Ben's last six letters! May 2, May 9, May 16, May 23, May 30 and June 8 ! Sorry for the delay!

June 8, 2011

Dear Family,

I put the subject that I did because that is how people greet you in the street here. God and religious things are so common here it has become super casual. It´s funny becuase people just throw it out there to publicly show that they are really religious when generally they don´t study the scriptures or do much .

Anyway, thank you for my incredible birthday package! It was everything I dreamed it was and more. I loved the 2 shirts, all the snacks, the socks, etc. My birthday was fun because I was able to open that and we also went to Chili´s at a mall around here. It was really weird becuase I felt like I was in the States again, except for the fact that the waiter didn´t speak english. All the menu items are english though, and I refused to say the menu item with a bad latin accent, so I said "Me gustaria tener una (this part in my normal spanish accent) Quesidilla Explosion Salad (that part in my normal english voice) por favor (with a return to spanish)." It´s funny because you usually have to say things such as Big Mac or Mcflurry or the things that are in english in a terrible accent so they understand you. I will single handedly change that with my stubbornness. But it was really fun to go with the office staff and enjoy the day. Anyways thank you for all the nice cards and presents, I really felt appreciated.

Also Mom don´t worry about a journal I bought an extra in the MTC and we sell them here in the office so I´m good. It is really good that Michelle gave me that little journal with the questions because I´ve been good about answering the questions given in the journal so that has helped to go back and started summarizing everything that has happened since the beginning of my mission. It has been cool to see everything that has happened in the last year and to write about it. But it is a big project and who knows when I will get done haha. Also I only lost my spanish scriptures which I now have more of.

This week has been pretty good. We´ve really been trying to focus on doing good job in the office but getting out on time so that we can focus on the work in the area. It is hard because we don´t have time for companionship study, personal study (1/2 an hour), or weekly planning, but we are trying to do our best and we have been lucky to find some families in this week that actually look pretty positive. We have only taught one or two times though so I don´t know enough to be able to tell you if they are going to progress or not.

I do quickly want to write about how I´ve been thinking a lot about humility lately. Obviously as missionaries the only way we are going to improve and get better is if we are humble, but what I have seen in this week is how investigators are the same way. It is so common here in Guatemala for people to have "religious pride" where they just want to spit out a lot of scriptrues (even if they aren´t bible bashing) to show you how religious they are and how much they trust in God, when what they really are saying is, "I don´t want to change where I am, look, I already know how to follow God." All my converts that I have seen progress have been looking for something more, have been looking for a way to better follow God instead of just being content with where they are, and as a result they find the truth which changes them. We are hoping that we see this humility in some of these families as we start to extend commitments with some of them and see how willing they are to act.

Anyway that is all I have time for today, I hope everyone is doing well and that Will stops growing, because I am missing it. I actually don´t want to rob him of a year of growth because then he might get pick on in school for being small for his age. I take it back.

I love you all,

-Ben

May 30, 2011

Hey family,

First off to everyone who is wondering I prefer Ben to those who are my friends and family. I don´t know it is just weird to have my Mom calling me Elder Pearson. Judge me if you will but I don´t feel like that is a bad thing. I guess it´s cool if other missionaries want to do it, but my name is just fine.

Anyway, this was good week making an adjustment in the office, but this morning something awful happened. We had our district meeting in the office in a room to the side. I left my back pack in the office thinking nothing of it. When I got back it was gone. We went to adminstration of the building and looked at the cameras outside of our office and during our district meeting a man just walked in, took my bag and left. It is really too bad because the photo book that you gave me for Christmas and my journal were in there. Other than that there was just my scriptures, but I´m pretty devastated about my journal. I have been really good about writing about every 1 or 2 days, and it makes me really sad just to think I lost all that. There is no use worrying about it though, I can´t change. We´re hoping he might find it and somehow feel bad to the point where he returns at least the journal but I doubt it. I just don´t know why people have to be so dishonest. I guess I learned my lesson about being careful in Guatemala.

But, enough about the depressing things, this week was all about adjusting and finding my balance of keeping myself busy and focused in the office while not losing focus of my purpose as a missionary, becuase although it may not seem like it, it is a hard balance that many missionaries struggle with. I´m trying to remember what my main purpose is and try to do that in the best way while still keeping up with the office duties.

