RE:

Hey!

Interesting story about the Wedding and Baptisms...they did not happen. Moises, the husband, is a citizen of the states, but his wife, Graciela, is an illegal. In order to purchase the license she needs her birth certificate. She is having it mailed up here from Vera Cruz, Mexico so that could be taking a couple more weeks! We may just end up having the baptism and wedding on Christmas...everything there has been put on hold for the time being. The best thing of all is that they are not down on themselves and their testimonies have not been too shaken. Moises said he thinks this stumbling block is just a test God has put in his way to make him even stronger for when he gets baptized. That has got to be the best attitude of a person I have ever heard of.

Apart from that, I really do not have any interesting stories from the last week. My companion and I kind of hit a rough spot because of my interpertations of the rules and such. My take is a lot more rigid than is his own. This created some sense of disunity between us and overall it just made me a lot more tensed up about teaching with him. We had a great week with nearly 20 lessons, he just gets to a point every now and than where he gets lazy and sick and does not really want to push forward in faith. I have gained multiple witnesses of working through the hard times with faith and a smile always puts miracles in your path.

Perhaps the best example of this comes from a lesson Sunday Night. We ate dinner with some members down near the temple. The wife had cooked enchiladas and at first appearance they looked, smelled, and tasted fresh as could be. However, when I asked for one more enchilada, I saw that they had been reheated in a microwave. I got a really nervous feeling that I was about to get sick. Well, we finished up, sang them a song, and said a prayer. We hopped on our bikes and turned north to go to an appointment that we really did not expect to go through. Well, as we rode past my apartment, I felt really awful. Satan was trying all that he could to get me to just give up. Well, I also felt this feeling that I just kept on trucking and working hard through the pain, I would be fine. I told this to Elder Williams and he said we should go in, but I insisted on pedaling all the way to our appointment, no matter how slow I had to go. We got there about 10 minutes late, but we got there. To our surprise, Javier was there but asked if we could come back in about 10 minutes. We agreed of course. We were riding around the trailer park just talking to a lot of people and then one of our members came outside! She is the YW President, Hna. Castillo. Well, we just felt so inclined and asked her to come to the lesson with us. She came with us and Javier was ready to learn, along with 5 of his 6 kids!!! We taught them all in their humble little trailer in a real rough part of town, but the spirit was there. Though I wanted to give up and take a break, I knew that Javier needed us to be there. If I would have given in to the desires of my body, we probably would never have another chance to teach him again. However, I pushed through and the Lord blessed us because of it. We taught a great lesson and we have a HUGE family that is progressing now and I really think they will get baptized! The Lord blesses us when we drop our shoulders and push through the nitty and the gritty.

Apart from this, another highlight of the week was yesterday. I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Morgan and Elder Williams was with Elder Hawkins. I went over into the Zone Leader's Area. I had a lot of questions on the rules and such and there is no one better to ask than a leader. He gave me one simple piece of advice. "If you would not do it with President Ellsworth there, you should just not do it." This piece of advice was simple but profound. It has already changed my language of conversation, train of though, and diligence in working. My biggest fear I am going to have to overcome is sprouting from having to correct Elder Williams. He is a great guy, but he likes to find loop-holes.

I too will miss you all over the next couple of weeks, but if you really think about it, less than 5 weeks from today we will have an hour to talk over the phone. That will be the sweetest present we all can recieve, love and kind words. I will continue to fast and pray for you mom, so that you can be happier, healthier, and just all around better. I really reccommend that you read all of the conference talks. They are FANTASTIC. I have felt the spirit so strongly while reading them. Richard G. Scott's Talk on Character really helped me. The same goes for President Uchtdorf on the Basics.

Elder Jonathan Pearson

(posted by Maddy)