6-27-11

This week flew by, I dont know where the time goes, by there are now only two weeks left in this transfer, even though I feel like I just got here last week, but I have been here a month already! Things are going pretty good, I am healthy and we are working hard, we were hoping to have 4 baptisms on sunday, but one of the families that we were teaching decided at the last minute to back out and they want to wait a few more weeks before they get baptized, which is normal, lots of people feel like they need lots of time to prepare, or they get nervous or scared, thats just natural, but we told them not to worry and that we will be patient with them and so now they are set to get baptized on the 10 of july! Although that was kinda hard too see those 3 back out of getting baptized, we were still able to baptize Benito,( its a different one) The two baptisms that we have had here in zicatela, have both been named Benito! Which is pretty funny! But Benito is about 38 years old, he is an amazing person, and has made so many great changes in his life! His wife and children were recently baptized about 3 months ago, but he initially didnt want anything to do with the church, but once me and my companion started teaching him, he realized that he needed to make some changes, he now is so spiritual, and has such a strong testimony of this gospel, we didn't even ask him to bare his testimony at the baptismal service, but he just stood up and starting sharing his testimony! It was a great baptismal service, and lots of the branch members attended so I think that helped him feel accepted! He has really been a great example for me, and it just amazes me how quickly he was able to change once he received his testimony of the church! As missionaries we invite people to pray and ask god if the things that we teach are true, And he did just that, and he received his answer! It really makes being a missionary easy, when what your teaching is true! I will try and send some pictures that we took before the baptism!

So other than the baptism nothing really that exciting has happened, last Monday, it was raining really hard, and I guess there was a hurricane warning, but it never hit us! I guess that's a good thing, but I am not really sure of the details, we don't really know whats going on in the world haha, They told us the day after that there was a hurricane warning, but it must not have been too serious! We have had to walk a ton this week, because our area is pretty big and we have to take lots of taxis and buses, but we both ran out of money so we have been doing alot of walking, and alot of fasting because we dont have money to eat! So I think I lost some more weight this week, lost of the members told me on sunday that I looked smaller, but who knows! Life of a poor missionary haha! But I guess this week will be the same, because we dont get money until like saturday, or maybe until the next monday! I wonder how much more weight I will lose haha!

Oh and guess what! I know its against the law and a federal offense ( or something like that) But here people dont really care about that kinda stuff, ( its just the culture) and they eat sea turtle eggs, and on Tuesday, a family made them for us to eat, it was really weird, they look like ping pong balls, but they taste pretty good, I guess you dont use them to make like a fried egg, or scrambled, but you just eat them boiled, and but even after you boil them, they dont get hard like chicken eggs do, so you just like peel part of the shell off, and you suck out the inside, it was weird at first but I got use to it! They gave us like 10 eggs, but we only ate like 3 each! Then they also gave of giant grilled ants! I took some pictures, I will send them!

Nothing else really exciting happened this week, just the disappointment of the family not getting baptized, their names are Adrian, he is the dad, and his two daughters, Vivi, and Yasmin, one is 19 and the other is 14, The problem was that we haven't taught their mom, because she is never home, so she really didnt know anything about us, so when they told their mom that they were getting baptized she freaked out and said no, and that they need to wait and learn more first, but oh well, we will just need to teach the mom, so that she understands as well, and then maybe we will be able to baptize all 4 of them on the 10th of July! Then We are hoping to have another baptism this sunday, but its not 100% sure, its a lady names Rogelia, she is a really great woman, she is about 48 years old! We will see if she will be ready by this sunday!

Well that was pretty much my week! I hope that you are doing great and that you have a great week this week!

Con amor,

Elder Stradling