Dear Family and Friends,
This was a pretty eventful week! But like always, I don’t know where to start or what to say because my mind just cramps up when I sit down in front of the computer. And, I don’t have a lot of time because today is technically a work day so I want to get done as soon as possible.
Houston, Houston, We Don’t Have any Problems
“Troy” Sorenson
Sergio, Maria, Baptismal Date Goal for April 13th!
Tuesday we taught a lesson to Sergio and Maria with a member from our branch who I am always afraid to take on visits with us because he talks and talks and talks. We brought him though and had a good lesson and afterwards, this member and Sergio got to talking and the member offered to come and take down a tree in his backyard for free. This really surprised me, because this member, Hermano Ramirez has been out of work for a long time, but he was still willing to do it for free. So we decided we would come by to help him on Wednesday.
Friday we taught Maria and Sergio again. we had a good discussion where we were able to review the restoration. They accepted the date for April 13th for baptism. This family is so sweet! Believe it or not, it is the FIRST family that I have taught on my mission where the whole family just gathers round to listen. Even the kids. I don’t know if that’s due to Hispanic culture or what, but I have gone teaching parts of families my whole mission. Never entire ones. At first, I thought Maria especially was super interested. She seemed to understand. Sergio is really cool and always listens but he was always kinda quiet and he always wore his bud light hat haha. But at the end of our lesson he really opened up and said that he stopped drinking as much to be a better husband and stuff. It was sweet. Then, he started asking what we thought about saints and the virgin Mary and things like that. Which to me is a good sign because it means he is taking it seriously and wants to know what kind of a commitment he is getting into. So we cleared all of that up. They have been raised Catholic and have some saints around the house, but they seemed to be satisfied by our answers.
Friday night, we got a mini-missionary! It was a youth from the ward I served in when I was in Channelview! His name is Irvin. He has some mental issues, but he is a great kid. He also has some crazy mood swings. So it was a pretty interesting weekend. We went Saturday morning with hermano Ramirez to Maria and Sergios. they made us an awesome breakfast (it’s another really good sign when investigators feed you) and then we got to work. We took that tree down! Hermano Ramirez really knows what he’s doing! He climbed the tree with a chainsaw and was going to town on that thing! After we finished, they barbecued a ton of meat. Elder Jones and I both ate 15 tacos. yeah.
We had a really good time with them and they are really starting to trust us and like us a lot! Maria was asking lots of questions as we worked, and she said that she had been dreaming about Joseph Smith. Man I really love that family. They weren’t able to come to church this week, because they had family come into town from Houston, but I told the branch in my talk about them. Hope that they will be able to come to church next week and progress.
Delfino
Tuesday night we had dinner with the Garcia’s like we always do and we went out to teach for the night with President Garcia. We taught a man named Delfino who is married to an active member. He is a really nice guy who loves his kids. He is “catholic” but many members have told us that the reason he isn’t a member yet is because he smokes a lot. Our lesson was a little rocky and didn’t go as planned but we were able to set a date for him to be baptized, on the 13th of April. We will work to make sure it keeps.
Doing District Leader Stuff
Wednesday I went on exchanges with another elder in our district, Elder Newell. Man, the elders in my district sure are different. Elder Newell is pretty crazy! haha I don’t think he stopped talking our whole exchange. he told joke after joke after joke and taught me deep doctrine from the bible all exchange long! I seriously think he kept me up laying in bed awake until midnight just telling jokes. It was pretty interesting… haha but that night I got to do my first baptismal interview! It was for one of Elder Cope’s investigators, a little kid. It was a good experience to get to do one finally!
Zepeda Family
On sunday after church, we dropped off Irvin. Then after working for a bit we went to Hampshire where we had dinner with the Zepeda family. Hermano Zepeda’s amazing bbq-ed fajita and chicken. It is unreal. It’s probably going to be the last time I have that.
I’m 95% sure this will be my last week in Beaumont. There are a lot of changes going on in the mission next week. We are getting a net total of 50 something missionaries coming in the next 2 months, so there are lots of areas opening up and switches being made. Plus, I’ve been here for forever. So, I’m countin on being gone. It’s really sad. I love the people here so much. But if you are going to send me anything send it to the mission office
2015 West Lake Houston Parkway
Suite #109
Kingwood, TX 77339
and they will get it to me wherever I am.
Things are going good here. I am loving being a missionary. Elder Jones and I are getting along great. Love y’all!
Elder Viitanen
