Monday, March 2, 2015

March 2nd, 2015 - Weekly Letter


Family,

          Wow! What a bunch of awesome stuff you all did this last week!  I'm so happy to hear that you all are doing so good!  It always makes me so happy to hear that!  Sounds like there's been a lot of love in the air!  Bunch of marriages!  That's so cool!  And also I'm just so jealous of Emma, and being able to go to the temple with all of her friends!  A year and a half away from the temple is hard sometimes....I miss going to the temple so much!  But yeah! I'm so excited for you all!  Makes me happy to see that everything is going good!  

          So let's see what happened with me this last week.

          So Monday not really much happened.  Like I told you guys last week, we just took the day as our P-day to finish up everything that we had to do.  

          Tuesday was good. Now that I am training we stay in the house until 12 every day for our studies.  For my language study I just read the Book of Mormon a little bit more in Spanish! I love it!  So even though we stay in a little bit longer, it's good because I have learned more every day!  So on Tuesday we just worked like normal, Elder Hansen showed me around town.  Then at about 8:00 we took a bus to a little town to the southwest called San Juanito.  This town, San Juanito, is the only one in the whole mission that has a missionary as the branch president, so that's kinda cool.  But we went down to do a baptismal interview the next day-Wednesday.

          So on Wednesday we woke up and left the house at 8:00 am because the investigator that I was going to do the interview with lived in a little Ranch about 3 hours away from the main town.  So we started our Journey.  So here's me, thinking that I am in the same shape that I was in before the mission and in the beginning of my mission.  But what I forgot was that I was in the offices for 8 months.  So we start walking, but obviously really fast so that we make it there the fastest we can.  In San Juanito we can hitch hike for rides, but only if it is a truck where we can sit in the bed of it. So on the way up we got two rides, but they didn't go very far, so we only cut off about 30 minutes.  So we finally get there and I was kind of tired, but not so bad. But when we got there Elder Solorzano, one of the missionaries in San Juanito, told me that we were going to have to do whatever the guy that lived there wanted us to do, or else he would get offended. So we got there and had a horse ready for us to ride.  It was pretty awesome. I have like never rode a horse, so that was crazy.  It's really not as hard as you think.....but maybe that's just because the horse was a little horse.  More like a pony.  So then after that we went to a place close buy and we played a game he likes to play, see who could hold the cows tail the longest.  At this point I just thought this was the craziest little Mexican guy.....just living out there in the middle of nowhere, losing his mind.  But so we did that and then he was like, we’re going to climb a mountain. When I heard that, my legs just started already giving out, but sure enough we climbed his mountain in his backyard that was a good 2 more hours of hiking....but it was hard.  By the time we get down his wife had some beans and tortillas for us.....so that was good.  But at that point I could barely move my legs.  But we ate the food, and then I interviewed the wife. The guy was already a member, but his wife not yet. So I talked with her, helped her with a few doubts, and we got her to gain the desire to be baptized.  I know for a fact that it wasn't me though....but it was the Lord, through me. I could not have been able to do it alone because I could barely think because I was sooo tired and in so much pain.  But it all worked out, and she got baptized Saturday.  But so after all of that, the husband taught us how to use the lasso, and so we practiced with his dog, then after that it was time to head back.  At the start I was just praying that a truck would pass by, because about just a half hour of walking my legs could barely do it.......but a truck never passed by and we walked the 3 hours back to San Juanito.  So when we got back they had one more visit before returning home and so we went. Only about 20 minutes sitting down, but I couldn't get up after. My legs and feet hurt so bad that I couldn't stand up, let alone walk back to their apartment.  But we did it........we finally got back, and I think I got to know a little bit more of Christ's love for us.  I did all of that just so a lady could get baptized.  I learned that in order to have success, we have to show God that we want it.  So that was awesome....till the next day.....when I couldn't walk.

          So on Thursday was a zone meeting. That was good!  We talked about having more courage.  I liked it a lot!

          On Friday, I couldn't walk very well, but I did my best and just hobbled around La Junta.  I realized that the people here just love to talk....because we only got about 4 lessons in because they just kept talking and talking.  

          On Saturday I was with one of the zone leaders, Elder Walker, because Elder Goldsberry, our other zone leader, took Elder Hansen to Chihuahua because they had to do some stuff over there.  So we just worked and worked.  Also, there's like no youth leaders in this branch, so we do mutual with the youth. So on Saturday we taught the youth a little gospel principle and then we played some volleyball and basketball.  There were only about 6 that came, but they're all so cool. I love them all already!

          Sunday was also good!  But I realized that the members of the branch are just nut cases. They're cool, but they're all just different.  We only had about 30 at church yesterday, and then we had ward counsel after, and there was just all of them sucking on their suckers.....and I was thinking that it was odd. They're all a little bit older, but they all act like little kids.  And then our Branch President actually comes up from Cuauhtemoc because there's not anyone capable of being Branch President in La junta.  But it was a really fun day at church....and then for lunch the member had us help her make the food. We made these cool tortilla things called Gorditas. SUPER GOOD!  All the members pretty much just give us beans and meat though.  It's a really poor place....but I love it!

          So yeah, that's been my crazy but awesome week.  I love training Elder Hansen. He's just so funny.  He still doesn't know Spanish so when he talks sometimes it just makes me laugh. Not because I'm making fun of him, but just because he's that type of guy. He's super relax and cool! We've had a blast so far.  Like we'll be talking about something completely different, and then he’ll invite the person to be baptized.  Then he starts to speak Spanish but doesn't know what more to say, so he tells me what he wanted to say. I love it! It's just a crazy adventure every day!

          We have some pretty cool investigators, but there's just something really sad. We have a little girl named Ailin who wants to be baptized. Her dad says it's fine, but her mom, no.  So we've just been super sad, because she always tells us, "Please convince my mom! Please, please, please!" So we've been really working with her mom but have come to no success. We’re going to fast probably and do all we can to help her. But yeah....everything’s good so far in La Junta!!!!

          Also, I saw that the latest I have to accept BYU is May 1st, so I'm going to pray a bit and look at my options, and then I'll come to a decision in the next few weeks, but thanks for everything mom, and fam!!!  Thanks for helping me get to this point in my life!!!! I love you all sooooo much!

 

Hope you all have a great week!!!! Take care and do your best in everything!!!!

 

-Elder Loveless

 

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