To answer Mom´s questions, I´m just a normal secretary which deals a lot with the baptismal records, getting mail and items requested from the equivalent of Costco to the missionaries, and running errands for Sister Baldwin. It has been fun to work closely with her because she is a funny lady and always keeps things interesting. Last week we did house checks with her, so that´s an example of some of the random things that we do. My first day we took the missionaries going home to the airport at 5 in the morning, and I´m sure we are a big part of picking up new missionaries as well, but I´m still learning so we´ll see. Also, my companion and I (the normal secretaries) live with the financial and executive secretary in a house, in the same colony as the assistants. Elder Moore (one of the assistants) is a good friend so that has been fun to live close.

I am still enjoying my mission very much even though things are different. I´m trying to make time for personal study because there is obviously less time to think and reflect, so that I don´t lose the growth that a mission gives you. It is easy to feel like that is happening sometimes. Anyways, I love you all, and I ask that you pray for the area that we are working in right now becuase there is a definate lack of investigators, but we are working hard to change that. I love this gospel and know it is true.

-Ben

May 25, 2011

Hey Pearson Family,

First to answer Mom´s question I HAVE recieved your package and I AM waiting. I probably would have recieved it about the right time if I hadn´t have come here to the office, but now it is just sitting there calling me with it´s evil glare that it gives me when I walk by. It´s taken a lot of self control. Also, Anne´s package is doing the same making it two against one, but I feel that I can hold out.

So anyways as you all know I did have transfers and I am now a secretary here in the offices of the mission. I was pretty bummed when I found out I was leaving the area becase as you know I was loving my time there in that area with Elder Sarita. I trust that he will do a good job with the area, I just hope that his new companion has a good head on his shoulders and will be able to know how to best make sure the baptisms of the investigators for whom I gave so much. It was especially sad saying goodbye to Walter and Isabel (who have 2 kids that are a younger, 11 and 8 years old). Isabel couldn´t stop crying which surprised me. Sometimes we really don´t understand the diffrence that we are bringing into the lives of these people until we look back and realize where they are coming from. I hope and pray that they will be able to progress and be able to get baptized in the near future.

Anyway, the office life is very strange and a definate adjustment. After becoming accustomed (spelling?) the life of buses,walking, visting people, and working in a very hands on manner, it has been interesting spending a large portion of the day typing in baptismal records, sorting out who wants peanut butter or brownie mix from Pricesmart (owned by Costco, yes being able to go there is a perk of the office), driving around Guatemala to drop off copies of the Book of Mormon, etc. We do things that are very necessary but things that are sometimes pretty detached from the direct work which has been a little hard I´m not going to lie. Being with the office staff has been really fun though because they are all really cool and we get along really well. My companion (first gringo) is Elder Lydiksen who is a cool guy. Elder Sarita and I were really unified, so it is weird getting used to a new companion but I feel like we will be able to do a good job here.

The area is pretty good, but we only work from about 4 o clock in the afternoon and on. We don't have much time for weekly planning and what not, so this experience has been teaching me to be flexible and use every moment wisely. My favorite part of the area is a man who is always, always drunk sittng on the sidewalk that without fail always asks us in a think Latino accent, "what time is it?" It never stops being funny. It doesn't matter what you say he just says "okay!" My friend Elder Tebbs the other day told him it was watermelon and he was just as content as he is hearing the real time. The investigators are alright, but we have a lot of finding and working to do.

I don't know why I'm wanted or needed here but I´m going to try and do my best and hope that I can do it. This church is true. I love you guys!

-Ben

May 23, 2011

Hey everybody,

Just a heads up so you don´t think I´m dead, I was called to the office as a mission secretary so my email time will be a little more random, but the earliest I will be emailing is by Monday, so that would be great if you emailed me by that day. I will usually email by Wednesday. I love you guys!

-Ben

May 16, 2011

Hola Pearson Family,

Even though I didn´t get to hear from my mommy this week was still really good. As always it has been a blast working here in this area with Elder Sarita, and we are seeing progress in the investigators that we have. We have changes which we find out tonight so we will see if this period of my mission will come to a close. I think we´ll stay here together, but it´s better just not to guess and take it as it comes.

