the talk by Elder Klebingat.

Sergio came to the two last sessions of Saturday and the first session of Sunday so that was good so we could baptize him but then not likely be able to give him the Gift of the Holy Ghost so . . . . We continue to teach him so that when he finds another job he can be strong in the knowledge of the restored Gospel of Christ.

Isaias! When we went to pass by Agustine´s house they said that they were going to come to the Priesthood Session of Conference because they had not eaten yet and needed to do that before.  So, okay, we were fine with that but then they did not end up coming. AHHHH this means that his baptism is another weekend back.  They did come to both sessions of the Sunday Conference, which was good, hopefully, Isaias will take the advice from Elder Bednar and ask to receive a confirming witness from the Holy Ghost that this is true and what he needs, and that he needs to search the scriptures and always live them.

I love all of you who have raised me and influenced me into becoming the person that I am today.  Watch yourself in all things and before you make a decision, step back and look at it with a broad point of view.

I love you All
Love,
Elder Call