A Book Saturated in the Spirit

Hello Family,

How are you all? Things are going well here. Everything went well with José (he was baptized on Sunday). He is very happy. We got to ride a big school bus home from the service.

The magic school bus

Everyone is excited for the baptism!

Jean Carlos, Jose, Jose Jose, Glenda

We found some new people this week. There is one named Karen. She is a friend of another friend we are teaching. When we first started talking with her, she told us not even to bring up baptism because she has been asked "a hundred times" by different churches to get baptized and that the decision to get baptized takes lots of time. So, we just gave her a Book of Mormon and focused in on the other investigadora for the rest of the lesson. The next time we passed by the first thing she said was, "Hey, guess what! I read the book and now I want to get baptized." It was rather surprising. I love it when they read the Book of Mormon.

I think it was Elder Gonzalez that said it is a book saturated in the spirit of the Lord. I’ve been thinking about that phrase a lot, recently. Combined with the spirit, it really is a missionary’s greatest tool. We invited her to see another baptism and she said, "What? Why do they get to get baptized this Saturday and I have to wait a couple of weeks." That is not a usual response.

Jose with his brother, Dario, sister,
Maria, and mother

Ward after the baptism

Things are going really well with Elder Velasquez. He’s a great guy. He’s easy to talk to. I don’t like feeling old. It seems so short till its all over. I am not really sure how I feel about it. Sometimes when I’m trying to get someone excited about coming to church or to keep one of their commitments after they change their mind for the fourth time, I think to myself, "I’m getting too old for this." But then later I think I don’t ever want this to stop.

Mom, how was trying to be obedient on your mission? One of the things I’ve been working on is understanding that I don’t have to do everything perfectly. I can take time to learn to do things right and with prayer and planning I can decide how to use my time best.. Every once I a while I’ve been feeling frustrated in the mornings when I haven’t gotten everything ready for the day and then I feel like things won’t go right or that I won’t have the spirit or something. How did you learn to follow the rules without going rule crazy?

Brian and Patricio with Alain and his mother

Feel-y  I don't like feeling old.  It seems so short till it's all over.  I am not really sure how I feel about it.  Sometimes when I'm trying to get someone excited about coming to church or to keep one of their commitments after they change their mind for the fourth time, I think to my self, "I´m getting too old for this." but then later I think I don't ever want this to stop.  That's how Elder Castro Colombiano was.  He'd wake up one morning and want to extend his mission and then the next day he would say he just wanted to go home.

Well, that’s what has been going on in Solana. I am looking forward to talking to you soon. I got the Easter and Saint Valentine's packages this week. The chocolate pretzels were a hit.

Mucho amor,
Mr. V