Anyways one of the families that is coming along really well is the Castillanos Family. The dad´s name is Walter and the mom´s name is Isabel. We have been teaching them for about 3 or 4 weeks and they have come to church 3 time and have expressed a desire to get baptized. The problem is that Walter has a lot of vices which he has been trying to overcome for years, mainly smoking and drinking. We had a lesson where we taught to the Word of Wisdom that was very powerful. He told us that he would drop these vices that he has had but that he thought it would be very difficult to do it all at once. We offered to give him a blessing and he accepted saying that it would help. We gave him a blessing and left.

2 miraculous things happened in just 2 days before church. Walter told us that the very night that we gave him a blessing his friends that usually are the cause of the drinking problem asked him to go out and have a beer. He told them no, that he had made a promise with God that he wasn´t going to do that anymore. His friends started to make fun of him. The most amazing thing that he told us was that to him this didn´t matter. He said it didn´t matter to him what his friends think but what God thinks. The spirit was strong related this story to us and we can see it has really given him confidence in himself.

The next day after work, Walter couldn´t take the cravings to smoke anymore. He went to the store and bought a cigarette, because he was suffering. He told us that the instant he lit the cigarette something came over him. He felt all bad inside and his throat started to burn. Almost immediately after he lit the cigarette he had thrown it in the street. This brings to mind that faith is a principle of power. He has shown an incredible amount of faith this week, by reading, accepting a blessing, and having the determination to give up these vices that have torn his family apart for years. His wife is in shock that he is still going without doing either of these things. This has strengthened my testimony about the power of the preisthood. This when combined with faith and sincerity, makes a real physical change in the lives of people. Walter physically felt the blessings of this priesthood and said that this has really made an impact on him.

This gospel is something real as I have said. The priesthood of God, his power, has been restored to the earth, and I´ve seen that. I´ve been thinking a lot about the power of the priesthood and the responsiblity we have to respect and magnify that priesthood. It´s a steep responsibility but a privilege that brings incredible changes into the lives of the person who has that priesthood and the lives of those around him.

I miss you all and will be looking forward to letting you know what happens with changes. I love you!

-Ben

Hey family,
Well first off, I am extremely jealous of Mom and Dad and hope that they are enjoying themselves. I would love to go to Europe one day, maybe when I´m married for 25 years I can do it too. With respect to public prayers it is so crazy here in Guatemala. The people end their songs with their guitars and their drums and immediately begin to pray screaming in the microphone so that everyone with 2 or 3 blocks can here the prayer. It is interesting how basic that is in the teachings of Chirst and it just isn´t accepted. Also there are a couple Catholic churches that I have seen in Antigua that are cool and I´m sure there are more that I haven´t seen.

Anyways this week was very very good. This area has so much potential and we have been able to see many results of our hard work in this week. We have been working with a lot of families that we haven´t been very sure about due to different differences. 2 of them came to church. We were ecstatic and they said that they want to come back to church. It was insane basically herding (I am in no way dehumanizing these people, but just to give you an idea) 12 people to classes and whatnot. The families have a few problems, one of them being that they aren´t married, but they have good intentions and have felt and seen differences in their homes from our lessons so I feel as if they will progress.

We also are teaching a family that wasn´t able to come to church that I am very excited about. It´s the Vasquez Family and the dad´s name is Alejandro who I am most excited about. He understands and agrees with our message and asked to borrow the Restoration (the 20 minute one) to put it onto his computer. He has expressed to us the discrimination and the things that he has seen that are wrong with his church and pastor and that everything we told him is what he had been waiting for. We had a spirit filled lesson where we were able to testify that this is the true gospel and that this is the gospel that has changed our lives, the gospel that Christ taught when he was on the earth. He has expressed to us that he recognizes the change that he will have to make if he starts on this path and says he wants to do it, but he wants to take it a little slow right now. He told us that there is no way this message couldn´t be true. I feel as if all this potencial in our area will be realized right after I leave haha.

