Dear Mom and Dad,
This week was great! On Tuesday Hermanas Duarte and Johnson dropped me off in the mission office in Ramos Mejía where I met my new companion, Hermana Noelia Centurión. She is from the stake of Moreno and lives about 30 minutes from Hurlingham. She was baptized with her father and younger brother about 6 years ago. Her mother was the first to get baptized, but became inactive while Hna. Centurión was little and later remarried. Then one day the missionaries stopped to speak to her mother and step father and were invited back. Her family listened to the lessons and a few months later got baptized. Since then they have been completely active. She has one older brother who still isn´t interested in baptism, but she knows he´ll come around some day. Hermana Centurión says that if she likes being a mini missionary, she´ll probably send in her papers do to a full time mission. . .so I´m trying to make sure she likes it. :)
So far I love training. We are piloting a new program from Salt Lake that involves an extra hour of companionship study during the first 12 weeks of the mission to reinforce the basic principles of the Preach my Gospel Manual. I hope it helps my hijita get the hang of things, but I think it will do wonders for me. It´s already helping me remember and apply better techniques I learned in the MTC that I haven´t thought about lately. And teaching Hna. Centurión how to be a missionary is teaching me a lot too! Apparently in a week or two the mission will receive a shipment of mini DVD players so that we can watch clips from the Preach my Gospel training videos during our extra hour of study. Fancy!
Hna. Centurión did great this week and is learning fast, I think. She participates in teaching lessons to the investigators and is practicing her street contacting skills. We are becoming good friends too. We spend all day laughing at each other´s stories and the things that happen to us.
On Saturday our focus was trying to get people to come to sacrament meeting on Sunday. I came up with a plan that involved preparing a lesson on the sacrament to share with all the investigators and less active members and delivering cookies and notes to others. We worked really hard carrying out our plans and planned with our investigators Lucila and Enzo to stop by their house with banana bread on Sunday morning to pick them up for church.
Sunday morning we managed to make decent banana bread without a bread pan, attend a last minute 7:30am meeting in the mission office (involving an extra 45 minutes of travel time), attend half of Relief Club meeting and STILL arrive almost on time to pick up Lucila and Enzo for sacrament meeting. Then Lucila sent us a text right as we were arriving that she couldn´t come after all and Enzo didn´t wake up, even though we clapped several times and entered the gate without permission to knock on BOTH the doors of the house. To add an extra sting, none of the less active members and only one of the other investigators who we had hoped would come arrived. Such is the mission. We will make better plans and have 4 investigators in sacrament meeting this week si or sí , even if we have to _________ (insert extreme verb here involving great personal suffering) to do it.
The bright side is that Celeste was confirmed with the Holy Ghost without any problems. Well, ok, she came down with nausea during the meeting, had to go outside to throw up and was taken home early by Hna. y Hno. Freites, but all that happened AFTER her confirmation, so todo bien. (Don´t worry, she recovered quickly afterwards and was just fine by the time we stopped by that afternoon)
This week I am determined to study harder, work harder, talk to more people and do everything smarter so we can find new investigators, have more people in sacrament meeting, and prepare people for baptism. Fortunately, with Hna. Centurión, I´ll be laughing while I do it. And at the end of the week, my hablar will hopefully be slightly less gringo.
Sounds like Danny enjoyed his birthday party. See my message to him below. No packages have arrived yet, but maybe tomorrow. Tell the kids not to burn the house down while you two are in Hawaii. In the unlikely and unwelcome event of an untimely plane crash, I would happily (or should I say dutifully) accept the charge of my three youngest siblings as minions, provided President Benton allows them to stay on as temporary servants in the mission home until January. You´ve already planned to write that part into the will, right? Enjoy Hawaii! I want to see pictures of you rappelling inside volcanoes above boiling lava and covered in barnacles after your snorkeling marathon. Show those more boring, er, I mean relaxed members of the family how the Moscow Clarks go on vacation!
Love,
Ellis
Dear Dan,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are now TEN! 10! You will never again have only one digit in your age. Welcome to the double digits club! I heard your party was incredible. Hope your actual birthday is just as great. If you were Argentine, you would probably celebrate with an asado and eat lots of large chunks of meat. Then you would eat an enormous piece of very sugary cake covered in inch thick white frosting with dulce de leche in the middle. Oh, and Mom and Dad would rent you one of those inflatable castle things to jump on with your friends and they would play cumbia music (it sounds like this: ch chch ch chch ch chch) so loud the whole neighborhood would hear. Remind me how American boys celebrate their birthdays. What will you do?
