2.16.15

NICE!!! Loved the email...I couldn't stop laughing at the conversations Gavin and Dad had. I'm going to save the talk so that I can listen to it before I go home because I want to remember all this stuff.

Alright, so what's been happening here has helped me realize that my work after the mission will not be stopping at all. I'm super excited to be able to apply things I've learned with some of my family members. So, I'm pretty sure I've talked about the Espinoza family. Nestor is 25 years old, married to Sara (23) and they have two kids, Emilia (4) (the one in that pictures of the girl crying) and Vicente (2) (adorable baby boy who I've sent pictures of). So they've been progressing super well. We've been working with this Progressing Members form that has a list of goals to help people become active and endure to the end (temple attendance being the last goal). We set specific goals with them to help them receive a calling (for Sara), magnify their callings, work more in missionary work, and get to the temple. Their goal was to go to the temple before April. Last Friday they went. Sara is the new Young Women's president, and they bore their testimonies on the temple. When I first got here they were less active members and now they are just glowing with happiness. After you mentioned Jared and Dayna I definitely think I can help them with temple attendance. I want to go at least once every two weeks. If I'm in Utah it should be super easy to do. In AZ too now.

We've also used this goals’ sheet with a woman named Noelia. She too has changed completely, and this Sunday she received her first calling (Primary secretary). She's been a member for 4 years but after her baptism she never really knew where to go. Our recent convert, Daniel, received the Aaronic Priesthood and will be passing the sacrament next week. Kevin was baptized by his older brother Brahian. Kevin's elbow came up out of the water so he had to do it again. The second time, Brahian held him under for a long time and it made everyone laugh. They're always fighting but it was awesome when they bore their testimonies and thanked each other for being there for one another. The Biques family has been progressing super well also. Their two boys (also named Brahian and Kevin) started asking us about what they need to do to serve missions and made a promise that they'd serve. Things have been going so well in the ward. I'm pretty sure that I'll be changed next week...it's weird. At the beginning of my mission all I wanted to do was baptize people. Now, baptism only makes me excited because afterwards I get to help them progress to going to the temple! My Patriarchal Blessing says that I will see many go to the temple and make covenants with Heavenly Father that will bring potential for exaltation into their lives. They will bless my name for the things that I am able to accomplish for them. I can't believe how true that is and how happy it makes me helping these people progress further in their path to eternal life.

We also did service in Bonilla (the place 12 kilometers from our house). We cut a woman's forest for her...I'll send pictures. We asked a kid named Anthony to help us out. Well, we called his mom and she asked him if he wanted to go to the service and he was like, ''NI LOCO!!!'' (NO) and she was like, ''He said he would love to Elders!'' She forced him to go with us and then that Sunday the bishop needed someone to talk in church and Anthony spoke about service and how grateful he was for his mom for making him go do that service. He loved it and he loved seeing how happy the woman was after we had chopped down her forest with weird creatures in it. We also did divisions that day (when we did service) so E' Crockett came with me and got to do the huge bike ride, 3 hours of cutting forest, and getting burnt. My companion went to their ward activity in Valle Eden and got to eat churizo, drink juice, play games and have fun... E' Crockett still loved the experience! We started off pulling trees out with our hands but then Hno Perez came and chopped it all down!