Baptism at waterfall

Howdy family,

Wow it is so hot! It’s the best when we get into houses so we are not dying the heat. At least it’s not cold! Sorry family! So this week was a mas o menos week.

We did interchanges on Tuesday with Elder Jex. We went and visited these two people. One is named Selene and she is so good. She speaks a bit of English. She lived in Oregon for 2 years. We explained the Restoration to her really well and the next day when we went to visit her she said she didn’t sleep because she was up all night thinking about it. Her grandma was studying with the Testigos de Jehova so we had to clear up a bunch of doubts. But she is really good. She came to church yesterday even though she had to work at10:30. She stayed for the opening song and prayer and then had to leave. She said hopefully the next week she can stay longer. We later visited this lady name Angeles. She is really nice and likes to talk a lot. Her mom is a less active member and Testigo de Jehova so she is really mixed up. Also, she was Catholic...Anyway, Angeles is good and came to church. She has 3 boys. This week we just need to win her husband over. Most of (if not all) the husbands are not the best or respectful of their wives (sadly). Here the culture is that the women don’t really have any say in things. The husband always has the control whether or not it’s fair.   We are going to try to gain the dad’s confidence.

Anyway, kind of funny. We went to pick up Selene and then we went to pick up Angeles to bring them to church. Turns out that Angeles is Selene’s aunt. It all made sense with the pieces of Testigos de Jehova in their family. They also think pretty similarly. Valle is VERY small.

We had to drop some other investigators because they weren’t progressing and they didn’t really have the interest, even if they say they do. They just don’t show it.

We had the activity, Viaje Hawaii. It was kind of a disappointment. We had prepared a ton. We got a ton of members involved and invited all of Valle. Then when it came, only like 30 people came. A lot of members never showed up who had responsibilities. We never got light in the church to work. There is a house right next to the house of prayer that is unoccupied so we just took a bunch of extension cords and borrowed that power. haha. It was still fun though. The people that went had a good time. I was the captain of the plane. Then Elder Johnson and I did a mini MTC experience and taught people how to pray in English. They really liked that. It was fun, just not what we were hoping.

 

So Sunday arrived. We had to go early in the morning to the church to clean up from the activity the night before.  The girl I mentioned before was baptized yesterday - if she was baptized before they couldn't find her records so it was required to do it again. We went in the morning yesterday to start the font. Unfortunately the hose to fill it up didn’t work and we couldn't fill it with buckets. I called Elder Jex to ask what we should do and he said that we have permission to go where we need to go to baptize her. He said maybe the lake. The thing with the lake is that it is very contaminated and all the places to go swimming are private. So we ended up going to the waterfalls. Remember those cool pictures of the waterfalls. That’s where she was baptized. It was a pretty cool experience and a fun memory for us as well as this young girl. We did the devotional at the church of the importance and reason for baptism and then about 14 of us went to the falls for the ordinance. 

Not much else happened this past week. On Saturday, the people who signed up to give us food asked what we wanted. We said pizza and cookies. :-) People don’t use their ovens here. They just use them as cabinets, so this family tried making pizza and cookies. They turned out alright. 

Also, Saturday night we found out we had to give talks. We never really have time to prepare, so we just rely on the Spirit to guide us. I felt like my talk went well. My companion’s as well. However,  it was pretty funny because he was talking about Isaac and how he had to sacrifice su hijo (his son). but instead of saying his son he kept saying tú hijo (your son). It was pretty funny. The family behind me was laughing a bit too. Asi es el español mi familia.

Pues mi imagino que está semana es mi ultimo semana aqui in Valle de Bravo. (I imagine that this week is my last week in Valle). We have changes this Saturday. The time sure has flown by. I love Valle, but I really feel ready to leave. I don’t know if I made the biggest impact here as I would have hoped, but I feel like I tried my hardest and that is what the Lord asks of me. I have learned so much here. If anything, I believe I have planted many seeds here in the people to accept the Gospel. I have given them the opportunity to come to Christ and learn more about the great plan that God has given us. Thank you for all you love and support.  I miss you all! Hope all is well.

-Elder Thomas