Thanks for being a fantastic little brother. Write me more funny letters. My companions like them too.
Love,
Ellis
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
I'm Training!
Dear Mom and Dad,
I don't have much time to write, but here are the haps of the semana.
CELESTE GOT BAPTIZED! Lots more members came to the baptism this time and said lots of wonderful things about how happy they were for her. Lots of support! Celeste was very happy! And Hna. Schneider and I were really happy for her. We worked a miracle of the feeding of the 5000 with the refreshments afterwards. Just when I finished cutting what there was into VERY small pieces, Hno. Vargas walked into the kitchen with rolls and cake. Phew!
We went to visit the Familia Maidana with Hno. y Hna. Zanzi, who teach in the MTC in B.A. They are super cool and teach really well! Hno. Maidana has been inactive for over a year and his daughter Joana is 9 but hasn't been baptized yet because her mother wants her father to baptize her. So I dropped the cane, as we say here. Hno. and Hna. Zanzi were talking to him about the blessings he would recieve for reactivating himself and why it would be good for him and Hno. Maidana was saying he would come when he felt ready. But I kept thinking, this isn't about him. Then I told him, Take your time, hno, but while you are taking your time your daughter isn't getting baptized and your wife has to go to church alone with your three daughters. You are holding your family back. Your family is a team, and God called you to be the captain of this team, but you are not doing your part. Your family needs you. Anyway, it sounded better in Spanish. I got teary and my voice choked up as I spoke and I looked Hno. Maidana in the eyes. Everyone fell silent and Hno. Maidana didn't respond for a few seconds. When he did respond, he seemed humbler and thanked me for caring about his family. But then he started explaining again how he had to feel like it to go back to church. Aaargh! I hoped my words would sink in later, but he didn't come to church on Sunday. Maybe next week.
Hna. Schneider and I had a very good goodbye. She apologized to me and I apologized to her for not being better companions. I realized now that we were both just having a really difficult time personally, which made it hard to help each other. Considering that, I think we did really well together and learned a lot. I told her that, and we parted very good friends. I really am going to miss her.
Sunday night, Hno. Fausto invited us to an asado for his birthday and to say goodbye to Hna. Schneider. It was so good! Hno. Saravia was in charge of the grill and every 5 minutes kept offering us chunks of beef or sausage or chicken. When I tried to say I was full, Hna. Saravia told me I had to leave the dinner two kilos heavier. There was nothing I could do about it. After all that meat, Hno. Fausto put me in charge of putting the candles on the cake and lighting them. Three of them were sparklers and I put them in upside down! Hno. Fausto and the Familia Saravia, who were also there, had a pretty good laugh at me. Hna. Schneider laughed so hard she couldn't talk. Fortunately the sparklers still worked. The cake was delicious. I took pictures of the grill and the cake and everything. I'll try to send them next week. It was a great send off for Hna. Schneider and I think Hno. Fausto was really happy we were there for his birthday too. He said he will have another asado when I leave. Yikes!
Ok, so these points have been really out of order. Here is the part you are probably most excited to hear about. TRANSFERS! All my predictions were dead wrong, of course. Hna. Schneider left for Aldo Bonzi, and as for me. . .I'M TRAINING! I'm going to be a mom! haha I'm scared stiff. My new companion will arrive tomorrow. She is a mini missionary, ie she is a regular member serving for 6 weeks and will most likely have 0 experience, unless this is her second mini mission. So I have to be her MTC teacher and her trainer. AAAAAGGGHH! Fortunately, she will speak better castellano than I do, so at least I don't have to worry about that part. Everyone keeps telling me I can do it and that this assignment means that President has a lot of confidence in me. I guess it should be pretty fun. I'll get to work on my castellano with a native speaker and hopefully I can prepare my companion to serve a full time mission later. Until my hijita shows up tomorrow, I'm hanging out in Billinghurst with Hna. Johnson and HNA. DUARTE!!!, who just got transferred to Billinghurst and is now going to be in my zone! I'm way excited to be able to spend time with her again. Since my new companion is only going to be with me for one transfer, I'll most likely be staying in Hurlingham two transfers more to hand the area off to the next hermana. Or maybe this will be my last transfer and there will be a whitewash. Who knows.
