Alright so this last week was pretty interesting. We had two super
long meetings during the week, Zone Conference and First companionship
training. Both we excellent and both were super sad for us as
missionaries. Our beloved President Trayner and his wife ended their
missions this last Friday as the Texas McAllen Mission received it's two
new faces. President and Sister Maluenda. Still haven't met them, we
will work on that one but I am stoked to meet them both. As for Zone
Conference it was amazing as always it went a little long but the spirit
just spent all day half rebuking half teaching me a lot of things. I
made some realizations about becoming more consecrated as a missionary
and working really hard to make this service counts. Once it ends, it is
over. That is a super sad thought. Also, President Trayner asked us not
to use names of investigators and members and such in our emails so I
am going to have to refrain from that one because this email gets posted
as a Blog so the names are gonna have to go.
At first comp training I realized that my companion and I get along
really well. There is one portion of the training where they separate
trainers and greenies so that we can talk about issues we are having. I
didn't really say much, I realized however there is a lot more I should
be doing to help my companion grow into his full potential so I will be
working on being a better Father to my son.
As far as the events of this week not a ton happened, we had a
confirmation and it was amazing, I love getting to be a part of those
things because it is just a really special and spiritual experience and
the recent converts love it when they get to feel the spirit so strong
with their missionaries. As well we hit our zone goal for baptisms and
as a mission we baptized 106 this month, that is awesome and it feels
great to know my companion and I managed to contribute to that number.
This next month the AP's have committed us to find, teach and Baptize a
family and we have been struggling in that department. We met 4
different families this week and none really panned out but Elder
Casteel and I aren't getting discouraged, we have to baptized all of
Mercedes if I ever want to get out of here. I told you my plan I am
sure, go all enoch on Mercedes just get it translated so they have to
move me. There is still just a little work that needs to be done here to
hit that goal but we will keep our vision high.
Our members here are super great, they are all mostly women which
has made it hard to fellowship men but it is great to fellowship women
who have difficulties. It is amazing for me as a missionary to get to
see so deeply into a lot of these peoples lives and see how the simple
fact that they have others supporting them that truly care about them
helps them move along with faith, sometimes and a full sprint, other
times dragging themselves along but they don't stop moving forward. I
think if every one of us reached out to be that support for just one
person the world would be a much much much better place. You should see
the Family home evenings these sisters put together. They have so little
some of them and yet when it comes to spending time with their brothers
and sisters in the church they always manage to bring together. As we
sit in the dusty humid heat we play games, teach lessons. Have dinner
and feel the spirit. You should hear it when they all try to sing, Man
we struggle to carry a tune but the spirit is always there to fill our
souls with his sweet love, it is truly amazing. The day when I actually
leave Mercedes that will be one thing I miss a great deal is the unity
here. The members here are few, very few, but they are powerful and
loving, and christlike even though they would all deny it. My prayer is
that we can all be a little more like Mercedes and reach out to help
eachother. That is why the Church exists.
This week I have been getting spiritual corrections on cutting
corners, I got an email this week from a great friend of mine and in it
they made a great observation about David and Goliath, "before David
faced Goliath, he didn't have to go train for a few weeks or go and
spiritually prepare for a couple days, but he was ready RIGHT at that
moment to face Goliath. I guess I'd like to think that if I am faced
with a challenge, that I am ready and have the courage to face it right
at that moment. I had just never looked at that story that way I guess!
Obviously we know what happened to David later on, but I still think
it's a cool story." What a powerful observation that is made here. It is
true, David was always ready to answer the call of his lord and ready
to call upon his great power without fear because he knew he was
righteous. If we cut corners we allow the devil to cheat us down to hell
one small step at a time my invitation is to remove these shackles he
binds us with. Shackles of procrastination and corner cutting. It is an
awful habit. One I am working on eliminating from my own life. I love
you all so very much and I will work on trying to find things to take
pictures of. I keep getting asked but really nothing that different has
been happening. It's still Mercedes and the dogs that attack me aren't
going to let me stop and snap a picture of them while they are trying to
bite my legs off so bear with me just a bit.
I love you all
Dale,
Elder Bassett
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