Apr 8, 2013

Wow, another week seems like just yesterday I was writing you all. This week was good conference is like missionary superbowl so we were all very excited to get to spend 10 hours in an air-conditioned building receiving personal revelation from the servants of the Lord. How sweet was it!? I really hope that you all had the opportunity to at least sit down and to watch at least one session. We got to go to Chili's between Saturday sessions before Priesthood and it was awesome, I had to go a little lighter on my groceries this week but it was well worth it I have plenty.

So this week not a whole lot of super interesting stuff happened I won't lie. We have a couple we are teaching Felipe and Beatriz and they are progressing really really well. They came to 2 sessions of conference which is amazing because not even the members came to even one. Felipe's first words to me as they were leaving were, "Man, that was pretty awesome." Best words you could ever hear from an investigators mouth besides maybe, "Baptize me, right now turns out I already know everything I need to and have a testimony of the Restoration. Oh, and I took the liberty of getting interviewed by your District Leader and we did all the paperwork so you wouldn't have to worry." But that never happens. The only problem is that I don't think they are married and we can't find out by beating around the bush and being discrete and asking things like, "Oh when did you guys get married?" Because everyone here just calls living together being married so we are going to have a Chastity lesson and see how they take that. If they aren't married...well that's why we have Bishops and courthouses.

Maria Guerrero drank coffee yesterday and as a result can't be baptized this next weekend so we are going to have to move her date back a week and really make sure that she would rather play leapfrog with a unicorn than drink coffee. I don't really know if missionaries should make analogies like that but they do encourage us to come up with effective analogies for our teaching so I hope that one takes the point home. She really is just lacking a true testimony of the Restoration and it's importance. She knows our church is good and she feels the spirit she also knows that story of Joseph Smith, but I have learned that knowing about him and knowing about him are different things. A testimony means really truly knowing and that brings understanding, knowing means that if I were to give you a comprehension test on it you could tell me the details. That is one of the hardest parts about missionary work is getting people to want to know that it's true. She will get there though, she is a good lady.

We really don't have any other investigators at this point that are progressing, we don't know what happened to Juan, I think he is moving....to our neighbors area. We did however knock into his mother in laws house at 8:45 last night which meant we were in a huge hurry but had a comittment to keep so we needed new investigators. She is a nice lady, I will be mad though if I baptize his mother in law before he gets baptized. I have contemplated cutting off his other 4 fingers so that he would come to church again. He will get there though, eventually.

Elder Ellsworth's bike got pwned this week. The Derailer snapped off. This isn't an April fools joke, it sucked. However out of the goodness of her heart and against our will Mayra Coronado, our wonderful recent convert, went to a pawn shop and with what little money she had she bought him a bike to last till the end of his mission. What a spectacle of charity and coming from the woman who just last January was trying to avoid lessons with us. That is the purpose of this Gospel, to change hearts and what a wonderful thing it is. Also, she wrote her daughter a song and sang it and put it on youtube, I will find out what it is called exaclty but it warmed my heart. The motherly love that expressed was truly a blessing to see. That is just more proof that she has taken to heart the teachings of Jesus Christ and learned to love others. I was humbled by her and the things that she has done for others of late. She also just barely called us to tell us that if we have any nights open this week that she wants to have us over to feed us hamburgers because she knows that they are my favorite.

Diego, one of the less actives we are working with is doing...well I am not sure. We were teaching him the other day and he was responding really well as he usually does and the spirit was there really really strong and as we knelt down to pray his sister came in the room and starting fighting with him about money he owed her and she just destroyed the spirit with her language and her threats and her anger. He didn't help with his response and Elder Ellsworth and I were just kneeling there on the floor for like 10 minutes while they went back and forth. By the time she left I wasn't sure what to do with my hands, the Spirit was just completely gone from the room and it was an awful feeling. We said a prayer and invited the spirit back mostly and then Diego went off in street mode and we lost it again. It was really bad and the things he was saying weren't really nice things to be saying about siblings but by the time we left he said to us, "I'm Gucci Elders, I ain't trippin' I'm Gucci" So I think that is thug for, " I am doing well now Elders, don't bring yourselves to any worries." But we will see.

 That really brings me to my next point. One of the Apostles said something really interesting in his talk about families. He said that siblings should treat eachother like best friends. There was also a great talk about successful marriages that I know hit our investigators really hard, but anyways. I thought that was interesting, people say that kind of stuff all the time, "Omg my sister is like my best friend." That is great, but what does that truly mean? I thought about my sisters and how we didn't really hang out all the time or share clothes and chat about boys (Which is good) but that when it comes right down to it, they are some of my best friends. We can have real conversations and confide in each other. My next question was this, could they do that amongst themselves? I know we are friends, but are they friends with eachother? I would say most of the time yes but I would hope that the relationship they have is more BFF and less "School friend". My challenge is to find things to do together, speak only kind words to eachother and treat your siblings like you do your best friends. Think about my friends and I if you need a great example of that. Did Sean and I always agree? No, not really but when it came down to brass tacks, I know that he would walk through fire for me, maybe. Or how about Austin? One of the most loyal friends ever, we lived forever aways, gas is expensive, our ideals grew apart, but he is still my brother and I love him. Think about your best friends if your sibling isn't one of them, change that.

I love you all very much and I hope that you have a great week. Mine is going to be filled with teaching the Gospel and having the time of my life, and maybe a little bit of using someones family to accidentally be let into their house. I will let you know how that one goes. Write me, my inbox was very empty this week and that is sucky.

Elder Bassett