It is so gratifying to be able to see the results of hard work. We need to be careful though and not rush people to baptism, because there have been many areas in my zone that have done that for awhile now and their retention is horrible. That is my biggest fear, that I will help someone arrive at baptism and make one of the best decisions of their life and then due to a flismy testimony, they fall away. Obviously they have their agency, but what we need to avoid is pressuring or scaring people to baptism, something that is possible at times because of the culture here in Guatemala.

I love missionary work. It´s hard sometimes, but it is so fun when we are working hard and are able to see the results of that work. This gospel is true, that´s why I´m here right?

Love,
-Ben

Hello my family,
I just wanted to start off saying that it was so good to talk you and almost the hardest thing I´ve ever done hanging up. But, when I get back, I´ll live in a world of cellular phones and family phone plans, so not to worry. It was really good to hear from everyone and I hope I didn´t disappoint you with my end of the call. Not that this is a performance or anything, but if you did have to judge that 40 minutes how would you rate it?

Anyway to answer Mom´s questions Elder Patterson has 15 months (or around there) and yes Elder Morgan is in my zone so we see each pretty frequently. It´s weird though because he is with a gringo companion and it feels as if he is conforming his personality to his companion or something and so we don´t get along like we used to... strange. Also I just wanted to comment that all my sisters (and brother) are gorgeous. Thank you for all the pictures. I didn´t have time to send any pictures today but I should be sending a CD off soon.

Anyways aside from talking with my family this week was alright. We have been working very hard but have run into a lot of disappointments. We feel as if we are running into a wall. We have found and are finding a lot of families but all of them progress to the Book of Mormon and say they want to know if it is true, but will not read it unless we read it with them. They always say they will read and pray but they don´t. We are praying that someone will take that initiative to know for themselves. I was thinking about this and I read a quote by Boyd K. Packer (I think) that said you cannot a force or pressure the spirit. You can set up an environment where the Spirit can testify, and they need to do their part from there. So, I´ve been learning a lot of patience knowing that we´ll see some progress here soon.

I already told my family this but this week we also did a contacting activity where we all went and shined shoes for free. I can now say that I have a lot of respect for those little insistent children who run around actually ASKING to shine shoes. I don´t know what demon has posessed them to ask for that work. Just kidding (to a certain extent) it was a fun activity and pretty effective. It is fun to mix things up and get your hands dirty (quite literally). I apologize for making that terrible pun. Anyways we were able to talk to a lot of people and I hope in this week we can go talk to them.

I just want to write thank you guys (my family) for all your support. It means so much to me and is such a boost getting letters, emails and packages, when I really need them. I know that there is reason we are in our family together, and I´m happy to say that my best friends mostly consist of my family members. I love you guys and while I miss you a lot, I know this time is and will be worth it. When I get back we´re definitely going to take a cute family picture or something like that to capture our cute little faces together. I´ll talk to you next week!

Love,
-Ben

So happy to be a missionary!

Hello Pearson Family,
I don´t have a whole lot of time, but I would just like to say that I am very excited to talk to you guys on Sunday and I´m going to try to talk less so we can have more questions back and forth. Let´s make it a good call. The next one, it´ll be Christmas, how nuts is that?

Anyway, as I wrote in the subject, my companion is by far my favorite that I have had yet. We can always joke around, but we work very hard, and have the same intentions which makes things so much easier. We don´t have very many people progressing amazingly right now, but we have a few potentials that just need to take initiative to know and they will be ready.

We had our Zone Conference this week and that is always really good. I have a friend in my district that is has become one of my best friends here. His name is Elder Patterson and is a hard worker but has my same sense of humor so we get along really well. It´s good to be able to talk to him, because there is really a lack of drive or motivation in our district. It just feels kind of blah, but what makes me happy is that it´s not like that in my companionship. Anyways apart from being able to talk and hang out with Elder Patterson, the conference is always a good booster. We were able to watch a devotional by Elder Holland that he gave in the MTC in January that was very powerful. Did he work with words in his career before? Because he is just a wordsmith. Anyway, he talked about the importance of giving ourselves to this work, of really seeing these investigators as people, seeing them as people and thinking about how this message and help them in their specific situation and then apply that message to them.

