Dear Family and Friends,
Janet Chinchilla
Well, Janet is set to get baptized on Saturday at 5 pm! I’m really excited for her. I wish you guys could see the change in her. It’s seriously unbelievable. She gave her testimony at church last Sunday and it was unreal! The stake president was there and he came up and congratulated us. I wish I could take the credit. When people read the Book of Mormon sincerely, that’s the x factor right there! It has converting power!
Janet is going to send her daughter Yasmin to Honduras on the 15th and then she will try and gather up the money to follow her soon afterwards. I’m really sad 🙁 but she knows where the church is in her town and she has already sent missionaries to go talk to her husband!
Polo Martinez
Polo is doing well. He hasn’t come to church because he is sick sometimes with his diabetes and his daughter is getting ready to have a baby. I think she’s been in labor for a while. So he’s been really worried for her but he said he would come to the baptism on Saturday. It really excited him. He still wants to be baptized on the 25th.
Rick
Rick is still sweet! He is cutting back on his smoking drastically! He wants to get baptized so badly! As soon as he can put off the cigarettes, he will be good to go! He was at rock bottom when we found him. And now he is so happy all the time! When he reads the Book of Mormon, he rewrites every verse in his own words to better understand it. How great is that? The quote of the week came from one of his prayers. He said, “thank you for sending the Elders to me. They are the only friends I have. It’s been a really good day all day long. The first one in a good while. It’s like magic.” Elder Erickson and I both had huge smiles on after that one!
P-Day on Tuesday
This week, our preparation day was moved to Tuesday because, since we have reached our mid-year baptismal goal, we are having a mission wide p-day. Louisiana and Beaumont had theirs yesterday, and now it’s our turn. We are going to Atascacita, TX and playing soccer and President is going to barbecue for us! I’m excited!
So we worked yesterday. It was weird working on a Monday, but it was a great day! We saw Rick, he asked us for a blessing to overcome smoking. He asked me to do it. I remember distinctly blessing him so that every time he picked up a cigarette, he would feel disgusted. And that he would be able to throw it away. He said he will do everything he can to over come this! He wants to get baptized so bad! But has to get rid of this addiction first! It makes me so mad that there are people that are living in luxury by ruining the lives of people like Rick.
More investigators
Also, we stopped to buy some pumpkin seeds from one of the many Mexican bike carts that ride around all day, and some other ladies came up and bought some snow cones from the guy riding the cart around. Then, they turned to us and said, “when can y’all come over?” Turns out the just moved here from the south mission area and the missionaries there said they would give us their address but they never did. The last time they met with missionaries and went to church was 2 weeks ago and they found us! They want to get baptized! It’s pretty crazy! It’s a miracle! I couldn’t believe it.
So, we are looking to have a lot of success here and we have a lot of potential. I’m excited about this area! I’m sad because this is probably Elder Erickson and my last week together. He has been my favorite companion so far. Our transfer together has flown by so fast. But we will see what happens. We worked hard and we played hard and that’s all that matters!
One last funny story. There is this old, larger lady that has been been taught by missionaries for years and has never done anything. So yesterday, we went by and told her that unless she came to church, we wouldn’t come by anymore. It really is just a waste of time. So I gave her our number in case she ever needed us to get a hold of a member for a ride. Jokingly, I told her that if she ever came to church, I would eat my shoe. Her eyes lit up and she got really excited. She told us what time church was and asked us to find her a ride. So, next week y’all might have a picture of me with a shoe in my mouth. You do what you can right? 😉
Well, I love you guys! Keep on praying for us!
Elder Viitanen
P.S. people are talking about a hurricane in the gulf? does anyone know anything about that?
There is a hurrican in the gulf, called Ernesto. THere was a chance
that it would turn north, but right now it is going to cross the
Yucatan, so I don’t think you are going to get it.
Dad
Good luck to your investigators! I pray for you and every missionaries every day for finding people who are ready to listen you. You are doing good work, Carlos.I pray for your investigators ,that they start to follow the Christ-
I pray that you are OK, that you don’t get sick.I hope,that you drink water,a lot, and sleep enough, and eat healthy.
Take care. I love you. Mummi
You will get a letter soon.