Well, I am out of time. Thanks for your emails. I enjoyed the story about all the canoeing and the picture of Ben and Ryan. Front page! Wow. Dad, I'm still digesting your talk. I'll write my commentary next week. Have a fantastic week, all of you! I love you!
Love,
Ellis
I don't have much time to write, but here are the haps of the semana.
CELESTE GOT BAPTIZED! Lots more members came to the baptism this time and said lots of wonderful things about how happy they were for her. Lots of support! Celeste was very happy! And Hna. Schneider and I were really happy for her. We worked a miracle of the feeding of the 5000 with the refreshments afterwards. Just when I finished cutting what there was into VERY small pieces, Hno. Vargas walked into the kitchen with rolls and cake. Phew!
We went to visit the Familia Maidana with Hno. y Hna. Zanzi, who teach in the MTC in B.A. They are super cool and teach really well! Hno. Maidana has been inactive for over a year and his daughter Joana is 9 but hasn't been baptized yet because her mother wants her father to baptize her. So I dropped the cane, as we say here. Hno. and Hna. Zanzi were talking to him about the blessings he would recieve for reactivating himself and why it would be good for him and Hno. Maidana was saying he would come when he felt ready. But I kept thinking, this isn't about him. Then I told him, Take your time, hno, but while you are taking your time your daughter isn't getting baptized and your wife has to go to church alone with your three daughters. You are holding your family back. Your family is a team, and God called you to be the captain of this team, but you are not doing your part. Your family needs you. Anyway, it sounded better in Spanish. I got teary and my voice choked up as I spoke and I looked Hno. Maidana in the eyes. Everyone fell silent and Hno. Maidana didn't respond for a few seconds. When he did respond, he seemed humbler and thanked me for caring about his family. But then he started explaining again how he had to feel like it to go back to church. Aaargh! I hoped my words would sink in later, but he didn't come to church on Sunday. Maybe next week.
Hna. Schneider and I had a very good goodbye. She apologized to me and I apologized to her for not being better companions. I realized now that we were both just having a really difficult time personally, which made it hard to help each other. Considering that, I think we did really well together and learned a lot. I told her that, and we parted very good friends. I really am going to miss her.
Sunday night, Hno. Fausto invited us to an asado for his birthday and to say goodbye to Hna. Schneider. It was so good! Hno. Saravia was in charge of the grill and every 5 minutes kept offering us chunks of beef or sausage or chicken. When I tried to say I was full, Hna. Saravia told me I had to leave the dinner two kilos heavier. There was nothing I could do about it. After all that meat, Hno. Fausto put me in charge of putting the candles on the cake and lighting them. Three of them were sparklers and I put them in upside down! Hno. Fausto and the Familia Saravia, who were also there, had a pretty good laugh at me. Hna. Schneider laughed so hard she couldn't talk. Fortunately the sparklers still worked. The cake was delicious. I took pictures of the grill and the cake and everything. I'll try to send them next week. It was a great send off for Hna. Schneider and I think Hno. Fausto was really happy we were there for his birthday too. He said he will have another asado when I leave. Yikes!
Ok, so these points have been really out of order. Here is the part you are probably most excited to hear about. TRANSFERS! All my predictions were dead wrong, of course. Hna. Schneider left for Aldo Bonzi, and as for me. . .I'M TRAINING! I'm going to be a mom! haha I'm scared stiff. My new companion will arrive tomorrow. She is a mini missionary, ie she is a regular member serving for 6 weeks and will most likely have 0 experience, unless this is her second mini mission. So I have to be her MTC teacher and her trainer. AAAAAGGGHH! Fortunately, she will speak better castellano than I do, so at least I don't have to worry about that part. Everyone keeps telling me I can do it and that this assignment means that President has a lot of confidence in me. I guess it should be pretty fun. I'll get to work on my castellano with a native speaker and hopefully I can prepare my companion to serve a full time mission later. Until my hijita shows up tomorrow, I'm hanging out in Billinghurst with Hna. Johnson and HNA. DUARTE!!!, who just got transferred to Billinghurst and is now going to be in my zone! I'm way excited to be able to spend time with her again. Since my new companion is only going to be with me for one transfer, I'll most likely be staying in Hurlingham two transfers more to hand the area off to the next hermana. Or maybe this will be my last transfer and there will be a whitewash. Who knows.
Well, I am out of time. Thanks for your emails. I enjoyed the story about all the canoeing and the picture of Ben and Ryan. Front page! Wow. Dad, I'm still digesting your talk. I'll write my commentary next week. Have a fantastic week, all of you! I love you!
