Dad,
Your right. Its hard to believe that the week has already come and gone. And even more weird that winter is there! Crazy to think about.
Thanks for the update on joshies game. Such a fun time being in the playoff and all. Sounds like there is alot of support from friends and family for josh and that awesome to hear. Its great that we have that, people who care and want the best for us, even in a game of football.
Ok, now the update on Esmeraldas first, then the update on the work.
Esmeraldas is hot and humid as expected with it being near the coast. Part of esmeraldas is jungle and so its pretty cool to go contacting close to the river that runs through it, there are some members that live right by it and have a little farm. I feel ike im in a movie or something, its very cool.
I guess a slave ship crashed forever ago and the slaves settled esmeraldas. it makes sense because there are a ton of black people. Its great though because they are super humble, want to listen to the good word which then gives us the chance to teach about the gospel and let the spirit fester within them. We are working hard and our efforts are both contacting and teaching as well as working with the members, as it should be. we are busy and its a good thing.
I wrote Josh about some of the little funny things about here. Have him show you. Super funny..
Now about the work. This last week, our focus was on the ward. We made it a goal to visit a less active family every day, to have a member accompany us to a lesson and to get ward mission plan set up. We got our goals accomplished and I feel like the ward and us, are headed on the right track.
We reactivated two families. The bishop announced there presence in sacrament meeting and had a sustaining vote for them to welcome them back. It was great and you could see how happy the family was. It was awesome! Later sunday night, the elders quorum president, us, the bishop and the teacher quorum president went and visited the families. tHey said they felt great at church and are excted to start coming back. it was a great feeling.
we also had a focus on putting a fire under the visiting teaching and home teaching efforts. Hopefully for the month of november the percentage can go up. We also planned for a way for the ward as a whole to help us find people to contact and teach. This will help them see the miracle of conversion, and hopefully strengthen their testimonies as well. We hope that we can carry this plan out in the next coming weeks. We presented all of this in the ward council meeting and everyone thought it was a great idea. Sounds like every one is on board and ready to work. i hope it works and people go through with it.
THanks for the idea about mutual. Thats awesome and i didnt even think about that. I dont know if they even have mutual but ill find out if they do, and if they do, my companion and i will be sure to do an activity with them soon!
My companion. He is great. a great teacher, a great person and awesome at gaining the confidence of the members and investigators. which is critical. He lost his agenda, which is huge. Its been hard to work without it because he had a lot of good things in there that would have good to have, but its also been good but i have been forced to learn how to use my agenda, and instead of me relying on his agenda and the numbers we record in his, we are relying on mine. Its good, im developing good habits with it and im learning how to use it. I was always told how critical it is in the mtc and now i see why. its like a soldiers gun in war.
Im eating great. the mamitas are feeding us well every day and i havent had diarrhea yet..so thats good. Calm before the storm i guess. We ate with a great family yesterday. The mom and dad are fantastic, they have 3 boys and are awesome. Anyway, to make a long story short, they asked me about my family and asked what were some the things that I learned from you and mom. I was able to tell them about the ppi´s, family nights, morning prayer and scripture, meals together and fun family activities. They are trying to do the exact same things, even ppi´s which was awesome to hear. The spirit bore witness to me of what a great blessing all of those family things were, and personal time i had with you and mom and what those meant to me. I could see that those parents wanted the best for there kids and are doing those things which will teach there kids how to behave, how to be servants of the lord on their missions, and how to raise a family. They are awesome and they reminded me of how great you and mom are. I love you both. I tell you a lot but its never enough. Thanks.
Anywho, we are still busting it! Still gotta keep working within the ward and among the investigators, doing what missionaries do! I love it. i feel like a missionary and i love knowing that i have almost a full two years ahead of me of the experiences i have had in the past two weeks. Its only gonna get better. perhaps harder, but better. Bring it.
Im reading Jesus the Christ right now. Loving it. My love for the savior is immense and hes why im here doing what im doing. I love him.
JAGE
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