He Two Decades Old!!!

I can't believe my brother's actually 20. By that time, my mom was married!!! Crazy. He's too young for that, haha.

23 Jun 2009

Dear Family,

This has been a great week here in Castillo. We have been able to amp up our work efforts a bit more and have seen even more of God´s miracles. First and foremost, we had the baptism of Marcos Lobos and Victoria Acosta. I will start working now on sending the photos. It was a pleasure working with them. Marcos Lobos was already active, he just needed permission from his parents and “listo” he was able to enter into the waters of baptism. His Uncle, Hmo. Sanchez, baptized him. Victoria at first didn´t want to get baptized, but after working with her a few weeks, she finally accepted (we found her the day after E´Rivas arrived here in Castillo). The Patriarch, Hmo. Hilario Guzmán, baptized her. I´ll admit that I do like to be the one who does the baptism, but I will always work to try to help another in the ward to do it.

We had to have the two baptisms separate, so that the parents of Marcos could come, which really cut on our working time (especially because we had zone conference as well), but this week went really well. We were able to do all of our contacts and we were blessed to find more investigators. And we have two more miraculous investigators. They have nearly the exact same story as Lionel and Viviana. Alberto and his son Maxi walked into the church Saturday afternoon as we were giving the classes of English and Piano, just as Viviana and Lionel. E´Lloyd and E´Brooks taught them and found out that they live in our area (I hope we can help them find such miracles too). Maxi was invited by a girl (that he likes a bit, but she doesn´t quite like him in the same way. She says that she doesn´t know what brought her to invite him. She is a member in Castillo 2.) to come to church and that sparked interest in his father as well, who had been with the missionaries 20 years ago, read the Book of Mormon, and knows that it is true, but never got baptized. So, the two came to church on Sunday and loved it. We went by their house that day and he asked, “What do I have to do and when can I be baptized?” He and his son accepted a baptismal date for July 11th. At the beginning of each transfer, we have to set a baptismal goal and pray about it. The past two transfers I wanted to put one number, but I felt a different number. We reached those goals exactly. This transfer, I felt the goal of 4 baptisms this transfer. We´ve had two baptisms and not many prospects to fulfil the goal. I´ve been wondering “Who will the other two be?” I think we´ve found them. But, I´m not going to let my guard down. We will work the hardest we can to prepare them well for the covenant they have decided to make. I know that there is another force working his hardest as well.

I still can´t believe that I´m almost 20. Oh, I´ve realized that I want to have my birthday every 10 years in a different country. A different continent if possible. I was born in Germany (Europe). 10th birthday in China (Asia). And now my 20th in Argentina (South America). And yes I received the package, but I haven´t yet opened it. But, I´ve run out of time again. I hope you all have a good week. The next time I come to you, I will no longer be the teenage Drake.

Love,
Elder Drake Ranquist







Oh and I need to make a correction from the family update. My dad has NOT had surgery, it's just a possibility that he really doesn't want to think about. I think I heard them talking about it and assumed that he was. I'll keep you updated...maybe, haha.