Weekly Letter June 14-20, 2011

para todos uds:

How many things do I have to tell you guys this week? First of all, I'm kind of bummed that it hasn't rained this summer....not just because the sun is really strong this time of year when it doesn't rain, but also because it has an unexpected effect on our baptisms(more on that later). It's pretty weird because this time of year it should be raining a ton. In May, June, and July is when the rainy season really hits its peak here. However, this year, after a few big psyche-out rains that occurred in March and April, we've been completely dry until this past week, in which it sprinkled rather undramatically. Everybody here is worried about the rain, because it really has a big effect on everything, especially the water supply and price of fruits in the markets. We've heard the there is a hurricane coming in on Oaxaca, and I hope it's true....not because I wish this harm for the Oaxaqueños, but because I hope some of that rain gets here.

So yeah, we were a little disappointed this week because Rosa, Maria Elena´s daughter that was a big baptismal prospect for this week, started to work again....and she has to work Sundays. She's way excited though. After talking about the Restoration with her(because she hadn't heard it before...once again because of her work), and we had seen the movie of the Restoration, she was really excited to be baptized. We explained a little bit about Faith in that moment, taking advantage of the spirit to motivate her to be baptized. We explained that if we ask with faith, the Lord will provide the means through which we can obey the commandments. She seemed excited to pray for the words to say to her boss to ask for Sundays off....it'll be hard because she just barely found this job after quitting her other job last week and going to church Sunday.

We also had a great experience with Lluvia this week. She seems to be a little discouraged because of how long it´s going to take for them to get married so she can be baptized. Also, she has son from a previous relationship who stays with them during the week, but then on the weekends goes with his father and his paternal grandparents . His grandparents, being Catholic, take advantage of the situation and take him to Catholic mass every Sunday. However, we gave them a copy of the movie Testaments, and they've already seen it twice! And he really likes it! She's hoping to talk to the father so that he can stay with her and her inactive-member-husband-to-be so they can go to the visitor's center by the temple on Saturday, and then to church on Sunday. So we're praying that it'll happen!

And...we baptized in spite of all the challenges we had. First of all....apparently our church has an alarm system. Even if a missionary is opening the church with a legitimate key and legitimate intentions, if he doesn't enter in a code on entering, the alarm starts to sound. And that problem intensifies when neither he nor his companion know the code for their key...and the missionary that was there last and knows it is in Toluca right now. Finally, we were able to enter the code for the bishopric(which might be called cheating...but at least the police didn't come to arrest us), and started filling the font Saturday at 4:00 for the 7:00 baptism that night. We left for some appointments and came back about an hour and a half later to check up on things.

Thus entered fate, in which, due to the little rain we have received, Tlalnepantla shuts off the water supply from Friday night until Sunday night....hmmm, not very effective for a Saturday night baptism. The font was able to fill up about halfway before the water reserve in the church shut off....and then Judith who was going to be baptized arrived ready and excited at 7:00 on the dot with all her family(which are also investigators), and there was nobody but us, and a half-way filled baptismal font.

The ward mission leader and one other member did eventually show up (the bishop had to leave due to emergency health problems of his children, and his only counselor couldn't show up). So we had a short baptismal service. My companion baptized Judith kneeling (and she had to sit in the font to make sure that she got completely submerged), while the Ward Mission Leader and I acted as witnesses. So yeah, it was not the best baptismal service I've had, however, the whole family felt great there. Eduardo, her grown son told us that he also had the same faith as his mother, and hoped to be able to take the same decision that she had taken.(Only I hope with a full font because he is BIG). And then he and his wife and young son showed up early Sunday morning for the confirmation. They had to leave after the second hour because they had commitments with a party for the Fathers in their family. We set an appointment to see them this week, and invited them to come for the three hours the next week, and they accepted eagerly the invitation....So we're hoping to baptize them this week.

Well, that isn't even close to everything that I was going to write, but the time has flown by and we have go. Thanks for the prayers and support. Keep praying for us here in Mexico!

Cariños,

Elder Blackham