Hola familia!
Time has once again flown by with the quickness of ten gazelle and here I am to tell you that it has once again been filled by miracles, hardships and happiness. What else would a mission be without those things? haha So first to start off I think I will give the low down on The Day of Thanks. Sounds like you guys had an awesome time and that it was tons of fun! I love hearing all the stories and knowing who made what and how the pumpkin crisp turned out alright. haha I must say I thought a lot about you guys and what you were probably doing as I was having my own thanksgivings with other people. Well let me start by saying that I was WELL taken care of.
To start our thanksgiving wonder we woke up and headed out to play ultimate frisbee in Seabring because president gave us the ok to do so on thanksgiving. It was tons of fun and we happened to win 2 out of 3 and there was lots of cool plays made and we really just had quite the time. Then after that we went and caught up with the other missionaries and played football with their bishop and some less actives. That also was super fun. I made two interceptions and the last one happened to be one that I ran back for the winning touch down. It was a lot of luck and a good team but it made for a very interesting game. haha Then it was over to the Todds house who is a white family in our Spanish branch because the father speaks Spanish due to the mission he served. We showered there and had a great big ol traditional feast. I weighed 171 before with sweaty gym clothes and shoes on and after 177 with church clothes on haha.
Then after them we ate again with the Juarez family (the active side) and that was delicious too and then we went over to Marceline’s where we drove up just in time to catch her dancing. (she is about 65-70) and man is she goin to town hahaha just jivin and such and I happened to get it on film because the music was so loud and she was in a little trance so we got pretty up close and she had no idea what was going on. hahaha We then spent the rest of the night talking with her and her nonmember daughter who is kinda tough but I made friends with her and we are excited to see if we can get her to church. But we also took some dancing lessons from Marceline and I also filmed myself trying to jive mexican style. haha so be prepped for what will be viewed when you get the next card. Then on Friday we had another thanksgiving meal that was probably the best one at the inactive Juarez house. It was delicious and we just had a good time talking to all of them.
But the miracle came this week after the Juarez house. we went to Wal-Mart to get some more milk and of course protein and as I am squatin and looking at the different types and such a guy walks up to us and starts speaking in Spanish. he asks if we are the Mormon missionaries to which we say of course and then he tells us that he had been learning about our church in new jersey like 3 months ago and then he came to Florida and has been trying to find us ever since. Of course we offer to start teaching him again and he gladly obliges. We went over that night and had an awesome lesson with him and he said he would get baptized but he just wants to know a little more before he does. Then we visited him again on Saturday and invited him to church because he said he wanted to go. Well at our visit he tells us that he has to work on Sunday because he doesn’t have any money. Well I felt prompted at this time to ask him to show his faith by coming to church. but of course I get a little nervous and I don’t get it out the first time and this causes quite the awkward moment because now I am raging war inside. I really am still learning how to be swift with the whisperings of the spirit. But anyways I came up with another way to get it out and I end up asking him after reading Alma 32 20 and 21 "so will you show your faith by coming to church tomorrow instead of going to work?" He looks at me and just is puzzled but then he comes to and says. "Yea yea I will I should not have put things like money and worldly things before god thanks for helping me see that" IN all honesty that’s what he says! (all of this is in Spanish.) I felt soooooooooooooooooooooooo relieved and the next day there he was in church wearing a suit and talking and making friends with everyone and participating in classes because he went to all three hours and even attended the baptismal service afterwards. (sisters had a baptism) WOW such a cool experience and it just makes me want to do it all over again. He then called us today to ask us if we could come over. haha HE IS SOO COOL. He even knows a lot about working out. He likes talking to me about fitness stuff because he caught us while we were looking at protein. So he always gives me hints on how to get big and stuff haha Like after the baptism while we were eating he kept saying "You need another plate if you’re gonna get any bigger." haha Well Also at the baptismal service I was again prompted by the Holy Ghost to talk to this kid named OLIVER of course. He by the way is the brother of the girl who got baptized and last week his mom got baptized. So now he is the only one not baptized and we are close because he is a skater and we kinda just get along well. Well as we were sittin there waiting for the service to start and I end up finding out that he does not want to be baptized because he was scared that he couldn’t stay perfect after the baptism. Well I of course explained to him that that is actually the whole point of baptism is just to say that we will be followers of Christ and that every time we mess up we will repent and that we are actually suppose to mess up so that we can grow. He said he felt a lot different after that and that it didn’t seem like such a difficult thing anymore but I wish I could have talked to him a little more. Anyways it was cool and I am really hopeful for him.
However I do have to relate some sad things to you guys. First off our investigator nelson who was progressing began to drink and he was drinking so badly that his girlfriend kicked him out and now we can’t find him. The last phone call went like this "Hey nelson how’s is it going?"
"oh hey ESTOY BIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN BOOOOORRRAAACCCHHHHOO!"
Yep in other words I am super drunk. SO we are worried about him and we have no idea what’s going on with him so keep this guy in your prayers. Also we had one of our members this week get in a car crash and is was only a one-car crash. He is so badly damaged and is in the hospital still after a week and he might be getting worse. SO pray for him too. His name is Cruz Herrera.
Asides from all this though things are awesome and we are doing great. We have two baptisms this weekend and we hope for a couple more soon. I am soo grateful to be out here and I really do love this area. IT is awesome. I love you all and miss you so very much. Thank you for always writing and making sure I get to hear what’s going on. You are the best Family in the Whole TUNAALTION. (made of fish)
LOVE ELDER OLIVER
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