August 13, 2018

Fam,

Transfer calls were this past Friday. Elder Magalei and I are staying together. I think we've been together for more than 9 months but I've stopped counting. Transfers no longer mean anything when we know what's going to happen for at least the next 6 months . We will also be moving early September to a new apartment. 

Wednesday we had a pretty great visit with Edin. We helped him prepare for the Branch temple trip on the 25th of this month. We set up his LDS account and got him running on his family history. I'm so grateful for the family history my mom graciously filled out for me before I left on my mission. I was able to use the pamphlet to show Edin a short history of my family and talk about the ordinances performed in the temple. He is excited and we are pumped things are going well for him.

Thursday I had a seriously bad sore throat, almost to the point of losing my voice. We took things slowly for a few hours but were able to go out proselyting in the afternoon. We met two seriously cool people that night. The first guy we had a short lesson with on the book of Mormon. We had a pretty good visit with him and ended by reading with him in the 11th chapter of 3 Nephi when Jesus begins his ministry in the Americas. The Spirit was strong and at the end of the visit he explained that he had spoken with missionaries in Mexico many years back. The other guy was a "Missionary Pastor." Introducing himself as Pastor Alex he explained the things he had done as a pastor for the past few years. We were able to strike common ground on the importance on missionary work and he shared some cool stories about his own missionary work. Unlike most pastors, Alex was kind and respectful. We shared common ground on many truths including the apostasy of the early Christian church. He even pulled out scriptures we like to use to teach about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson was made slightly difficult because of the language barrier. Alex is African and his English isn't that great but he speaks French, Portuguese, Spanish and sometimes all at the same time. It was quite the struggle. We talked about how God has restored many lost truths as well as his priesthood authority to the earth today and offered him a Book of Mormon. He gladly accepted and committed himself to read it before we came back next Saturday. Hopefully he'll actually read!

Saturday we had the baptism of José Manuel! It was a great service. Manuel is the older brother to Francisca and Daniel. Francisca spoke and did a fantastic job. She ended her talk telling her mom and Daniel that she's anxiously awaiting their baptisms, all still in process. Elder Guerrero and I stood as witnesses to make sure the baptism was performed correctly. There was a great reverence as the congregation moved from the Chapel to room with the baptismal font. Being a saving ordinance the spirit was able to powerfully witness to me its importance as people quietly shuffled in and Manuel was baptized by Elder Wilkins. Baptism is a simple yet powerful ordinance. 

There were some refreshments after the service. With some transfer math I have three transfers cycles left. The last two will be spent training the Elder who will come out in September. We should get two (they should be entering the MTC around now) and Elder Magalei should train the other. Elder Guerrero and Rencher go home in September as the two new Elders come out. That leaves Elder Berry and Wilkins to be companions. Elder Berry will have 12 weeks under his belt and Elder Wilkins a meager 18 weeks. As I walked by after we were enjoying refreshments I heard the conversation they were having. You could say they are feeling the pressure and nerves caused by their decreed fate. It reminded me of when Elder Guerrero trained me. Elder Guerrero was really young, he only had about 24 weeks when he trained me. He was a little nervous and likely felt as I was training, under pressure with a slight doubt of your own capabilities, but we just worked and things eventually worked themselves out. In that time we were able to gain much needed experience. I'm excited for them and the lessons they'll learn being on their own. 

Listening to one of President Monson's talk made me ponder the effects of our missionary work and how often they go beyond what we will ever see or realize. I've noticed many of the people we speak with either have known a Latter-day Saint or have spoken with missionaries in the past. Each contact either moves someone closer to the fullness of the gospel or further. Contact could be as little as seeing us walking down the street or nervously peeking through their blinds at what looks like the CIA or ICE parked on their street. Everything counts and it's probable that we might never really know the full effect of our service. 

Yesterday we had dinner with the Duran family. I doubt there are words worthy of describing them. In few words, they're awesome. Brother Duran has quite the garden this year filled with a large variety of hot peppers. We were treated to a great carne asada with a side of habaneros. Brother Duran is a monster or a champion, that's left undecided. He chomped down massive bites of some seriously hot habaneros. I took a few bites, swallowing them instead of chewing but as I finished the pepper I made the mistake of biting down. The darn pepper nearly killed me. I don't know how people actually eat peppers that hot aside from literally burning the feeling out of their mouths. 

-Eric