got back from a zone activity. We played basketball and soccer and had a little barbecue with hamburgers, hot dogs, cake, and jello. It was fun.
First, the good news. I found my memory card that I thought I had lost. Wooohooo! It was literaly a miracle because after having been lost for several weeks I looked in the same pocket of my backpack that I had already checked like 5 times, but for some reason this time I found it. I still bought another 4 GB memory card anyway because I needed another one. Today I plan on backing up my memory card to a CD.
Apart from that this week has been very difficult. I felt pretty depressed yesterday. On saturday we had six appointments fall through and we are still struggling a lot to find new investigators that are really interested. None of our investigators or the less actives we are teaching are showing up to church. The worst part though is that I`m seeing many of the people I baptized/taught go inactive right before my eyes and I don`t know what to do about it. Yesterday, I called Consuelo, the old lady I baptized who lives with her two grandchildren and her mentally disabled child, to ask her if she wanted us to take her to church and she told me that they are no longer going to go to our church. I didn`t ask her more details over the phone, but I just don`t understand what we did wrong. Just about everytime we went over there after she was baptized we helped her clean her house or her dishes or some other type of service. I have tried to give her all the love I`m capable of, and before she was so convinced that this was the true church. But, I should have known better. She doesn`t ever read the Book of Mormon and wasn`t really ready to be baptized. Patricia also hasn`t been going to church and now she won`t even let us in her house to teach her. She always says she`s busy or sometimes she just sends her kid out to tell us that she`s not there or that she`s busy and can`t come to the door, even when we come only the offer service. It seems like she has some family problems, but still, come on! Leandro, Margarita`s husband still hasn`t recieved the aaronic priesthood yet and hasn`t gone to church for 2 sundays even though he`s been here in Tlaxcala for both of those. It just kills me sometimes. My eyes were watering in sacrament meeting just thinking about. And the ward hasn`t exactly been too helpful in helping keep them active.
The only thing that cheered me up a little on sunday was the lesson we taught to that unmarried couple, Enrique and Carmen. They are going to church, reading, praying, and everything. They love learning about the gospel and accepted a baptismal date yesterday. They want to get married. The only problem is that Carmen, being an emigrant from Colombia, has to get permission from the Colombian government to be able to marry in Mexico. There are two problems with this. It could cost $4000 pesos, which of course they don`t have, but they are saving up, and, two, even if they were to send the money and the request today it would probably take at least a month to get a response. Carmen is going to talk with her lawyer today to see if there´s anyway to speed up and/or cheapen the process, but it doesn`t look like they`re going to be baptized while I`m here.
My district also seems to be having more success. One companionship is planning on baptizing four this by the end of this week and more in the following weeks. I just wish I could provide Elder Rainford with some more spiritual, encouraging, and uplifting experiences, it being his first area and all. Sometimes he wonders exactly why he`s here and, to be honest, even after more than a year and I still sometimes wonder the same thing. I told Pres. Rex before the last transfers that I felt like there was still something for me here in this area, but now I`m really questioning if that was the Spirit telling me that or if it was just me.
Speaking of Pres. Rex. We had our last interviews with him on Friday. He and his wife are being replaced the first of July. Too bad.
I gotta go, I`ll tell you about some other service activities and funny experiences we`ve had next week.
Love,
Brett
Monday, June 20, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June 13, 2011
No, I still haven`t gotten either of the packages, which is weird because I`ve gotten a couple of letters recently. Maybe it did get lost somewhere.
I`m kind of bummed out right now because I think I lost my other memory card, the one that has all the pictures I`ve taken since I got to this area. The pictures I sent you last week were from my companion`s camera. I haven`t been able to find my memory card for a couple of weeks now. So, now I have absolutely no pictures from the first year of my mission and I have to buy a new memory card just to be able to take any more pictures.
Well, we still aren`t having the success we`re looking for. Everyone we teach just seems to disappear after 2 visits. Even with their phone number we somehow manage to lose contact with them. However, we started teaching the son of a member and his wife. They seem pretty interested. The only problem is that they`re not legally married, but they seem pretty willing to get married soon. I haven`t had too much success in my mission so far with investigators that aren`t married, but I think these guys are different. It would be a lot easier if the bishops could just do it like they can in the U.S. Here you have to go with a judge and pay a bunch of money. Well, it`s a lot of money for the people here.
This week after the district meeting I took my district to the central bus station to sing and invite people to listen to us. We didn`t have very much success. Most of the people didn`t live in our area or weren`t interested, but it was still fun. There`s two guys in my district that play guitar pretty well and we sung a super cool version of ¨How Great Thou Art.¨
Today Elder Rainford and I played some one on one basketball.
I guess I`m doing pretty good. It`s just so hard for me to feel like I`m ever doing enough, and I´m always so worried about so many people. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like they don`t understand, and I wish I could just make them understand, but I can`t.
I love you guys and miss you a ton.
Brett
I`m kind of bummed out right now because I think I lost my other memory card, the one that has all the pictures I`ve taken since I got to this area. The pictures I sent you last week were from my companion`s camera. I haven`t been able to find my memory card for a couple of weeks now. So, now I have absolutely no pictures from the first year of my mission and I have to buy a new memory card just to be able to take any more pictures.
Well, we still aren`t having the success we`re looking for. Everyone we teach just seems to disappear after 2 visits. Even with their phone number we somehow manage to lose contact with them. However, we started teaching the son of a member and his wife. They seem pretty interested. The only problem is that they`re not legally married, but they seem pretty willing to get married soon. I haven`t had too much success in my mission so far with investigators that aren`t married, but I think these guys are different. It would be a lot easier if the bishops could just do it like they can in the U.S. Here you have to go with a judge and pay a bunch of money. Well, it`s a lot of money for the people here.
This week after the district meeting I took my district to the central bus station to sing and invite people to listen to us. We didn`t have very much success. Most of the people didn`t live in our area or weren`t interested, but it was still fun. There`s two guys in my district that play guitar pretty well and we sung a super cool version of ¨How Great Thou Art.¨
Today Elder Rainford and I played some one on one basketball.
I guess I`m doing pretty good. It`s just so hard for me to feel like I`m ever doing enough, and I´m always so worried about so many people. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like they don`t understand, and I wish I could just make them understand, but I can`t.
I love you guys and miss you a ton.
Brett
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