Did everybody pray for us this week? Because, WOW, the zone had a drastic improvement. It was just incredible. I have to give a lot of credit to all of the missionaries in our zone who are working like crazy. We ended last week with seven baptisms, which is the best we have had in a long, long time. Actually, that’s probably the best week we have had in my time in La Victoria. Speaking even more honestly, probably the best week I have had as all my time as a zone leader. We are working hard, and are expecting more results before the end of the month.
We had some ups and downs with our own investigators in our area, but things are improving as a whole. We dropped Yesenia this week. We taught her twice, she had a baptismal date, and then her mother threatened to disown her (not uncommon here when parents do not approve to really put the hammer down. So, even though she is over 18 years old, Yesenia is respecting her mother’s wishes (or threats, as the case may be). It is sad that it happened so quickly. She was doing so well. Maybe if she had more time listening to us Yesenia might have been able to gain a stronger testimony and explain to her mother why she wanted to be baptized - but we didn’t get far enough along, I guess. Hopefully Yesenia will reconsider one day in the future. The Sarate family is struggling as well. Oh, and I found out this week it’s “Zarate,” with a “Z.” That little bit of knowledge came to me after I wrote their name in a Book of Mormon incorrectly and the mother was like, "hey...its.." Ugh. Well, lesson learned. But since I use a pen, the “S” remained an “S”. Maybe that’s why they didn’t come to church yesterday. Dang (hopefully no Symonds Ryder issue there). We are still having a hard time helping them to keep commitments. If things don’t improve with them soon, will we have to drop them, sadly, because we have been teaching them for about a month now with little progress. I hope that we won’t have to do that, though, because they are a really cool family.
We are working with members much better as of late, and things are going good for us because of that. I finally decided to use one of Elder TJ Gibsons’ ideas of using Noah’s Arc to have members help us. Maybe no one else knows what I am referring to....but Elder Gibson is a genius and wére gonna see if it works here. On the plus side of investigators, Sandra is doing well and even bore her testimony in church yesterday! That was a surprise. We weren’t able to find her after church in the afternoon, but from another source, apparently she told another member that she wants to be baptized this week. So we will see. Brenda is another one that is coming along really well. I’ll tell you what, if she gets baptized and stays active it will be one of the greatest stories of my mission. Here it goes. We talked to a 12 year old deacon who was in the street to remind him about General Conference last week. The boy happened to be with his friend. We talked to his friend, a 14 year old who looked like he had no interest whatsoever in talking to us - but we asked him where he lived and said we would pass by the next day. We went and met his family. Brenda, his sister, walked by a couple times during the lesson and sat down almost at the end but outside of circle area where we were seated, just kind of listening. At the end she kind of popped up and said: "I think I found the true church." The next lesson we had with her she told us about how she had been searching for answers to many questions about the purpose of life that her faith/church could not address. She said a prayer one night asking to have God send her someone to help her gain an understanding - and the very next day we came to the door. HOORAY! So she is cool and coming along great. She went to church yesterday and for the General Conference. We have another one, Celeste, who is the younger sister of another member, who also has a baptismal date for the end of the month. So, we may end up with three baptisms before the month ends. That is very exciting.
Oh, remember the Plan of Salvation puzzle that we bought just before I started the mission? Yeah I took that out of the plastic this week for the first time. Hahaha. And it’s a huge hit. I probably should have taken it out a long time ago because people love it and it makes teaching that lesson really cool. People are all about putting that puzzle together. And it’s actually difficult if you don’t know how the Plan of Salvation goes, even though it’s only nine pieces. But it’s really cool.
Last story for this week, and it’s a sad one. We were introduced to a couple of investigators this week by a member. One of them is a 30 year old woman, sick, lying in bed, and the other also a woman, her sister in law, that was there to take care of her. We found out that the sick woman, Patricia Del Pilar Fiestas Rivera, had contracted (is that the right word?) AIDS. Apparently, her husband also as the disease but it hasn’t affected him yet. He contracted it from her, and when he found out he deserted her and left with their three very young children. It is a very sad situation, but we had a very nice visit with them. Her sister in law, Rene, was really great, as well. We taught about Christ and the Atonement, how His sacrifice can bring us strength and comfort in our diseases and sicknesses as well. It was a really cool lesson. We sang hymns with them (which I don’t think I have ever done that before in a normal lesson) and were able to keep things light and even laugh. At the end, we gave Patricia a blessing and that was kind of hard because I desperately wanted to follow the spirit as I gave that blessing. Obviously, she wasn’t able to come to church, being in so much pain, but we set up an appointment to visit them again Sunday in the afternoon. The member that presented us, Juana, told us Sunday in the morning that Patricia passed away Saturday in the afternoon. That was shocking, and left me feeling so sad. Even if she was going to die, I thought it might have happened a bit later. We went to her house anyway, where they had a little funeral viewing, I guess you could say, where people were visiting and paying their respects. It was sad to see, and we talked with Rene for a minute, but didn’t have a chance to sit down with her or anything because there were a lot of people. But, it is comforting to know is that she no longer has to deal with the pain, and I am all but sure that she will accept the Gospel in the spirit world. I also think Rene will be receptive to hear more about the gospel along with her family. She was very happy to see us yesterday and presented us to everyone that was there. That was kind of weird because I felt like everyone was waiting for us to do some kind of special blessing or something. But, I didn’t do anything because I don’t really know how funerals go down here. So, that was quite the experience this week. We taught the Plan of Salvation past week more than any other week in my entire mission. Perhaps it is because I finally put the puzzle to use. But I can definitely say that I have full trust and faith in the Plan of Salvation. But still, I would hate to have something like that happen to someone even closer to me. Death is difficult enough with knowledge of the Lord’s Plan of Salvation. I do not know how I would possibly handle it without that knowledge. It is strange that we experienced death during a week in which we were so immersed in teaching that glorious doctrine. I am so grateful to have that sweet knowledge, and love seeing the light come on in the eyes of another when they hear of the plan for the first time. Talk about hope. Wow. The truth is wonderful - and brings us all hope, which leads to faith and action.
The Church is true, and I am thankful to be here still as a missionary. I am trying very hard to stay focused with the little time I have left. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Elder “Staple Gun” Royal
(I am in the office as I am typing right now; hence, the “stapler” and “staple gun.”)
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