Dear Family and Friends,
I get so stressed every time it’s time to email because there is so much to say and such little time! It’s impossible! Well, I guess that I’ll make an effort…
Jessica and Isabel Delgado
Beto and Yaneth
Beto and Yaneth are STILL waiting for their stinking birth certificates. This is getting really frustrating. it’s been like seriously a month and a half and we are waiting for these dumb papers to get here from El Salvador. It really shouldn’t take this long. There has to be something wrong. They are ready to get married and baptized but we are just waiting for those danged papers! Does anyone know of any investigating we could possibly do on that? This is an emergency!
Juan Padilla and Armando Maldonado
I told y’all a little bit about Juan Padilla and Armando Maldonado last week. Well, we met Juan Padilla all the way out in Lumberton, TX a long time ago. He told us to come back later on in the future because his brother in law would be moving in with him and he is an active member of the church! We don’t go out into Lumberton much, but the English elders in Lumberton gave us a referral last week so we went up there. The referral ended up being a fake but we went and tried Juan and met his brother! He had moved here from Mexico and was looking for the church and we happened to come by!
They have come to church the past two weeks. Hno Maldonado’s wife and kids will be coming up here soon too and will be a sweet addition to the branch!
Juan and his daughters have been coming to church and taking the lessons and they love it! There is only one problem… Juan’s wife (Hno Maldonado’s sister) doesn’t want anything to do with us. She won’t ever say hi or listen to us when we come by. She doesn’t want her husband and kids to listen to us and go to church. We had a lesson with him yesterday and he said that she does her Catholic prayers every day but she doesn’t even go to church. So she hasn’t been very supportive but he knows that this is something that he wants to go forward with and he said he would be baptized if he found that this was true! So we are going to pray and fast and hope that his wife’s heart softens so that she will come along with them.
Talking with him yesterday made me so sad! He has nothing at all to his name, and he showed up with this jacket and jeans they were all torn up and he looked so cold. He is just one of the most humble men I have ever met. I wish y’all could see. It really broke my heart. I don’t know how to explain it.
Israel Guerrero
We met a man named Israel Guerrero a couple of weeks ago during Hour of Power. On Monday, we had our first lesson with him and he accepted a date for baptism! November 24th! A couple days ago, we went back and talked about the Book of Mormon. He said that he would read it every night and he would find out if this was true or not. He understands so well! He is really taking it seriously! It’s awesome!
Claudia Vega
Claudia Vega was really busy this week but she wasn’t able to go to church.
A Lot Happening
Right now we have a lot of baptismal dates so that is always something to be stoked about! And the cool part is that they all seem like they are really putting forth a real effort to find out the truth! Well, this area is doing good! This will be elder Hatch and my last week together and he is sad that he won’t be sticking around for these other baptisms in the future (including Beto and Yaneth’s) but he has really done well in this area! We are going to try to go out with a bang!
Love you guys! It’s been super hot here all of October until just this last week. Now it’s freezing with the humidity and wind, especially since we are so close to the sea! But it reminds me of the fall back home. I think it’s my favorite time of year! Enjoy the snow y’all! I miss it a lot!
Happy Halloween!
Love,
Elder Viitanen