Week 71 - Double the Area...Double the Chamba! (work)

Howdy!! 

This week went by super super fast! Two days of this week, we were not able to work in our area because we were with the assistants helping them in their area, but it was a good experience with them! I worked with Elder Zuñiga for the day on Tuesday, and we had lots of great lessons! I met a guy that has two kids living in Wisconsin! What a small world right?! 

We have seen lots of progress in the people we are teaching in this week. In almost every lesson we had, we were able to have a member of the church from our ward come with us, and they helped us so much!! This is the greatest ward ever! On Sunday in the Sacrament meeting, it was so full that it almost got the point that people had to stand because there almost weren't any chairs left!! 

Jes. is progressing so so well! The Bishop came with us to visit Jes., and he has been reading the Book of Mormon, and has really felt that it is the word of God. He has asked super great questions, the greatest questions, and yesterday he stayed for all three hours of church and loved it! He was super into it. And he reminds me so so much of Grandpa Daines, so it makes me even more excited that he is progressing because it is as if I was teaching Grandpa!

Char. is also doing well! He is still preparing to be baptized on January 28th. We hope that he can receive an answer to his prayers to know that this is the right decision. He has been praying and reading a bit, and is super interested about eternal families. We hope he can realize the great blessing it is to be able to be with our families forever! 

We have some other great investigators, and have had some other cool experiences but that is pretty much it for this week! In this past transfer we had 6 missionaries in the ward, but sadly, we are now only 4, and so our area is a bit bigger but it is exciting to have some new area to work in too! I know that God prepares His children to receive His Gospel in His time. I am so glad I can be led by His Spirit to find those people He has prepared for us to find. 

-- 

Elder Daines

Pretty clouds

Goodbye, Elder Zuniga! 

The Church! 

Week 70 - The Best Ward Ever!

Hey everyone, 

This week was super cool! I am in the best ward ever! They have been helping us so much in going with us to visit our investigators and they are helping a lot in helping the investigators feel like part of the group here in Infonavit! We saw lots of great miracles this week in having members with us. 

Well first of all in this week, we had a Multizone Conference. I got to train in a part of it, and I was super, super nervous (yes, my hands still shake when I get nervous in front of groups, haha). But I was praying before the training that I would be able to share the message the missionaries needed and it really helped! I got up there and it turned out well (I hope)! I at least got some of them to laugh so that was good. I didn’t want to be the only one laughing at my own jokes like I normally do (got that one from Mom). 

Anyway...members! Yeah. We had some super cool lessons. Hermano Jul. came with us to visit a family, and he invited them to have a family home evening with him and his family in this week, and we are planning for that! Hermano Alex. also came with us to visit Char.! And wow he is learning a lot! He is about to finish 1 Nephi already, and is learning a lot! He is still preparing to be baptized for January 28 and we are super excited for him! The young single adults are including him super well in church as well as in activities.

We also have Jon., he makes delicious pizzas. We visited him with Hermano Man., and he has already read quite a bit in the Book of Mormon, and although he had lots of questions, he is excited to learn a lot more! And he also came to church with us for the first time and liked it a lot! 

We found a new investigator this week in an interesting way...So basically (I don’t think I’ve said this yet), we have doves (I think that’s what they’re called) on our street and they always...leave droppings. And one day one kind dove deposited some on my Book of Mormon. And so my companion and I were talking about what to do, and suggested we look for a plastic owl. So we were walking to visit someone, and we saw a plastic owl on a picnic table! And we saw a man there and so we asked where he got it, then from there starting talking to him! He accepted a Book of Mormon, and came to church yesterday too! He was so into it. After the classes, he commented to us, I loved how in the first part, so many people got up and said “I know”. I know, means knowledge, certainty. I like that. It was so cool!

I guess you could say things were pretty great this week. I love being here and am so excited to keep serving in this area!

-- 

Elder Daines

"Have you seen these toilets?? They're...tiny!"

"Johnny Rockets!" 

Week 69 - There Can Be Miracles When You Believe

Hey everyone!

Super duper cool week this week! To not make y'all wait for the news of why it was so cool...so basically there are these two young people in our ward, Jen. and Kev., and they are siblings. Their mom, Ing., had gone to church several times, had received pretty much all the missionary lessons and all, but hadn't been baptized for problems with work. A couple weeks ago when we had the Missionary Choir, she went, and loved it! We felt we needed to meet with her and teach her a bit. We got there with her, and we saw right away that she was super ready to be baptized! I honestly have no idea why the missionaries had not talked much with her before. We asked her, Ing., would you like to be baptized this Friday? And she said, of course! At what time? Hahaha. It was so so cool. She was so ready, and it was the greatest, because Kev., her son, was able to baptize her. Honestly pretty much the coolest experience ever. 

Other super cool things, that honestly I had forgotten to mention I think...last week I found out that Zefer. (from La Paz) got baptized and December 17, and is progressing super, super well! That makes me so so happy, because although I wasnt there to see it, he is staying strong. Also, long long ago, when I was in Garzas, there was a great family of 4. The mom, and her two kids were members of the Church, and her husband went with them for years, but never felt baptism was for him. Well just a couple weeks before I left La Paz, I was told he was going to be baptized, and had the amazing privilege of seeing him baptized. That family is already preparing to be sealed in the temple for eternity! 

We are seeing lots of progress here in this zone and in our area, and I am super excited to be able to keep serving here in Infonavit! Love this place! Oh by the way, happy new year everyone! Haha. Love y'all!

-- 

Elder Daines