He also talked about how we have come on our mission, but that doesn´t mean that we just go home and have done our part. He gave the example of Peter, when after the death of Jesus he didn´t know what to do, so he told the disciples, ¨Let´s go fish.¨ After they had been fishing they saw the Savior now resurrected (? it looks different in spanish) Peter jumped out of the boat and swam to the shore to greet Jesus. When he got there, the Savior asked him ¨Peter, do you love me?¨ He responded yes. Jesus asked him again if he loved him, he said yes. Jesus then told him ¨Then feed my sheep.¨ Elder Holland related this to how we need to give up our ¨old life of fishing¨ and never leave this truth that we are teaching. He said we need to convert ourselves so thoroughly that we will be able to convert others here in our mission, and after stay converted for the rest of our lives.

While he did that much more eloquently than I did, it was a very good talk that really made me think. I´m grateful for living prophets and apostles of God who direct this church. I can´t imagine how people have comfort in the fact that just the Bible is the word of God (something I here everyday) because I for one would be completely lost with just the text of the Bible. God loves us enough to give us people to guide us in everything we do if we are willing to listen. This is another testimony to me of how true this is.

Anyways, I´m loving life, working hard, and trying to make you proud. Congrats Brad and Anne on graduating!

-Ben

Hey everybody,

First off Mom, Elder Sarita comes from a family that is half active. His mom is very active and a temple worker, but both of his sisters have fallen away from the church and one of them is a single mother with a child. His dad died 6 months before he came on his mission. It was actually pretty sad because he was the one to find his Dad when he died. Anyway it´s easy to see that his mom was always a good example and a big reason that he came back into the church.

Okay this week was very good. I recieved the letters from the Stanburys , and Timothy, no there is not a dictator in Guatemala, but it is very corrupt. Solid question though, we always have to look out for the dictators in the world... I´ll keep my eye out for you alright? Also I have gotten to know Elder Sarita al lot better. He is a very driven Elder who really worries about making sure he is doing what is right. It really is so nice not to have to worry about obedience or getting along with your companion and being able to focus on working. It really makes such a difference. The first few days were a little weird because he is opinionated about some things and would just do things without consulting me at all haha, but we´ve talked a lot about talking about things and we´re both really happy working together.

We were able to find 3 families this week which we are very excited about and we will see if it goes anywhere with them. I was so happy to see that of the 3 people who we went to visit less active members in the Relief Society this Sunday (other than the presidency) 2 of them were Alba Lopez and Blanca Olivares. This actually is really sad because everyone was invited to go, and in general here in Guatemala, very very few people visit other members, whether it be for visiting or home teaching or just to support people. It made me happy and sad to see that the 2 recent converts were being an example to the rest of the members in the ward. We have a strong ward here, but I think I´ve forgotten what I really strong ward is like.

Also this week we´ve been working with the Alba´s daughter Evelyn. She has become very interested in the church after seeing the change that the baptism has made in her mom. We have taught her a couple times and she herself has changed a lot in only a week. She is someone that is very bitter about somethings and very negative, but we have seen almost none of that side of her in this week and reminds me that those who are willing to change, can. She has so many questions including, ¨when can I get baptized?¨ so I think she will be getting baptized the 15^th of May. She really hasn´t had any big doubts about the church but her hardest thing will be keeping the commitments and keeping some of the commandments. She said she´ll prepare for that date though so we are very happy with that.

I just want to write real quick about how gratfying this work can be. I´ve never seen people change so fast, as I have here in my mission. Those who are seeking truth can find it, and it can change them if they let it. I have a very strong testimony of that which grows everytime I have an experience with a new investigator. I love this gospel. Especially for my easter letter I want to write that I´m very grateful for Jesus Christ and what he has done for me. I love you all and everything is going great!

-Ben

Catch Up on letters!

Hello my dear parents, brothers and sisters,

First off I just want to let you know that Elder Cruz left and that I´m here in Linda Vista still with my new companion Elder Sarita from the Dominican Republic. He´s a good guy, and contrary to what the other missionaries thought, I did not become financial secretary. Take that other missionaries.