Love,
Ellis
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Ellis Has Some Introspection about Herself and Her Mission
Dear Mom and Dad,
Transfers are next Monday. My old companions would spend lots of time mapping out their predictions and gossiping over the phone to the other sisters. President Benton has cracked down on phone conversations between the sisters (which I didn´t really participate in anyway), so no gossip for me, but I did sink to the level of making transfer predictions for the first time. I think my new companion will be Hermana Danes, Hna. Schneider´s MTC companion, and I think Hna. Schneider is going to Las Heras. But the other sister´s predictions were often wildly wrong, so we´ll see.
The big thing this last week of the transfer will be organizing Celeste´s baptism. She is the daughter of Elvira, our last convert. She was going to be baptized this coming Saturday, but during sacrament meeting Bishop Lorenzon felt impressed to move the baptism to Sunday so that more members could come. He told that to the ward over the pulpit and said that baptism was an event that merited the support and attendance of the whole ward, not just of 3 or 4 members. He is right. Baptism is one of the most important decisions a person can make in their life, and when only a few people show up it is just sad. I hope lots of people come to Celeste´s baptism and I hope that you guys will attend the next convert baptism the ward has.
Saturday was my 10 month mark in the mission. It is almost scary how fast time flies here. I feel like I still have a lot left to accomplish. I had a moment of reminiscing on Saturday and had a sort of ephiphany. These last two transfers have not been easy, but they were important. I needed to be reminded that Heavenly Father and Jesus love me all the time-- when I´m being the very best missionary I can and when I feel like I´m struggling to keep up with the basics. They loved me before my mission when I knew much less, was less diligent and less confident. They loved me when I learned more about the gospel, became more diligent and dedicated, and gained more confidence. And they love me now, exactly where I am and how I am, even when where I am and how I am deeply distress me at times. Mom wrote to me in one of her letters, "I love you. I always have. I always will." Now I understand better that Heavenly Father and Jesus feel exactly the same way about me. I´m sure the next 8 months will be full of even more important lessons, some of which may be just as hard to learn as this one was. And as much as I learn and as hard as I try to improve, and as much as I really do improve, when I leave the mission I still won´t be a perfect missionary. I will still be able to make a list a mile long of all the things I don´t do quite right. But I will have learned and improved and grown in ways I couldn´t have imagined. And as distressingly (to me) imperfect as I will still be, Heavenly Father and Jesus will still love me perfectly, exactly like they always have. And always will.
Thanks, Mom, for your email last week. I printed it and read it every day. It really helped me, and it´s still helping. Thank you!
Dad, I agree with you about the merits of a gustonian vacation as Adam would say. I want to see photos of all the barnacles you pick up snorkeling. :) Even in the mission, when I´m going going going all the time (well, sort of), doing more on P day is often more "relaxing", or maybe rejuvenating, than doing less.
I hope you all have an excellent week. I love you!
Love, Ellis
P.S. I read Danny´s courage story today. I haven´t been so entertained for a long time. I could live the missionary life of no music or movies indefinitely if Danny sent me stories every week of my life. What other nine year old uses the phrase "god-forsaken" (as in, I got so mad that I hurried down the godforsaken mountain.)? And the part where he said the car looked like an angel-- fantastic. A+, Danny. Thanks!
Transfers are next Monday. My old companions would spend lots of time mapping out their predictions and gossiping over the phone to the other sisters. President Benton has cracked down on phone conversations between the sisters (which I didn´t really participate in anyway), so no gossip for me, but I did sink to the level of making transfer predictions for the first time. I think my new companion will be Hermana Danes, Hna. Schneider´s MTC companion, and I think Hna. Schneider is going to Las Heras. But the other sister´s predictions were often wildly wrong, so we´ll see.
The big thing this last week of the transfer will be organizing Celeste´s baptism. She is the daughter of Elvira, our last convert. She was going to be baptized this coming Saturday, but during sacrament meeting Bishop Lorenzon felt impressed to move the baptism to Sunday so that more members could come. He told that to the ward over the pulpit and said that baptism was an event that merited the support and attendance of the whole ward, not just of 3 or 4 members. He is right. Baptism is one of the most important decisions a person can make in their life, and when only a few people show up it is just sad. I hope lots of people come to Celeste´s baptism and I hope that you guys will attend the next convert baptism the ward has.
