Week 88

Hey folks! Hope you all had a great week! As for me, things have calmed down a little bit with the zone and our own area. Things are getting back to normal! At least, that's what I hope...

- The problems from last week are being resolved, and to be honest, it's about the best we could have hoped for. There haven't been any issues after we and President Dester had separate interviews with the one elder. And the companionship that was having problems had a good week, and it seems like the elders are at least putting up with each other.

- President Dester, his wife, and the Johns (missionary couple) came to our sacrament meeting yesterday! It was kind of a shock since they told us Saturday night. But it was great! We ended up looking really good, because the attendance was the highest it's ever been, and we could barely fit everyone into the chapel!

- We found a sweet family this past week! The woman, Jade, has gone to church for quite a few years, but has never gotten baptized because she lives with a guy and they're not married. The problem was the guy was usually out of town for work. But he came back this week, and it seems like he has changed completely! They told us they were already planning on getting married, and the guy, Carlos, is even thinking about baptism!

Ok, I gotta go guys! Espero que tengan una buena semana! Sigan adelante! Les quiero! Adios!

Week 87

Hey folks! Hope you all had a lovely week! As far as mine goes, it was pretty insane. It seems like we´ve been running around everywhere, trying to clean up messes that other missionaries are causing. Fun, right?

- First, we got a call last week about an elder that wanted to get emergency changed. He and his comp hate each other, they never even talk, etc. So Elder Skousen and I sat them both down on Tuesday, and basically forced them to talk it out. It was awkward, but at least they´re communicating again. And then, Elder Skousen worked with both of them on Tuesday, while I went with two other elders. That means we just completely abandoned our area all day Tuesday to try to help the zone!

- Then on Thursday, we heard an Elder´s mom had called the mission president, complaining that her son´s companion was up to some shenanigans (telling girls he loved them on his own cell phone, not wanting to work, etc.) So we went to interview both of them Friday morning. Turns out the accusations were true, and it was actually worse than what we had heard. The mission president ended up interviewing the elder afterwards, and he´s apparently going to change and start with the repentance process. He's on a pretty short leash for the mission now though. Oh, I forgot to mention that this elder is one of our district leaders :(

- Another district leader is super bummed about the work, and it shows in his numbers. And another still does not have a phone, meaning we can´t call him at all during the week.

With all these problems, we didn´t have a whole lot of time this week to be in our own area, but we did manage to have a decent week. Rosemary went to church again, and should get baptized at the beginning of August. We had an awesome Ward Talent Show on Saturday night (the sisters in our ward really came through to put that together). And I´m really blessed to be with Elder Skousen for all of these problems. It´s good to know that I don´t have to worry about my comp and we can be united to face all this stuff together.

Hopefully, this was just one of those crazy weeks, and things will settle down again now. Personally, I´m doing great, but I´m pretty worried about the zone. Apparently, they´re splitting the zone soon, so that should relieve the pressure. Thanks for everything guys and have an awesome week!

Week 86

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great week! For me, this was probably one of the most tiring weeks ever. Not necessarily in a bad way. It just felt like we were running around EVERYWHERE doing errands... probably because we were.

Anyway, here's the quick day-by-day rundown:

- Tuesday started with a district meeting! And actually, two of our elders gave their testimonies because they were leaving the zone. It was weird considering I only knew them for two weeks. Also, in preparation for a new pair of missionaries coming, we had to prepare a house by moving in beds, mattresses, table, chairs, etc. With the new companionship, we now have 24 missionaries in the zone and 4 districts.

- Wednesday was the change meeting, which we didn't end up going to. And we ended up getting to work our only normal day of the week.

- Thursday, we had to deliver the money to the elders who moved into the new house. The owner was already getting mad that they didn't have the money, so we had to go save the day! Also, we found out the new elders don't have phones, meaning that 3 of our 4 district leaders have phone problems. That's been kind of a disaster :(

- Friday, we had a zone leader council in San Pedro, where we presented our ideas and "vision" for our zones.