To answer your questions, yes the 9 year old GIRL was baptized and is doing well. Also Alba is the only member in her church and she was referral from some of the members that live on her street. She is extremely happy and said she has never felt so good before. It was so good to hear her say that she told her old pastor that she is now in the true church. With people like her sometimes we worry that they don´t understand certain things, but this shows that she has a strong testimony of what she is now a part of. Our ward mission leader is almost inactive himself. When he asks us who were going to work with to activate we are almost tempted to say ¨you¨, but we have decided that this wouldn´t help his activity in the church, what do you guys think? Yes the members help us when they can, but people are ALWAYS working here so it can be hard. I really respect the people that have callings here and serve faithfully because it would be really difficult. Our bishop works until 8 o clock every night Mon-Sat and still serves as a faithful bishop. Of course it makes somethings difficult but he does it as well as he can.

Anyway so I´m here in the area with Elder Sarita and I think we are going to have a really good 1 or 2 changes together. He has a really cool story of how he was inactive in the church for years, but then after a night of just thinking about where his life was at, he prayed to God to see what it was that he wanted him to do. He said he felt something very powerful that brought him to tears. 2 days later, the bishop and one of his counselors happened to pass by. They invited him to church and he said no. After he thought that this might be an answer to his prayers and showed up at church that Sunday. He explains that after that day he hasn´t missed a day of church.

Due to the experiences he has had he has a strong testimony and is willing to work. He only has 3 months time in his mission, but is doing well. He is a lot more confident than Elder Cruz so it will be an adjustment because he likes to talk a LOT more than my old companion, but we can work on that… haha. He is someone who likes to do things very well, but is very thoughtful, so sometimes he moves and thinks very slow. This will be good for me because sometimes I rush to get things done. I´m very excited to work with him in this change and I think we´ll have success.

As for the work, we are back to finding, which we will be doing a lot of in this week. I love you guys and hope all is well.

-Ben

Last two wonderful letters

Wow that's a lot of Pizza!

Ben and Elder Cruz

Ben, Alba and Elder Cruz

Hey family,

Mom´s questions... Yes there are tall Guatemalan people but it is very rare. It´s about the equivalent of seeing a good looking do without rabies here, so you can know that it almost never happens. Yes I am a giant which means that I´m incredibly good looking to the girls here, once they see that you are tall and white the rest doesn´t matter. It´s been a good self confidence booster for me. One of the children in the picture was the daughter of Blanca Olivares´s son (doesn´t come from Marcos), and the other is their daughter Carla which they had together. He had a rough past, but the important thing is that they are now all together right? And yes Carla was already baptized. My companion has been in the area for 6 months and I think we´ll stay together, or I hope. Changes (as they are called in spanish so for that I apologize) are this Wednesday.

Okay so that is that. This was a great week of course because as a missionary, conference is like summer vacation. I didin´t mean that we don´t work but that we are as excited for conference as an 8 year old kid is for christmas. It´s a big deal. I just want to write about a few thoughts that I had during conference and what I liked. First off, Elder Bednar´s talk about revelation confirmed exactly what I had concluded in the weeks before as I had a lot of questions about the spirit, and if the occurences of strong impressions are rare. He confirmed everything for me and made my testimony grow about how these talks are extremely personal at times. Also I loved the story from Elder Christopherson (quickly becoming one of my favorite speakers) about the gardner and how it related to trials in our life. I liked when he said ¨Thank you for loving me enough, to cut me down.¨ Sometimes we have such limited perspective in things, and this always helps me to remember to think past what´s going on when things are rough. Finally, as Mom wrote about, I loved the talk about to be and to do, and how he talked about what we do is only a symptom of who we are. His comparison of to do and to be is so applicable for missionaries as there are some in both extremes and many good missionaries with the right balance who are the best missionaries. It was a good reminder of how we need both always.

Anyway it is always a great boost to hear the conference talks in your mission and it always makes me think of how lucky we are to have living prophets and apostles that literally guide us through divine inspiration. How many people can claim that?

After conference we had the baptism of Alba, which really reminded me of the situation of Josie Hoalcraft. She´s a widow and is alone. We have seen a complete change in her attitude and how she carries herself with everything that we have taught her and with her baptism yesterday. She always talks about how happy the church makes her. She has really sad stories about how a pastor took advantage of her by ripping her off to buy pieces of land that she owned, knowing that what he was doing was completely wrong and that she had very limited knowledge of the situation. It makes us happy to see the complete change in her, and how happy she is right now. She is such a nice lady and loves the fact that she will be able to see her husband again after this life.

