From: Elder Joshua Freeman Subject: Whoa geez Date: 19 April 2004 11:10:00 AM EDT ÁHola! It's me again. This past week was pretty good, we taught a lot more charlas than the week before. Man, April sure is flying by. It's rained the past couple of days, so it has gotten a little cooler, but we'll see how long that lasts. Yeah. On Monday night, we taught a charla 1, and visited the Laneris etc., and we talked with Joni about his reading in the Book of Mormon. That made as many charlas in 3 hours as we had gotten the last 3 days of last week, which was nice. On Tuesday morning, we had our meetings like normal. After we had eaten lunch, we went to Kike's house and we helped his grandson take some iron grate thingies to the capilla so that we can make a ramp on the curb so that cars don't bottom out and stuff. And we taught another charla 1 to a guy we found last week in a house where some inactives used to live. That went pretty well. After that, we went and talked to another contact from last week-well, his daughter actually. She's an English teacher and a Catholic missionary. It's kinda weird to talk to Catholic people down here that know what they're talking about. After that, we had a cita with Nimia y Noelia, but they had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon and stuff, so we didn't have time. After that, we tried to find a couple of other people and didn't, and then came home and studied since we missed it in the afternoon. On Wednesday morning, we left early to be able to talk to Jorge, who got baptized in October but is inactive and has a few problems. We've been trying to talk to him since we got here, but that's only the second time we've been able to. Also that morning, we taught another charla 1, and then tried to talk to a couple investigators that weren't home, and then went and visited the Formiglis (the old member couple who does our laundry) before going and having lunch with the Flia. Ram’rez. After that, we went straight to the church to put in the ramp thing, and the 2¡ counselor and then the other Elders showed up. We had to break away a part of the sidewalk in front of the church, which we did with just a hammer and a chisel. Oh it was fun, believe me. And then we put the things in place and cemented them. And then we had to go to a charla with F‡tima y Sixto. We gave them a charla 2, but all we got was a "puede ser" (maybe) on the baptism invitation. So we told them to keep reading and praying. Her mom has been sick, so it's been kind of tough to really talk to them because she's at the hospital a lot. But anyway, after that, we went and set up a cita with Joni, and then went back to the church for Consejo de Rama. And that was it for the night. On Thursday, we had divisions with Elder Saxton, the District Leader. He's in Republicano. Originally, he was going to come here with me, but, his newest (his 5th this change) companion, Elder Fern‡ndez (the same one from Ytoror—) just got there 3 days ago, so he still doesn't know the area. So I went to Republicano with Elder Saxton. We looked for a couple of references that they had gotten, but we couldn't find them. And then we visited a few members before going to lunch. That was pretty good. Then we went home and studied and he had to call the office for something. In the afternoon, we visited one of their investigators and tried to teach her the beginning of charla 2, but she has problems concentrating, and would keep going off on cualquier tangent, and we finally had to explain stuff really simply and quickly. She's kind of a weird lady. She was talking to Elder Saxton like they hadn't come by in a month, and he said they just saw her last weekend. An interesting lady. After that we visited a few inactives, and also a couple other members, and got some references. Then we charlar-ed with an investigator that's going to get baptized soon. And then we went to the capilla (Thursday is their Noche de Barrio) and met the other Elders. Elder Workman and I came home and went and got something to eat, and then went and talked to Sandra y Ediberto (he's a member, she's not). And then we came home. On Friday, we had a cita with Carlos, but he wasn't home, so we clapped a little, and set up some other citas, and then went back to his house and he was home. We finally (after 2 weeks) did a verificaci—n of the 1¡ charla, and had read but not prayed. So we recommitted him to that. Then we went home and had lunch. In the afternoon, we had a few citas fallar us and we found some new people, and then we went to Nimia y Noelia's to take them to Noche de Rama. Which was pretty fun. And afterwards we dropped by their house again because she had made us some bread. It was good. On Saturday, it rained all morning, so of course we couldn't talk to any of the people we were looking for. Except Hna. Selva, a member lady. Then we went and had lunch with the Flia. Laneri. That was good. We got fallar-ed on one cita, and then we went and had a charla 1 with AndrŽs (his wife's an inactive, and they came to the activity last week and to church). It went pretty well. After that, we didn't have much luck the rest of the afternoon with finding people that we were looking for. But we did find Ricardo, who said that his wife doesn't like us and "they need more time". So that's too bad. Anyway, we then went and got some food for Sunday night, and then went and read with the lady who we had given the charla 1 to on Monday. On Sunday, we went and picked up Nimia to go to church. Her daughter couldn't come because her baby was sick. Anyway, the Temple President, Pte. Whetten, and his wife came and talked to us. That was pretty neat. Other than that, the meetings were normal. We had lunch with the Flia. Sanabria, and they told us about a friend who they're going to bring to their house to hear the discussions, so that was cool. After that, we talked with a couple of people, and set up citas, and then had to go to Centro for a Stake missionary work training meeting thing. For all the Stake and ward mission people, and us. It was a really good meeting. After that, we had a charla 1 verificaci—n (from Wednesday), and then it was raining pretty good, so we ran home and studied. Then we went to the other ELders' house and made fajitas. They were pretty darn good. And that's it. Mom, your package got here, but I have to send the money to the office and then they'll send me the package next week. Unless someone else just secretly sent me a package. Plus, my (Wells Fargo) ATM card expires in June, so I'm assuming they would send a new one to the house, and then you could activate it and then send it to me or something like that. Just let me know if anything comes. Other that that, I think that's it. Thanks a lot for everything. I sure hope everyone not at home is still alive, although I can't be sure. I Love You All!! Love, Josh