5/24/10

Hey everyone!

So this week went well for the most part. We had a number of baptisms in the district this week so we were really busy the whole week with interviews and such. Last month we did not baptize much at all as a district and this month we baptized 20 as a district so it was a big difference! I am way proud of all of the missionaries because they did a whole lot this month :) I think next week we will have a fun activity if the mission president does not let us go to the temple. We have a goal of 37 baptisms in a month to be able to go to the temple, and it looks like we will end with 30. Our district had 20 of the 30 and we are only a third of the zone!) We are going to try and convince the mission president to let us go anyways because this zone has never gotten above 27 in about 2 years. But we will see how it goes :) It all depends how we finish this week.

We baptized Sayra Acosta on Saturday and it went really well. She asked that I baptize her and so that was cool too. Her mom is a little more interested than before, but she has had a hard life and has a lot of problems. She was baptized 20 years ago but is not active at all. Sayra was super happy at her baptism and to be honest we did not expect many members to come, but then like 25 of them did! :)

Marisol is the 25 year old single mother who is preparing to get baptized this week on Saturday if all goes well. Her daughter Lorelly will also get baptised with her. She is SUPER smart and understands everything so well! She has a ton of potential to grow in the church and will be a future leader. :)

I had been struggling a lot with my companion these past few weeks and this week I had a great spiritual experience that changed me a lot. I decided that if I was really going to help him out I need to be positive and an example. I had gotten lost in being bothered by the things he would do and say and I criticized him. I decided to stop judging him and criticizing him and just LOVE him and to be able to focus on only the good and to serve him. Things changed so much and I felt so much better and we have become much better friends in such short of time. I realize I too make tons of errors and mistakes as well and if I expect others to see the best in me I need to do the same with them. My comp, Elder Rojas, then shared a number of personal things about him that helped me understand his struggles more and my role in helping him. It has helped the both of us to be able to progress so much more!

In two weeks my comp goes home... so we will see how all of that goes with all the farewell talk. I am happy to be here and I am loving the mission!

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson