Week 16: Panchos, Bautismos, y Cancer

1.  I loved hearing from the member yesterday.  It is fun to receive these messages.  

-A lot of members do it here.

2.  Did you ever get to check with the McFarlands?  I would love to link up with them.

- No, they serve in San Cristobal.

3. I'm sure you heard about the new guideline for communication with parents while on mission. With the changes, what has your mission president said for you guys to do?

-We choose what we want.

4. How are things going with your goals as a companionship?

-Well we kinda just do daily goals, so good I guess.

5. How long has your companion been out again?

-22 months

6. Where is your companion from?

-Puebla

The district calls my companion "Abuelito."  2 months left in his mission

Well sorry for not writing last week but I called the fam because we now have the ability to call if we want. These past two weeks went by really fast but quite a bit happened as you are probably anticipating from the title LOL.

PANCHOS:

So the story of the sacred pancho is very simple but it was funny. I really don't have any other reason than it's funny to tell it, but here it goes. So Elder Perez and I decided to head to Tres Picos because they have an investigator that was ready for baptism but the elders said it was alright they were gonna wait a week. But Elder Perez was gonna give the interview and see what happens. 

So we get there and Elder Perez starts the interview and finishes with him and Eber walking out very fast at us saying VAMOS AL RIO!!! Apparently, during the interview, Eber said he wanted to be baptized right now but he didn't know how because we didn't have a place or clothes. 

But all Elder Perez said was let's go. So there we were 6 people in one moto taxi headed towards the river. We stopped at the elders house first to grab clothes for the baptism and went. When we got to the river, we realized all of the shirts did not fit Eber and so we took a moment to think because he's a big dude. We figured my shirt had to be the closest fit of all. So I gave my shirt up and traded it for a poncho. What  a life, am I right? Chillin' in Tres Picos watching a baptism in a poncho.

BAUTISMOS: 

The baptisms were from Tres Picos, which I pretty much already went over. But we had one too. The same night of the poncho incident, Elder Perez and I had a baptism. It was the wife of someone we baptized in January which is good. So now the whole family are members. That's the goal with our baptisms to be for families because realmente this gospel is for the family. So it was pretty fun to have the baptism of Elmer here in Tonala and after hear there testimony.

CANCER: 

So yes, this week I came down with sickness but the cancer isn't about me LOL. It is in reference to one of our lessons this week. The investigator we were teaching has been having trouble with the whole repenting process. We were talking to him a little bit about it and he said something a little interesting. He said "Sin is like cancer".... how true is that statement? Really, if you really think about it sin is a cancer on our spiritual soul. Cancer for the body is something that slowly eats away and kills the body if not treated. Sin is the exact same when we transgress or do something in contradiction to God's laws it's an opening for Satan to make us think it's okay to do again since we already did it. Slowly but surely it eats away at our spiritual well being. The way we treat it is repentance through our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ suffered and died for those sins. All we need to do is have faith in him and begin the repentance process, replace bad habits with good, ask for forgiveness from God, and decide in your heart you don't want  this "cancer."  As Jesus said to the adulterer "Then go up and sin no more". So first faith, second change our habits, third ask for the forgiveness, then last but not least continue everyday to try to get better and leave that "cancer" behind in the dust. As we decide to leave the cancer in the dust we will begin to feel more of the spirit and God's love in our lives. Don't let Satan "bind" your spiritual and temporal happiness. Take control and leave the cancer behind.

HASTA EL ARBOL!!

TGM!!!