April 28, 2008

Dear Irvine Family:

I am officially the oldest missionary in the ward, in terms of how long I've been in this area. The local high councilman pointed that out to me and it was just a reinforcement of how long I've been here. And, I just realized how old I am in the mission field. Time flies, but at time it really seems like it stops and freezes just to mess with me. It's pretty amazing to see the changes in the ward from how it was six months ago. We are getting home and visiting teaching started...finally. It's been six months of waiting and waiting and waiting...and it's come to fruition. Finally, these Latinos got the ball moving. Two years in the making. We have a trio of sister missionaries in our ward, Molina (from Monterrey, Mexico), Frisby (she's been here second-longest) and Martin (from Dallas, Texas). The four elders are Lynn, Sanchez (our DL), his greenie Gaete (Chilean kid whose name sounds like cookie in Spanish- a.k.a. galleta so that is his nickname), and me. I really feel that the Lord has kept me in this area for a reason, to test my diligence. And so far, I'm not exactly doing well but I'm not completely dead yet. And, as far as I know, we are going to have a lot of baptisms this coming transfer. If all goes according to plan, we'll have at least 6 in our companionship, 2 from the other elders, and 1 from the sister missionaries. Our zone goal is 12 baptisms this transfer, which would tie my first zone San Fernando for mission high in recent history. Hopefully we'll do it, and I'm pretty sure we can this transfer.

It was a crazy week. Not a lot of work, just a lot of adjustment. Two new roomies, and a newbie to the field. A lot of switching around and adjusting our schedule to fit with our new DL and his greenie that arrived midweek. It was good though, to take a step back and take a deep breath. The only downside is that I felt like I wasn't doing much work, but Sanchez said to cool down cuz it's the first week. He has a point, I just am not used to getting a new comp midweek and having to adjust our schedule to help him get his greenie comfortable. Gaete, the greenie, is way cool. He is really intelligent, and pretty witty too. He's not like the natives that I have dealt with before, so we get along well. This transfer is going to be really good. The sister missionaries work hard, we work, and Sanchez and Gaete work. So this is going to be a good transfer.

It was a bit sad because we haven't been able to meet with the Jaimes for two weeks now due to work and paperwork with the immigration. They came to church last week, but yesterday they didn't. I called them and the father said, 'sorry, the truth is we have a lot of chores to do.' I couldn't believe it. It's the gazillionth time that they've done this to me. I have already called them to repent and go to church no matter what, but now I have to find a better way to motivate them. Literally, they're not going to church because they have to do their laundry. I'll have to do a lot of prayer and fasting to find what I need to say to help them out. That's the only thing. They know it's all true, they have a sure testimony. They just don't follow it up with church attendance. When they do go, it's only for sacrament meeting. So our new commitment is going to be along the lines of, if you want to be baptized, you have to show your commitment. Go to church, all three hours of it, for three straight weeks. Then you've shown us you want to follow Christ's example. But, they've floundered as of late, but we'll be more specific this week. Patience is a virtue, and I seem to need to learn more about it this coming transfer.

It's been a rough past transfer, so I'm trying to find more new ways to motivate me and to help me be more obedient. So last night, I drew a chart with things I could do to be more obedient. I never thought I'd need a chart to be more obedient, but here I am! We'll see how it goes from here on out. The little things make a big difference, and I need to just work on the little things to find more investigators to baptize.

We have a baptism coming up this next Sunday, and I'm a little excited for it. It's the daughter of local active members, and I don't know why she wasn't baptized, it was like they forgot about her. But, it's a 'gimme' baptism because she has a good support group at church and an active and faithful family. We go, teach, she understands, and voila! Convert Baptism! She's so smart too, I wonder how the heck she understood the Fall so fast. One more saint into the celestial kingdom!

On Wednesday we had a sweet baptismal service. A golden investigator that the sisters taught got baptized before she went home to Colombia, and it was a great service. The Spirit was strong, it was so great! A local member cried giving her testimony, and it made it just so much more amazing. Now that I think of it, we got six baptisms in the last two transfers, by far out-pacing our zone. But then again, we're the only Spanish missionaries here so...a bit unfair by comparison. The work is truly progressing!

So the work is going well, and I'm doing relatively well. The Lord knows our strengths and weaknesses, and I know that I'm learning something this transfer. I haven't exactly put a finger on it yet, but I know the Lord has something in store for me.

Tell Grandma that I hope she gets better soon, so I can talk to her this Mother's Day. I hope all is well, and I can't wait to talk to you all soon!

Love,
Spencer