The Talent Show

It's crazy how time flies...even when I'm in an area that's pretty.....well as we say here, burnt. The work is slowly progressing. We have found a couple new people but there progression is pretty slow. Hopefully they can start to progress because I really want to see a baptism in this are before I go. 

We are teaching a couple of people and it was actually pretty cool because yesterday we taught Josúe. (We are teaching 3 Josúe's so if I've told you about one, well yesterday we taught a different one). He is the husband of an active member and he has never come to church. He tells us all the time though that one day he wants to be a member!! How weird is that? Well finally yesterday we were able to commit him to go to church. We had a really awesome lesson about how sometimes God's will isn't our will but we just need to obey. We used the example of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and how he asked for the cup to be removed but at the same time he was completely obedient to the Father's will. We also used 2 Nefi 2 to explain that we really have to power to choose if we want to be saved or not and that decision is ours to make. So yeah awesome lesson and looks like he'll be coming to church on Sunday.

I should tell you about our talent show. that we had this week. It all started simply with the idea of having one about a month ago or a little more. We talked to the Bishop about it and a couple of members but they didn't really seem excited. What I didn't know at the time is that just no one had faith in Ward Activities. They have had a couple a while ago but they didn't really work out well and almost no one came. So yeah no one really thought twice about our idea. We made invitations and put a sign up list for everyone who had a talent and a few people signed up. Then the Bishop had the good idea that every organization did something. Anyways things started working out for the night and it all looked really good. We gave invitations to a TON of people and all the members had a lot to pass out to friends. So on Saturday we went really early to set everything up. 

We were expecting (with a lot of faith) that 120 people would be there. Really this ward isn't that big and by estimates of members and the Bishop they were only expecting about 80. Anyways when it came time to start we definitely had to put up more chairs. Some people even had to stand and my comp and I with a few other members had to watch it from outside through the windows....Our chapel really isn't meant to fit the 160 people that came! It's a pretty small It was seriously incredible. 

The talents were awesome and everyone loved it. My companion and I did a talent too witch turned out hilarious. We did "A Day in the Life of a Missionary". A kid in our ward held a clock and he moved it was we went through the day. It turned out SOOO good haha. Seriously it was a miracle. The Bishop was really happy too and loved his special reserved cushy seats we gave him in the best part of the chapel with his family. For tomorrow he invited us to dinner so that's always a bonus. But yeah a ton of less actives were able to come, also a lot of investigators. The members were SO happy and they couldn't stop thanking us for actually doing a activity that had success. Really it was a pure miracle and it was thanks to all the members inviting their friends to come. Hopefully we'll see a lot of fruits from this.

Anyways that's the coolest thing that happened this week. The rest the week was pretty slow so there's not much more to say. I love you guys a ton and we'll I'll see you soon!!

The Guy in the Random Car

HI FAMILY!!!

This is one of my last e-mails to you guys. Can you believe it?? Know something crazy? If I would've gone home early to study (at BYU) I would be in an airplane right now....going home today...Weird right? But hey for some reason I stayed so I'm going to work hard. Don't worry.

OK Mom with my bed I've got it all figured out. Don't worry. If you remember right the reason Sean didn't get his bed was because he was going straight to his studies. In my case I will be home for 4 months which is a very long time. Therefore it is necessary that I rest both my body and mind from these Guatemalan twin beds. Now then comes the problem of privacy. Don't worry about it. I have a solution. I have learned how rewarding hard work is in the two years that I have served as a representative of Jesus Christ. Thanks to this great blessing I will be able to work hard when I get home as well. One of the first things that I will do is all by myself I will move my bed into the other guest room and the guest room bed into Curtis' room. We can all see here how I have masterfully found a solution for all problems. And don't worry there's more!! When it comes time to go to college I can STILL work hard and change the beds back! This solution is good for us all and I know the in goodness of Curtis' heart he will understand this. Problem solved. (And don't worry if it comes down to it Curtis can steal the TV from the other room.... but only if I get my bed :)

So this week honestly was kinda hard. I once again had to leave the area twice and my companion was kinda left on his own. That's got to be pretty hard as a new kid. But hey whatever. This week I shouldn't have to leave. This week coming up is going to be great. We have a ward activity that we planned. It's going to be a talent show. Everyone is doing a talent and we gave them all invitations to give away to other people. We're hoping to be able to find a lot of people through this.

Yesterday something kinda funny happened. We were walking to church yesterday morning. A random car (really nice) pulled up out of nowhere and some guy asked us where the chapel was. We told him but he asked us to get in and show him. So yeah we got in to show him. I started talking to them and it turns out that they came from Mexico! So when we got to the chapel and started the meeting was when I actually realized it. We had gotten a ride from a member of the area presidency...a 70 haha. The thing is they just changed the presidency around so he was the new guy and so I didn't recognize him. 

He spoke in church and he gave the 3rd class and it was absolutely incredible. He explained in depth the scriptures in D&C 84 19-22. It's really interesting how he explained it. Basically he said the the real reason we go to church is to do ordinances. The purpose of a Quorum or a class is to help others to receive ordinances. The only way to see God after this life is to do all of the ordinances of the gospel. That should be the biggest desire of all of us. He finished by asking us to think of something. Do we want to see God and live with him or no? But really a really good message.

Anyways that's what I got for you guys right now. My time is about up. Sorry that I didn't tell you much about the investigators today...Have an awesome week. I love you guys.

I Love the Mission, I Love This Work and I Love the Lord

Hey guys so just to let you know, I'm still alive. I know you were probably pretty worried about that. They had to change P-Day because today our zone went to the temple and last week they didn't tell us that until after we wrote so yeah sorry. Anyways we've had a pretty good week. Honestly things are kinda slow here so there's not much to say so I have time to answer all your questions Mom. And to start off I kinda forgot to say that I speak Spanish on the application...oh well I'll talk to the guy when I get home.

Eric and a couple of local pets

That's pretty funny that everyone thought that Briana was dating Curtis. It's a good way to keep everyone away. But hey Briana you can't get married too fast. We have to do it on the same day hahaha! No just kidding but that's seriously crazy that Brad Marley is getting married already. Man how old am I?

And Curtis I'm sorry is not taller than me................even if he is I can still beat him up. Mom as for the interviews, I'm a District leader and so I have to do all the interviews in my district which consists of 4 areas including mine. In the zone there are 2 districts.

Eric and his companion - and I to re-format it!

Whose Mr. Harvey? Not sure if I reamember him... And you know that I never went to High Desert right? Maybe he remembers Sean? And yes Curtis' letter did get to me. Thanks little bro. I would write you a response but I think I would get there before the letter haha. O btw today is my 23 month mark. Crazy right? How the time flies.

So this week we have been working with a couple people. Our most progressing people don't want to get baptized yet though. It's weird too cause one tells us that he KNOWS one day he's going to get baptized and another says his dream is to be a member of the church and they don't do it. Nothing is holding them back either...they're married, they don't work on sundays, they believe everything is true, and a ton of other stuff. It's just frustrating because I want to see them do it before I leave. So yeah should be a crazy few weeks. But really should be awesome.

Eric said this fruit was really good!

I love the mission, I love this work, and I love the Lord. It's going to be way to sad to leave it all. I learned so much in the temple today. This is Christ's church. I am sure of it. So I hope you guys are doing something everyday to increase your testimony. Have an awesome week and know that I love you guys. See Ya!!