Alright, well, I mean,
another Monday and another Letter. I even thought about what I was
going to throw into this letter, so that’s pretty nice. Anyway, I will start
out with Christmas Eve. That was just kind of a headache, but it turned out worthwhile.
It rained like crazy on Christmas Eve, and so that made transport and
everything difficult. The streets get flooded here and it’s not uncommon to not
be able to get to someone’s house because all of their land in front is flooded,
or in the city the streets can have up to a foot and a half of water. But that’s
just life. Anyway, Christmas Eve was the day I had scheduled to call my family,
but due to the rain, I couldn't call them from my area. So we had to travel to
the area of the other Elders, and look for a place where they had Webcams. I
mean, the quality was kind of horrible, but I was happy to see everybody. Later
that night we stayed with the other Elders and played a few games. The best one
was Jenga, because the loser had to eat a spoonful of hot sauce ha-ha. But
don´t worry, I came out victorious! And after that we went to bed... and I
slept on the floor... It was kind of nice though ha-ha.
Christmas morning,
Elder Snow made everyone pancakes and bacon. It’s been a long time since I have
had bacon and it was top notch. From there we went to talk with the family
again, and this time I actually got to talk to them and see them because the
internet actually worked, so it compensated for the night before. The Bishop
later took us out to eat and we spent the majority of the day with him and his
family. Anyway, that’s how my holiday goes. I would say it was pretty good. I
hope that it went well for all you guys!
Anyway, the last part
of our week here was purely dedicated to inviting people to church. We taught
about the importance of church attendance and the importance of the Sabbath day
to almost everybody, if we felt like we should teach someone else something
different, that’s what we did. But anyway, we were doing that because we now
have a branch in our area. We split the ward and had to invite everyone to the
house where we are having the church services now. It turned out awesome, we
had 68 people show up, and we were still short a few members. We had only
expected like 50, and we thought the bread and water from the sacrament
wouldn´t be enough, but all turned out great.
And to finish this
off, I will tell you guys about José. We have just started teaching him this
week and he is awesome. His wife is a member of the church and he decided to
start listening to us. So we went and we started teaching him and at the end of
the lesson he wanted us to keep going and tell him more. He let us know that as
we were teaching him, everything just started to make sense, he started to see
more clearly the importance of the gospel and the restoration. When we returned
the next day we were talking about the book of Mormon, we had left a part for
him to read and we asked him how he went. He told us that as he read what we
left for him that he was hit hard by what he read. He said that what we teach
has already impacted his life and that he wants to be baptized. He told us how
at first he started listening to us just for his wife, but that now he knows
that it’s true and that he has felt the spirit as we have taught him.
I mean, it was just
remarkable to hear everything he told us. Not because it’s what we as
missionaries want to hear, but because as he told us, the Spirit testified to
us as well of his sincerity. You could see that the spirit had touched his
heart, and I have no doubt that the Lord will keep helping him during this
time. I love it here, I really do. It’s something I could have never imagined
back at home, I thought this whole missionary thing was more about knocking on
doors ha-ha, but it’s truly the Lord´s work, and I am grateful to be a part of
it.
So, that’s the letter
I have for you guys, I love you all, and I hope all is well. Here’s some
scriptures: Mormon 7:9-10, 1 Thes. 3:7-13
A few pictures of Mi Casa =]
Love you guys!
Elder Rios
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