Hey Mom! I´m just returning from playing football americano, and volleyball! Another elder and I crashed into each other and fell onto the concrete. The left side of my body hurts! But I´m all good! Just really tired!
Thanks for your concern love for me mom! I can feel it even when I´m a long ways away! There´s a family in the ward here that invited me over to have a geletina, jello, with them for my birthday, for like 5 minutes! How was the temple in Argentina? Was it one of the cookie-cutter ones or different? I want to be with you guys in the temple. When you and Sterling and Dad come to get me, in Mexico City, that´s when we´ll do it! I don´t know if you guys want to come down here. I don´t know how safe it would be to have three gringos walking around in Mexico. How was it in Argentina? Here we will definitely stand out!
Elder Vargas is good. I´m learning that he´s a better companion that a lot of other Elders in the mission. So it´s okay, I´m going to try and love him and just be his friend and help him finish his mission good. He´s a good guy. A lot of Mexican Elders here haven´t had perfect family back-grounds like we have. So I am lucky. I just need more faith and charity. President Gardner came to our branch yesterday. It was kinda crazy yesterday because the assistence broke a new record. 116 people in the chapel! And President Gardner came on the perfect day! He´s a good man and loves the Mexican people! I´m doing well. I´m just tired today, REALLY tired. I took a pretty hard fall! And the sun is pretty strong here, the climate is sort of like Arizona, except there´s a rainy season in May and April. So it kind of cools down in those months. I think I´ll probably be here for the rainy season, I hope so anyway! It would be cool.
Anestacio Ocampo Solano was baptized into the church yesterday, the man who we found and had a drinking and smoking problem. An elder Walker and I found him when we were doing divisions. When we found him, he was kind of drunk. We helped him to sit down, and he told us he wanted to change. We invited him to church and told him we would pass by for him. He came the first week, and we found out he had some good friends in the ward. We returned to teach him and taught him the word of wisdom. He told he was willing to change. He drank about three days later, but for someone that has drunk his whole life he has done really well, and hasn´t drunk for about 3 or four weeks, all with his desire to please God. His family told him that if he was baptized they weren´t going to support him with money. He can´t work because his legs and feet have problems, and he really can´t walk very well. He told us he would rather not have us come back, because he needs the support of his family. Elder Vargas told him to pray and ask God what he should do. A couple of days later we came back, because he had lended us a couple of coats when it was raining one day, and we went to return them. He told us that no matter what his family does, he wants to ¨seguir adelante¨ with his baptism. So yeah, he´s a good man who wants to change and please God through his actions. He´s been reading in the Book of Mormon and we gave him the Liahona that the church distributed in March last year about the Savior. He´s been reading that too. He reminds me of a little Indian man, who´s actually from India. He´s really short, doesn´t have front teeth, and is a calm little man. HE has changed himself with our help. He told me that when he drunk, he was a violent person. But he´s changing, and utilizing the gospel, and the atonement. I like that when we commit people to live the commandments, we are preaching repentance, change, progress. He´s going to be a faithful member, if the ward helps him out. I told him if he needs to receive help from fast donations, he needs to do his part, be a faithful member, magnify his calling. He told me he would do it. We had a little baptism service for him after church, and it was relatively well attended. The members here still don´t understand the significance of a BAPTISM. It´s something sacred. It doesn´t mean we have to be serious, but we´ve got to have reverence, and actually consider what´s happening here so that the Spirit can be with us, and the soon-to-be-member, and testify to us. When we consider the reality of what´s happening and make room in our hearts, the Spirit helps us to see the importance and truth and beauty. But if not, some guy´s just gonna get dunked after someone says a prayer. We sang the song, ¨I like to look for rainbows, right after it has rained¨and all that. The overall, or jumper was way too big, but it´s all we had! Another Elder, named Morales, baptized him. He told me that it was a very spiritual experience for him. I think I can send pictures on this computer.
We are working with others who really aren´t progressing very well. I hope they change. It´s just a hard situation sometimes with Elder Vargas. He´s trying to be better, I can tell. He´s a good guy, and a good Elder.
With Elder Workman, we tracted like crazy! Our area was chiquita! We could walk from border to border in about five minutes. It´s quite different from here! Here we don´t really tract, or contact, that much. And that´s how President wants it. The most effective way to find people is through the members. Something for YOU GUYS TO REMEMBER, EH!!!??? It´s more efficient because the baptismal ¨candidate¨ already has a friend and support group. The members are all really cool and supportive. But just not excited, not taking advantage of what they have. But that´s why we are here. It´s a hard situation sometimes. We were talking with a less active member, and she is the most animated woman in the whole branch! She was telling us we have to animate and excite the people! She actually started telling us ideas of her own. Some people here see that the wards here are kind of dysfunctional and that some of the members are hypocritical, and they become discouraged, even though they have testimonies, and they think it better that they not go. I told her we need her help, and asked her to give a talk in the baptism of Anestacio, to COMMIT her to come to church!!!!! She came but had to leave before the baptism.
I really like the Zone Leader here! They are really awesome, sincere, and good workers and people. In my district there are three gringos, and the rest are natives, including two hermanas. They are good people and missionaries. I have fun playing with ´em.
I´m going to give you the e-mail and street address of some investigators that I had in Chilpancingo, some of the coolest! There are two e-mail addresses:
- santos.ortiz5@gmail.com
- vivi_chiquitin@hotmail.com
Have Sterling or Dad write to ´em. They are a great family, and the husband works for the Mexican FBI, called the AFI, and gave his first talk in church about 2 weeks ago. Write to them your testimonies and send them words of wisdom!
Is this sufficient this time!!!?!?!? I tried to write longer! You can post this one Mom. I love you. How is the fam? Tell dad thanks for sending and telling me about his experience in the temple. You guys should take President and Sister Gardner out for dinner when they go back to Arizona. You will really like Sister Gardner. She is the best.
Thanks Mom, tell all my friends from High School, my family, and the ward that I love them. Love you Russell
Elder West
