6-20-11

hello everyone. another week has come and gone and it is going by pretty quick. we had a good week this week as well and a few cool experiences. this tuesday we had interviews with pres. castañeda. it went well but it was kinda bad too becaause he showed up two hours late. he was in another place with the rest of the zone but said he was going to come to la venta because its on the way back to villahermosa. i guess to try and save time but we ended up calling him when he was 40 min late and then he said an hour from that time hed be there so we tried to run adn do a lesson and move around our whole day, but it went alright. president told me a cool experience he had and just asked me how things were and how i liked the new training program. he also told me that i will almost for sure be leaving la venta at the end of this transfer. that will be a good thing i think. ive been here forever, but it will be hard to leave everyone here that ive gotten so used to.

a few funny stories from this week. this one night we were walking around and this taxi guy pulled over and told us to get in. we sort of knew him, but i was pretty sure he was drunk. we then spent the next few minutes driving around with him going like 5 mph on the road while he told us he wanted to change his life and that he has nothing good going. It was sad and we had him drive us to his house to show us where it was.we then got out of the car before he got back on the main road haha. we went by a few days later and the lesson went super well. we taught the restoration of the gospel and then at the end he asked us when he could be baptized. it was pretty cool and we will help him with certain problems he has so that he can get baptized.

this week also we set up an appointment to meet with this lady and her family. when we got there the next day and yelled at them to come out. (there arent doorbells and you dont cross their yard to get ppl to come out, you just yell "buenos tardes"from outside their gates and then they come out.) so anyways i yelled and then a little boy came out and said "my mom IS here... Oh i mean she´s not here" while at the same time mouthing and shaking his head and pointing that she was right behind the door haha. I then told him thanks and then invited him and his little brother to church. they were only like 6 years old ha.

also the hermano Ernan (found out his name really isnt ernansa but ernan) is really funny. everytime we talk to him he tells us another random story that takes forever to tell. this week he told us a crazy one about how this guy was bullying him or something and so he swung at him with a machete and almost got him, but just cut his nose. but apparently after that he never was bothered again ha. He also every week in the principios del evangelio gives a really long story/answer to simple questions. this week after like 5 min i tried to summarize what he said and thanked him for the comment and then asked someone else to read something and asked another person a question and then he gets up and says "i didnt even get to finish yet." he then went on to finish his story and then sat back in his seat haha. He's fun and about every priesthood he falls asleep during the class. i think its a little long for him. but its funny to watch him and me and elder watts have a hard time not laughing as his head falls all the way back and he woke up and had no idea where he was for a second ha.

also this week when we were walking by there were these three little girls outside playing. as we walked by they ran away screaming. then when we went by the house they came back with like 6 other little girls and they all started yelling at us until we were like really far away and out of sight. they were funny though. we get a lot of funny looks from ppl all of the time too. its the funniest when they're from little girls who think we´re cute. not so funny when its old ladies haha.

we almost got another baptism this week which would have been 4 weeks in a row, but the girl that was going to get baptized couldnt because her parents said she needs to go to church more time. all of her cousins are members, and shes come to church the last few weeks and really likes it. we´ll keep working with her and hopefully she´ll be able to get baptized before i leave.

we had a really cool experience witha lady named Mariveli. we have worked with her for a while, but when we ask her how are you, she never says good. she aways says mas o menos. We had a really good talk last week because she said she doesnt feel happy. the lessons with her lately have been really really good. and she has felt the spirit and has been looking so much happier. that is the purpose of the gospel and of life, is to be happy. She made a sacrifice to come to church this week and i think she really liked it. hopefullly she will be able to be baptized in a few weeks as well.

elder watts and i have been working really hard and we constantly critique what we do. It is hard to constantly have to change and there is never a point where ill be able to stop trying to be better. we have learned a lot though and are trying to be the best we can be. We have worked hard finding new ppl to teach and have found some really good families and people to teach that will hopefully turn out good. It is hard work, especially in all the sun and now rain too. i got drenched the other day when i was caught without my rain coat. I am definitely tired alllll of the time, but it is amazing to be able to do this work. I have learned so much and have been learning more and more how to trust in god in all things and let him guide me. I know that this church is true and my testimony is strengthened everyday through many spiritual experiences.

love

elder smith