Una Semana Mas antes del cambio

Dear Family,

This past week went fairly well. I can´t remember what happened exactly at the moment, but I´m sure that it went well. My companions always make fun of my terrible memory. I don´t know why, but my memory works differently than everyone else. I can´t remember faces or names, but I can remember where they are located. After teaching someone two times and if I find them in another location outside of their home or the church, I won´t recognize them. I´ll know that I´ve seen them before, but where, or when, or who they are, I have no clue whatsoever. I have to sit there and piece together the clues while my companion greets them to see what he says. For that reason, I´m so glad that I have a companion with me at all times. But I always say that there is something good about my poor memory, I can relive the same adventure twice and not be bored of it.

I´m glad that the surgery went well Dad and am sorry that you won´t be able to go fly for a while. That is probably a big bummer. And I´m glad the rest of the family is well. Friday, my companion put me for a scare. At three in the morning he turned the lights on. The first thing that went through my mind, “The alarm wasn´t set right? Did I sleep in past 6:30? Am I being disobedient?” But then he asked me for a blessing. He had been up for an hour throwing up and having diarrhea, at the same time. So, I gave him the blessing and gave him some crema de bismuto (I forget how to say that in English, the pink liquid). And we went back to bed. Then in the morning he spent most of the time in the bathroom. We woke up Hma. Lydia Aquino, our member neighbor, to go buy some medicine. The strangest thing was that he was throwing up a black/dark brown color. I had never seen that before. But, then we realized what the problem was. It smelled of chocolate. A lot of times, the Elders here, on Thursday night do what is called “Oreo night.” He ate a package of Oreos (11 I think) with milk and that ruined his stomach. Maybe he had a problem with something he ate a lunch too, I don´t know. It seems like the majority of the time, the day after we eat with the member we eat with on Thursdays, one of us gets sick. After 24 hours of cleaning out his digestive system, he was better. But we lost the majority of the working day. He says that he might not touch Oreos again in his life. I´ve always told the other Elders that it is unwise to eat a full package of Oreos at once, but they often think I´m a “health freak” for saying it. I find my body fairly fragile, so I try to take care of it the best I can with what I eat.

You asked about when I´ll be transferred? It will be next Monday. So, I have this last week here in Jardines. It has been really short and I feel like I haven´t done nearly anything here, but I have seen great growth here. My greatest joy I believe has come from the experience of the Salazar family. The Bishop when I got here asked that we bring men into the church. We weren´t able to do that so much. But the Lord had other plans in mind. We helped bring back several men. Also, the entire Paulino family came this past week. The father has come back and accepted an assignment with the young men. I think he still has some word of wisdom problems, so he can´t have a calling, but his help could be used.

I´ll miss this ward, but especially the bishop. It was like we were in this together—he being called as a new bishop and us getting here in a white wash. He would always help encourage us and was very open to our ideas. Actually, I felt that he confided in us as counsellors at times because he only had one who has his own difficulties. And now Bishop Fleytas recently fathered a new son. It has been good to be apart of these joyous occasions.

I believe that this next Sunday, we have decided to have the baptism of Lucas. He is a 9 yr. old kid who lives next door to some members that are helping us a lot. I believe he has a bit of ADHD and his mom wants him to go to church and be baptized to help him mature better. He really likes going to church. The week after I leave, I hope I´ll here of the baptism of Manuel Pastrana and Hernán. Manuel is the husband of a member and he recently stopped drinking, so he is more receptive of the Spirit and is going to church now. Hernán is a 17 year old kid that has some of the adolescent problems but we see that he really wants to make good changes in his life. He wants to have a true repentance and be baptized. The only problem is that his Mom is against it and Hernán doesn´t allow us to go to his house to meet her. So, we sent him with a video to show her that explains a bit about what we do and believe. I hope that will soften her heart.

Oh, and about the package, I think I might want a bit more Prego sauce. I think of all the things I´ve been without in my mission, I miss that most. The European style sauces here are good, but not the same. I usually add a little bit of chilli pepper to give it a little more zest.

Thank you for all of your prayers and help that you are giving me. I know that this work is not a work of man, but the work of God. He had His plan and it is perfect. We just need to accept Him, be humble, have faith in Christ and His atonement, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. It really is that easy, but we are tried with every problem God can give us so that we can learn to apply it perfectly.

With love,
Elder Drake Ranquist