Anyway, I have to go, I love you all and hope all is well. I will let you know what happens with changes obviously but I hope Elder Cruz stays.

-Ben

Ben, Elder Cruz, and the Olivares family after Brother Olivares' baptism

Marcos Olivares....so happy after his baptism!

March 28

Hey family!

Sorry to the brothers and sisters that I didn´t have any time to write to you guys this week, this computer has something to send pictures and I thought you would like to see some pictures from the baptism instead. But, I will write you guys another week mkay? Brad and Michelle did you ever receive my SD card and letters? I will be so sad if that got lost in the mail. Also Brad, I really do feel super fortunate to able to be serving with a people that is so trusting in God. I really have respect for those who serve in a country where people have trouble believing in him. We don´t have to deal with that struggle we just have to deal with the fight of helping them to know what it is that God really has revealed and what it is that he really wants for them. I would imagine it is at least 23% harder when they don´t even believe in God.

Also Brad, I don´t why, but I was thinking this morning about how that one time at Chic-Fil-A (I´ve forgotten how to spell that sorry) we had on Michelle´s Glee CD blasting in front of the 20 year old girl that was serving us our food. I then started to think about how shocked she must have been to see two 20 or so year old boys listening to that music. I laughed, and then I got excited that today was email.

Anyways, I don´t think Mom had any questions, and if you did Mom I´m sorry but I have to get going. So yesterday we had the baptism of Marcos and we were able to complete the family, something that is amazing. He showed up smiling and joking around as usual 10 minutes before the baptism and everything went according to plan. So I don´t have to type it all again I´m going to copy and paste what I wrote in my weekly letter to President Baldwin. He has started to ask for reports on baptismal services so this is what I wrote, ¨I was extremely content with how the baptismal service went. We were able to call the assigned speakers, members of the bishopric, etc. a week or so before the baptismal service and to our relief they all showed up very well prepared. We went around the whole week committing members to go, but yet again we were disappointed with the attendance of members. Any advice on how we could get members to support us more in our baptismal services? Anyways, we were not able to have the first part in the chapel as you have counseled because they were cleaning it. We were able to however start on time and have everything run very smoothly making it one of the most powerful services I have been to. I give the credit to the members who told us they would do what we assigned them and then followed through. I had the honor to baptize him and there was a powerful spirit present after the baptism as I saw the impact that this saving ordinance had on him. I asked him as we were changing afterwards what he felt and he told me (as he was very choked up) that he was felt good and didn´t have words to describe what he was feeling. We asked him to give his testimony at the end, but with tears in his eyes he told us that he wanted to but he couldn´t find the words to say his testimony at that moment. This simple statement had the same impact on those who were present as anything else that could have been said. We had the Bishop say a few words and were able to end an extremely powerful service.¨

In other words, something in Marcos changed after he came out of the water. He was very thoughtful and overcome by something for the rest of the baptismal service, something very unusual for someone who likes to joke around and laugh a lot. He really felt the power of what had just happened. My district leader Elder Mckell told me that it was one of the best baptismal services that he had been to yet in his mission, and I agree, it was a really great service. It also helped that his wife was able to bear testimony before the baptism of the truthfulness of the church and the ordinance that he was about to take place. I hope that we can work very closely with them in the next weeks to make sure that they can be on a sure path to always be progressing in this gospel.

Anyways this weekend we have two more baptisms, one with Hermana Alba who has come to church all by herself for the last month which is impressive considering she is probably about 65 years old and has to walk, and one with a 9 year old who is part of a less active family that is now not so less active because their son just got back from their mission. I´m also extremely excited for conference.

I´m getting sad that this change is going to end. It is very probably that Elder Cruz is going to leave and that I´ll get a new companion. I´ve really enjoyed my time here and working this hard is extremely gratifying. Having these experiences just reminds me that this work may not be easy, but it is worth it. What we have is true, and that truth changes lives, what else matters? I love this Gospel and am so happy to be here sharing it. But I have to go, I love you guys!

-Ben