November 18, 2013
Dear Family,
This week was really slow. First off, we got
two calls last Sunday. One from Alonso's mom saying he couldn't meet with us
for two weeks, and the other from Maria and Miguel saying they were going to be
in Mexico for two weeks. So with our teaching pool drastically reduced, we went
ahead and tried to find some new investigators. No dice. We had an experience
with a kid whose dad wanted us to teach him. He's into gangs and had his jaw
broken by a baseball bat at one point. His dad was understandably worried about
his future. But when we showed up, it turned out that his dad was basically
trying to force him into talking to us. He didn't want anything to do with it.
It just goes to show you that agency is a huge part of the plan of salvation.
In other news, we found a weed farm in Chapman Town - little house surrounded on
all sides by nopales (cactus), fences with plywood nailed to them to make them
higher, and to top it all off, barbed wire on the tops. The smell was
overpowering. I don't know how they manage to do business if a couple of
missionaries can spot their hideout, but whatever. I guess the police force
here is too busy investigating krispy kream sales to bother themselves with
drug pushers. We saw a meth house too. It had a gang symbol spray painted by
the door. You know when you're in drug territory when you see tennis shoes
strung up on electric wires too. Lots of secret signs, etc.
Exactly like the robbers of Gadianton. That's
why I really like the story in the BoM where it talks about the Lamanites
preaching the gospel among the robbers in their part of the land - and that the
entire group of robbers was disbanded as a result. Pretty cool.
We had a great lesson with Manuel. He's been
so prepared, it's incredible. He actually understands what we leave with him to
read in between lessons, and constantly says that what we teach makes a lot of
sense to him. He told us that he knows he needs to be baptized into the
"restored church" which was great first of all because he has that
conviction and second of all because I've never actually heard an investigator
use those words before. He just understands. So we feel blessed to be teaching
him.
Thanks a ton for writing. I love hearing about
how everyone back home is doing and how your weeks are. Time is still racing
by. I can hardly believe it's been another week already. I want to make the
most of every day I get.
Love you,
Jake
