From: Elder Joshua Freeman
Subject: January's already over?
Date: 31 January 2005 11:45:09 AM EST

ÁHola!

That whole month of January went by pretty fast. This week was not so successful, mostly because every night since Monday (and up until this coming Thursday) the town is having a big party for San Blas, the patron saint of the local catholic church. So thereŐs hardly anyone home after 6:00 at night all week, which is normally our most productive time. But there were good parts to the week as well.

On Monday night, we went and talked to the Flia. Quintana about their baptism date of the 26Ľ of February, and they are still fine with that. After that, we went to Clides and MilciadesŐ house, but had to wait a while to talk to them for them to get home from work. So we only talked to them for like 10 minutes. After that, we went to the Flia. G—mez and had a Noche de Hogar with them that went pretty well. Then we came home.

On Tuesday morning, Pte. Gavarret came to our Zone Meetings to do our interviews, but he didnŐt have time, so he told us to come to the office on Friday to do them. In the afternoon, we went to CatalinaŐs house and talked with her about the Sabbath day. After that, we tried visiting a couple few people that werenŐt home, and did visit the Flia. Estigarribia. Also, we went back and actually had a charla with Clides and Milciades. That went okay. Then we finished the night going to a member familyŐs house, the Flia Esp’nola. They had some problem with their DVD player and the instruction manual was all in English, so they needed our help to fix it, and we did. And they made us dinner. So that was nice of them.

Wednesday morning wasnŐt so fun. We went to eleven different peoplesŐ houses, but we only managed to get a couple of lessons taught. So it would have been nice to have just visited those two people and left out the rest in between. In the afternoon, we went to the capilla to help move everything. ItŐs still not done, but weŐre moving in anyway because of rent and other stuff dealing with the rented house where weŐre at now. And because maybe then theyŐll get on the ball and just finish already. Anyway after that, we went and talked to Martina, and then a couple other people before going back to the church for Noche de Rama. Almost nobody came, but it didnŐt really matter too much, because we just moved more stuff.

On Thursday, we went out and visited the Flia. Olmedo, and another inactive family, and we also met a couple of new people. So that was a good morning. We had lunch with the Hno. Oscar and then came home. In the afternoon, we got fallar-ed some more and then visited an inactive lady named Perla that found Elder OŐBrien and Javier last Sunday on divisions. Then we went to the Mart’nezŐ and Estiben came with us. We visited a member and then went and did a verification from last weekend and read with the guy, whose name is Carlos. Then we got fallar-ed a few more times because of people that went to the festival, and then actually talked to another lady that we had taught a lesson 1 to a while ago, and also her brother was there, so we talked to him. Then we came home.

On Friday morning, we went to the office and had our entrevistas and watched part of the Missionary Training Meeting and then all went and ate at McDonaldŐs. Then we came home just in time to go out working. We got fallar-ed a couple of times, and then got in a lesson with the Flia. G—mez. Then we went to the QuintanaŐs and talked with them, then went to visit the inactive Flia. Ayala. They had a friend that they wanted us to go talk to, so we did. That went pretty well. After that, we went by Clides and MilciadesŐ to make sure they were going to come to church. After that, we got fallar-ed a couple more times and came home. 

On Saturday morning, we went and taught a new member lesson to Francisco and Martina. Also, we went and talked to Leticia, and inactive girl, and met a new guy before going to the Fern‡ndezŐ for lunch. In the afternoon, we had Correlation Meeting in the (new) capilla, then went to visit an inactive family that lives really far away and the road to their house is just sand, like a foot deep, to invite them to church. It was a tough ride. After that, we got fallar-ed and then went to BlasŐ to invite him as well to church on Sunday. Then we went to GuarambarŽ for a baptism. It went really well, and there were a whole lot of people there. It was a guy whose wife and son got baptized like 6 months ago. And when that was done, we came home.

On Sunday morning, we had figured we would have more than 100 people, being the first time in the new chapel. But there were only 70, and we know that a lot of people didnŐt come because they were partying until 4:00 in the morning. We can definitely see where their priorities are firmly placed. In the afternoon we planned, and then went back to the church because there was a training meeting for all the Priesthood and Auxiliary leaders in the district, put on by the Gavarrets and Pte. Villalba and his wife. That was pretty good. I helped Elder Marshall translate for Elder Karn, who doesnŐt speak hardly any Spanish. ItŐs definitely a lot easier for me to translate from English to Spanish than vice versa. At least talking (as opposed to just writing). After that, Federico went with us and we walked all over the place and managed to get a lesson with the Flia. Quintana. So that was good. Then we came home.

This morning, everyone came for District Meetings because we have Zone Conference this Friday. And then we played football, and it rained a whole lot. So that was fun. I think thatŐs about it. Thanks everyone for everything and good luck with the basketball!

I Love You Guys!!!

Love,
Josh