Saturday was my 10 month mark in the mission. It is almost scary how fast time flies here. I feel like I still have a lot left to accomplish. I had a moment of reminiscing on Saturday and had a sort of ephiphany. These last two transfers have not been easy, but they were important. I needed to be reminded that Heavenly Father and Jesus love me all the time-- when I´m being the very best missionary I can and when I feel like I´m struggling to keep up with the basics. They loved me before my mission when I knew much less, was less diligent and less confident. They loved me when I learned more about the gospel, became more diligent and dedicated, and gained more confidence. And they love me now, exactly where I am and how I am, even when where I am and how I am deeply distress me at times. Mom wrote to me in one of her letters, "I love you. I always have. I always will." Now I understand better that Heavenly Father and Jesus feel exactly the same way about me. I´m sure the next 8 months will be full of even more important lessons, some of which may be just as hard to learn as this one was. And as much as I learn and as hard as I try to improve, and as much as I really do improve, when I leave the mission I still won´t be a perfect missionary. I will still be able to make a list a mile long of all the things I don´t do quite right. But I will have learned and improved and grown in ways I couldn´t have imagined. And as distressingly (to me) imperfect as I will still be, Heavenly Father and Jesus will still love me perfectly, exactly like they always have. And always will.
Thanks, Mom, for your email last week. I printed it and read it every day. It really helped me, and it´s still helping. Thank you!
Dad, I agree with you about the merits of a gustonian vacation as Adam would say. I want to see photos of all the barnacles you pick up snorkeling. :) Even in the mission, when I´m going going going all the time (well, sort of), doing more on P day is often more "relaxing", or maybe rejuvenating, than doing less.
I hope you all have an excellent week. I love you!
Love, Ellis
P.S. I read Danny´s courage story today. I haven´t been so entertained for a long time. I could live the missionary life of no music or movies indefinitely if Danny sent me stories every week of my life. What other nine year old uses the phrase "god-forsaken" (as in, I got so mad that I hurried down the godforsaken mountain.)? And the part where he said the car looked like an angel-- fantastic. A+, Danny. Thanks!
Friday, May 6, 2011
anotherweekinHurlinghamwithnospacebararrgh
DearFam
GavethegoodcomputertoHna.Schneider--thatwasamistake.
IfI´dknowtherewasnospacebar,Iwouldn´thavebeensocharitable....Afterall,I´mtheseniorcomp.Gottotakesomesortofadvantageofmyseniority.
SometimesMom´sweeklyemailsoundslikeaschoolpaperissueonhighachievingstudents.haha...Makesmeproudofmysiblingsandalltheirtalents(academicandotherwise.)
Don´tknowhowlongIcanputupwiththisnospacebardeal....Thismaybeashortemail.
Funnystoryoftheweek:
Kissing_on_the_mish:YesterdayandSaturday,HermanaSchneiderandIhadsometechnicaldifficultieswithgreetingmales.Thenormalgreeting/goodbyegestureheristokiss--reallytouchrightcheekbonesandkisstheair.Wearen´tallowed,asmissionariies,togreetpeopleoftheoppositesexwithakiss,butit´skindofinconvenientbecausewehavetoexplainittoallthemenwemeet....Usuallyifweextendourhandstheygettheidea,butsometimeswegetsurprisedandhavetofendoffkissesbyquicklysaying´¨sorry,wegreetmenwithahandshake¨.Aaandsometimeswedon´tmanagetogetthatphraseoutintimeandwegetkissedanyway.---LikeyesterdayandSaturday.OnSaturdaywegotkissedthreetimes!Westartedcounting--strikeone,striketwo...weweredeterminednottogetstruckout,butthenayoungmanwecontactedswoopedin--strikethree.Oops.Iwanttobeobedient,butsometimesIthinkitwouldbeeasierjusttogowithwhatthebiblesays--greeteveryonewithaholykiss....HermanaSchneiderandIwilltrynottogetstruckoutthisweek,haha....Dad,couldyougreetgirlswithkissesonyourmission?Thefunniestiswhenmembersofthebishopricforgetandareabouttokissusbyreflexwehavetoremindthembyextendingourhandsreallyquickly---theyendupreallyembarrassedandwejustlaughatthem.
