Hey everyone!
P-day is a good day. It's like when you're in school, and Monday is a holiday or something. Just like that. Feels good.
Alright, another interesting week here in Catacaos. Well, maybe not during the week, because I have this page where I always right down cool stuff to talk about, but everything is about the weekend mostly. First off, Segundo, that I talked about last week, we haven't found him yet, the search continues. We did, however, find a member that knows him, knows where he lives, and we are gonna try and search him out this week.
Got some good mail today. Elder Jack Winn's latest, with this claim of "being fluent" in Spanish. A bold statement my friend. But then of course my friend Jack was always a bold guy. Or, maybe prideful is a better word. Haha. Jk. Maybe he is doing better than me then – I still don't feel good enough to say that I'm fluent. So maybe Jack is doing something that I'm not? Hmmm? Or maybe his gift of tongues is better than mine. Rats. He'll have to let me know. I got a letter from Whitney today, too. That was very cool. The Dear Elders, long letters from Dad, complete with sports highlights, are always awesome, but it's a nice surprise when someone different is in there. By the way, Whitney, don't worry about the SD camera card. Problem solved, but thank you for caring.
Ok, we had a baptism planned for yesterday after church. Her name is Yuliana, 21 years old. We have been teaching her for a while now, about a month and a half, and she knows a lot, and has done really well with commitments and such. So, this is just how good the adversary works. The baptism font never had problems before, but that morning it decided not to work at all. So all during the meetings I was frantically trying to figure it out, but, nothing. And we had about two centimeters of water after the block ended. So we had to reschedule for 4:00 pm. But Yuliana was still good to go, so we weren't worried. We spent all afternoon filling that dang thing with bottles of water. There was absolutely no water in or near the capilla so we had to go in moto from a apartment to the church with bottles and big garbage cans (they were clean) filled with water. It was nuts. And of course someone locked the fence in front of the chapel, so I had to climb the fence, and we had to pass the water bottles, (the 20 liter kind like we have in our house) over the fence. Not so easy. I have videos of the whole day. It is hilarious. The last bottle got stuck on the fence, and poured all over me. It was so funny. So by about 4:30 pm we finally got it, not full, but enough. But then Yuliana never showed up. So I went to her house, and her mom said she was in Piura, we left, talked to some other people, found out she was in her house, and went back to try and find her again, and…it was insane. I was in front of her house talking to her older sister for an hour trying to get her to come outside – but it never happened and the baptism fell through. She said she was embarrassed to come out. So, well, I guess her family then took over, and persuaded her not to do it, that it was too fast, she didn't know enough yet. Wow. They talk like they know all about the Church, and yet they know very little. That is a huge set back with so many people. This idea of needing like a year of preparation. So I talked about that for a bit with the family, that the scriptures say we need faith, repentance, and the desire to follow Christ. Nothing about preparation. The family is Catholic, so I asked: "if we need knowledge and preparation, then why do you believe in the baptism of infants?" No response. So, we'll see what happens this week.
You asked what things I "need" for my birthday. I did think of a couple things. The hair clipper in the garage...if no one uses it, and if you can, might be kinda cool. Permanent markers, like 2 or 3, black, blue, but definitely gray, or a silver kind, if possible. A little bit of peanut butter, like a normal jar. And that missionary book, Especially for Missionaries, that would be cool.
So, the work has been a bit challenging lately, not gonna lie. It's not that we don't work, Elder Machacuay and I are working are tails off – but, there is always the oposición. We decided that Heavenly Father is testing our faithfulness- if we can continue to work hard even though the success may not be so plainly evident. Something good will happen. We are teaching some really good people, and I'm confident we can baptize at least six people before I leave Catacaos in two weeks (I may not leave but I'm guessing I will). Something that really troubles me is that so many people fail to see the magnificence of this wonderful gospel and church of Jesus Christ. To so many people, we are just another Church that happens to talk about Christ – I desperately wish people could understand better the importance of it all. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so much more important that we understand, and is not grasped nearly enough. The Restoration is one of the most amazing things that has ever happened in the history of the world. Even within the membership of the Church, I'm not sure we all realize how incredible the Restoration really was – and how amazing the life of Joseph Smith was. I don't mean to suggest that I understand all these things, because I don't understand it all, by no means. However, I am gaining a better understanding of everything, and wish that more people could understand it as well.
Well, the month of March is done. Pray extra hard for me this week. I dunno why but I've been a bit bummed today. But I did score two goals today so it's not so bad. ;) We are gonna keep working hard, and helping people to really understand and be converted. We'll be faithful. I'd rather baptize two people that will follow Christ than 10 who stay they will but won't. I love you guys. Take care. Thanks for everything. Tell my dumb older brother to write me (yeah, that's you, Brad). So I'm doing fine here in Catacaos. Disappointed, but not discouraged. We're just gonna keep at it. Okay, I think that's it. Have a great week everyone.
Elder Royal
Posts