- Saturday, there was a meeting with the 4 zone leaders of the stake along with the stake president and bishops. We basically had 5 minutes to present what we thought was most important as far as the members helping the missionaries of their areas.

- Sunday, we had church, so I guess that would be considered a normal day too. We were still able to get 5 investigators to church, and the attendance raised to over 100! Although, I gotta admit a lot of that was due to the sisters in our area, who had an excellent week with the less actives.

Rosemary went to church again, and she loves it! She says she wants to get baptized, but she is still unsure about a date. Apparently, she feels like she needs to learn more. The good thing is that she's reading a lot in the Book of Mormon, prays, and goes to church. So... that's pretty much the formula to get baptized. We also have a handful of other investigators who go to church, but have other issues that need to be fixed before baptism.

The sisters and us are pretty stoked about a missionary activity we're going to have this Saturday- a talent show. Thank goodness that the sisters have taken the lead in preparing stuff for Saturday. The plan is to get the members more pumped about doing missionary work. And for all you members that read my blog, GET PUMPED ABOUT MISSIONARY WORK! As missionaries, we LOVE working with the members. It's SO much more effective. Ok, rant over.

Hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Week 85

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a good week! For me, this week was pretty nuts. Here's the most important stuff, and hopefully I remember everything...

- We had a baptism! I think I somehow neglected to mention this last week because it wasn't completely set in stone yet. It was an 11 year old boy, Darwin, in a family that recently became active again. His 8 year old sister, Kristen, also got baptized. She didn't count for the mission, so we weren't quite as involved, but it's still awesome!

- Our zone had a total of 8 baptisms last week! For all you women out there, you'll be proud to hear that the other 7 were baptisms of the sisters in the zone. I have to admit, the sister missionaries are tearing it up!

- This past week, we found what will most likely be one of my favorite investigators of the mission. On Friday, we had an appointment fall and were left with about 30 minutes to kill. So we contacted a little bit... and struck gold on the second house. I didn't think it was anything special, I just felt like contacting a house we passed. A 22-year old girl named Rosmary answered and invited us in. We found out that her father is an active member that lives in the States, she's been praying lately to find a church to go to, and she felt that us contacting her house was the answer to her prayer. We invited her to church, she accepted, and Sunday morning, she was waiting for us when we got there. Turns out she's also friends with the bishop and his family! Also, she read our entire pamphlet, knows everything about Joseph Smith, and wants to know about the Book of Mormon. And... she invited us for lunch tomorrow with her and her mom. So basically... she's the perfect investigator! :)

- We have changes on Wednesday! This is just to get us on the right schedule, and Skousen and I most likely won't be affected, but we'll see.

Well, those are the coolest stories from the week that was! This work is true! I see it every day! Thanks for all your love and support, and talk to you next week :)

Week 84

Hey what's up guys? It's been a bit of a hectic week with all the changes, and it seems like this week will be no different. Let me just say that I'm glad Elder Skousen is my comp and that things are getting back to normal at least a little bit.

First, I'll start with my own area. It's almost like we're starting from scratch because Skousen and his old comp were working almost exclusively with less actives (there's a HUGE problem with less actives here, so it made sense). However, sisters just came to work with the less actives, leaving basically nothing for us. The senior companion for the sister missionaries is kind of a Nazi, but she's whipping the members into shape. It's slightly annoying, but we think it is what the ward needs.

Second, the zone. We ended with 29 baptisms and 2 families for the month of June. None of that had to do with me, but that's the baseline I have to work with. It's pretty solid, but there's room for improvement. It looks like we'll have a few problem missionaries in the zone, but we also have a couple solid district leaders to help us out.

Third, the new mission President! We had a meeting with him as the whole mission. To be honest, it seems like he was pretty nervous, and is a little uncomfortable with Spanish. But he seems like a really great guy, his wife seems awesome, I think we'll be able to do some good work with President Dester.

We have my first district meeting as a Zone Leader on Tuesday, and interviews with the new mission President on Wednesday. It'll be a ton of traveling because my area is super far away from everything.

Thanks for all the support guys! All of you are awesome! Have a good week, and talk to you next Monday!