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| Elder Heath and Elder Pew |
Nobody progressed a whole lot. We had a great lesson with Flor and Alma about the restoration. We watched the movie with them and the Spirit was really strong. But they didn´t come to church for the third week in a row. Not quite their time yet.
It´s been impossible to get ahold of O this week. We make appointments, he´s not there. Going to have to drop him too.
B and G have literally done nothing about their situation. Also, they didn´t come to church. They´ve been taught all the lessons before, so there´s not a whole lot we can really do with them at this point.
We were teaching the niece of one of the members named V, don´t know if I mentioned her in the last email, who lives in the same house, but she also refuses to come to church. Her excuse was that she goes and visits her mom on weekends, but this weekend she was around and still didn´t go.
Saturday was especially bad. Remember that J guy that speaks English and sounded totally golden? We had a lesson with him Wednesday and it went really well. He basically told us he feels far from God and wants to repent and turn his life back around. Want to just get in the baptismal font? Yes, he did, until some really unfortunate things happened to his best-friend´s dad and three of his neighbors (I´ll tell you what happened after the mission) and he kind of turned into an emotional wreck. He called us Saturday and said he wasn´t really feeling up to talking to us anymore because of all that´s happened. Poor guy. Hopefully he gets it all figured out again soon. The same day we were supposed to have an appointment with Lurdes, but we got a really confusing text from her basically saying "I don´t want you to come over anymore." Yikes.
Don´t let any of that alarm you. It´s not dangerous here. I always feel safe pretty much everywhere in our area. And I´ll be protected from anything that does happen.
M, on the other hand, has been doing really well. We went over there on Thursday and she just looked different. There was more light in her face. Come to find out, she´d been having family prayer and Book of Mormon study every night. What? Who told her to do that? The Spirit. So yeah, that was great. But we were supposed to go over there Saturday night, and she wasn´t there. And then SHE didn´t come to church. We were going to drop her too, but after talking to Pres. Wagner (mission President) we decided not to yet.
If anyone´s counting, you´ll realize that we had a grand total of 0 investigators in church. It was very frustrating. What have I been doing the last 3 weeks if I still have nobody at church? So yeah, we´re going to pretty much start from scratch again. We´re going to focus on finding people who really are prepared to hear our message and act on it, not just people who are to nice to tell us no.
Today was kind of weird. I had to go to Guadalajara Centro to sign some stuff for my Visa. I actually went down to the Mission Offices last night with Elder Brighton (the other gringo greenie that lives in our house) and all the white guys from our generation slept down there and then went over to the Mexican Consolate this morning. The Centro´s pretty cool. We actually went there my first P-day. We were going to go to the zoo that´s in our zone, which I was actually excited for (look how much I´ve already changed!), but it wasn´t open so we went to centro, which is basically a zoo anyways. There´s tons of super old catholic cathedrals, statues, cool old buildings, and real live asians complete with Chinese restaurants (There were literally about 5 of them. No joke. [Chinese restaurants, not asians]). Yeah.
Anyways, it was fun to see Elder Duncan again. He´s opening an area too, but in Vallarta where it´s super hot and humid. Sounds miserable there this time of year. I don´t know why people would want to vacation there, but whatever.
Yesterday was stake conference. It was great. The area president of Mexico, Elder Johnson of the Seventy, and his brother, Elder Johnson of the Seventy, were both there. I don´t remember their first names. President Wagner (Mission President) was also there. Why? We got a new stake president. So we got to hear from all three of these awesome guys. It was great. I hope the members were paying good attention because they talked a lot about missionary work. President Wagner had all of us missionaries stand up and said to the young-men "These are your examples. You will never fulfill the full potential of what God has in store for you if you do not serve a mission." Awesome.
Thanks for the quotes mom! No, I haven´t been sick yet from the food, except for one day when I was super constipated. But other than that I´ve been fine. I am very careful. We eat with the members for lunch every day at 2, and we do whatever we can to not starve for the rest of the day. We buy cheap stuff at the little store things people have in their houses like donuts (which are amazing here) and fruit. No we don´t have bikes, we walk and ride buses when necessary. I´m good on medicine. I don´t miss anything really, Mexican treats are really good! Elder Heath likes everything, especially Heath Bars. We had another run in with the rain in Hno Ramos´s buggy. This time it got so wet that it died and we had to push it down a hill on the highway to get it started again. Crazy. Tell Spencer ( a friend who just returned from his mission TODAY!) hi for me. You can give him a big hug too, if you want. And maybe a kiss on the cheek. Or the hand. Just make him feel a little uncomfortable, ok? Thanks.
Dad- Victory! I´m glad BYU won! I haven´t read the details yet, but I´m excited. Steph actually sent me one of the new BYU football shirts for this year while I was in the MTC, so I wore it that night to bed. That´s probably why they won. Wow, 7 baptisms a month (in Finland)? I´m glad the weather was nice. Sheish. Also, what´s up with the new quote from Emily?
Micah (brother)- Way to go with the soccer game! Keep dominating. I´m glad schools going well. Mr. Williams is pretty awesome, right? Right.
Izak (brother) I´m glad your practicing paid off! Way to go on the PK! and winning 13-0 sounds pretty fun I guess. already 3 goals this season! Wow! Keep having fun in Jr. High, and don´t miss the bus.
Emily (sister)- I´m glad you like early morning seminary. Who is your teacher? and let me know how the quidditch goes. Elder Heath and I were both jealous. Yes, he´s a Harry Potter nerd too. I hope you´re having fun in choir still, and give señor smith more love back than he sent to me.
Pompeeface(Zane, brother)- I´m glad you made a new friend. Did you know I have a little bit of asthma too? Also, way to represent Mexico! It´s definitely the second best country in the world! Keep saving up for those batman legos, and be a good boy in school. Have a good labor day.
Gwen (sister) - Congratulations on learning to ride a bike! I bet you are having so much fun! And I´m so glad you love kindergarten and that you were so excited to start! Don´t get too much cuter while I´m gone!
Timo (brother) - Wow, sounds like your first week of senior year was awesome! Mine was too. Actually, the whole year was. It´s fun to finally know a lot of people your grade and make lots of friends. Good times. Yes, Mr. Smith is the best. If every teacher was like unto Mr. Smith, the very powers of hell would be shaken. En serio. Also, that´s great that you get to TA for señorita. Tell her hola. I got to make a seating chart one time too. It was awesome. I sat by Scott, Tyler, Matt White, Ryan Allen, and Austin Barton. Also, wow, your classes all sound pretty loaded. Party. Remind me who Jessica Thompson is? I hope she says yes (Timo asked her to Homecoming). I wish I could have seen that whole asking event happen. Hilarious. Bummer that Lone Peak football isn´t as good this year. Just wait till basketball though! Thanks for the BYU updates! Keep working hard and having fun. Senior year is a blast so enjoy every minute.
Thanks for being great everyone! I love you! Talk to you next week!
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| View from the first house Elder Pew lived in |