Investigatorupdate:ReinaandEsmeraldastillhaven´tcometochurchfortheregularmeetings,butEsmeraldagoestomutualeveryweek.Shehadabaptismaldatebutitfellbecauseshedidn´tgoonSunday.--Celeste,Elvira´sdaughter,isamazingandloveslearningaboutthegospel,butshemissedchurchagainthisweekbecauseatthelastminuteshehadtobeinthehousesoLudmila´sdadcouldpickherupfortheweekend.AAARG.Iwassodissappointed.Butshestillreallywantstogetbaptized,whichisgood.
Ihavelostcountofhowmanyinvestigatorswehavehadtodrop(usuallybecausetheystopprogressingandsuddenlybecomeveryhardtofindintheirhouses)eventhoughwepassbytotryandvisitseveraltimesduringtheweek)andhowmanyfechashavefallenthrough.´Everyweekweplantobring4or5or6peopletochurchand1or2showup.....But,thechurchisstilltrue,theworkmustgoon,etc.Andthisweekwemanagedtoteach10lessonswithamember,whichisreallygoodforus,soI´mreallyhappyaboutthat.ANDElviragotbaptized--whenIthinkaboutthat,Ican´tgetdiscouraged.Wehavesomepromisingnewinvestigatorstoteachthisweek,soI´mfeelinghopeful.
GavethegoodcomputertoHna.Schneider--thatwasamistake.
IfI´dknowtherewasnospacebar,Iwouldn´thavebeensocharitable....Afterall,I´mtheseniorcomp.Gottotakesomesortofadvantageofmyseniority.
SometimesMom´sweeklyemailsoundslikeaschoolpaperissueonhighachievingstudents.haha...Makesmeproudofmysiblingsandalltheirtalents(academicandotherwise.)
Don´tknowhowlongIcanputupwiththisnospacebardeal....Thismaybeashortemail.
Funnystoryoftheweek:
Kissing_on_the_mish:YesterdayandSaturday,HermanaSchneiderandIhadsometechnicaldifficultieswithgreetingmales.Thenormalgreeting/goodbyegestureheristokiss--reallytouchrightcheekbonesandkisstheair.Wearen´tallowed,asmissionariies,togreetpeopleoftheoppositesexwithakiss,butit´skindofinconvenientbecausewehavetoexplainittoallthemenwemeet....Usuallyifweextendourhandstheygettheidea,butsometimeswegetsurprisedandhavetofendoffkissesbyquicklysaying´¨sorry,wegreetmenwithahandshake¨.Aaandsometimeswedon´tmanagetogetthatphraseoutintimeandwegetkissedanyway.---LikeyesterdayandSaturday.OnSaturdaywegotkissedthreetimes!Westartedcounting--strikeone,striketwo...weweredeterminednottogetstruckout,butthenayoungmanwecontactedswoopedin--strikethree.Oops.Iwanttobeobedient,butsometimesIthinkitwouldbeeasierjusttogowithwhatthebiblesays--greeteveryonewithaholykiss....HermanaSchneiderandIwilltrynottogetstruckoutthisweek,haha....Dad,couldyougreetgirlswithkissesonyourmission?Thefunniestiswhenmembersofthebishopricforgetandareabouttokissusbyreflexwehavetoremindthembyextendingourhandsreallyquickly---theyendupreallyembarrassedandwejustlaughatthem.
Investigatorupdate:ReinaandEsmeraldastillhaven´tcometochurchfortheregularmeetings,butEsmeraldagoestomutualeveryweek.Shehadabaptismaldatebutitfellbecauseshedidn´tgoonSunday.--Celeste,Elvira´sdaughter,isamazingandloveslearningaboutthegospel,butshemissedchurchagainthisweekbecauseatthelastminuteshehadtobeinthehousesoLudmila´sdadcouldpickherupfortheweekend.AAARG.Iwassodissappointed.Butshestillreallywantstogetbaptized,whichisgood.
Ihavelostcountofhowmanyinvestigatorswehavehadtodrop(usuallybecausetheystopprogressingandsuddenlybecomeveryhardtofindintheirhouses)eventhoughwepassbytotryandvisitseveraltimesduringtheweek)andhowmanyfechashavefallenthrough.´Everyweekweplantobring4or5or6peopletochurchand1or2showup.....But,thechurchisstilltrue,theworkmustgoon,etc.Andthisweekwemanagedtoteach10lessonswithamember,whichisreallygoodforus,soI´mreallyhappyaboutthat.ANDElviragotbaptized--whenIthinkaboutthat,Ican´tgetdiscouraged.Wehavesomepromisingnewinvestigatorstoteachthisweek,soI´mfeelinghopeful.
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