Sent on March 21, 2011

 

Ola Familia!

 

Wow what a week its been for me.  It started out really rough.  Things were just hard.  But I had a nice talk with the mission President and I know that he is called of God.  He said and knew things about me that no one else knows or could know besides God that really grew my testimony of revelation.  But the week ended on a high note.  We had a baptism yesterday!  And it was great!  It was a very spiritual experience.  It was funny after the baptism Sis. Jones the one baptised found out that I was going to Brasil and was like oh my gosh i'm so glad that you hadn't left before teaching me.  I guess there was a reason I needed to be here.  But all yesterday pretty much every member I saw was like you're still here?  When are you going to Brasil?  After they always say we're glad that you are here still.  But man I realize i'm here enough without everyone else reminding me.  Oh well.  Good news about Visa.  An Elder that filled out his online application 1 week before my companion and left a week ago!  And your email just confirms that good things are happening with it...so i'll most likely leave with the next batch of visa waiters!  So exciting.

 

Well the weather has been really bad here as well.  Its rained so much lately.  And we had a huge storm with hail, rain, wind and lighting the other day.  I heard that we've had over 6 inches of rain so far this month!  And we had over 7 inches last month.  Thats like how much rain we get in a year back home!  Oh well. 

 

The running didn't go too well this week for a couple of reasons. We played basketball last P-Day and i rolled my ankle so I wasn't well enough to run until Thursday and it was raining from Thursday on so we didn't go.  Hopefully this week will be better.

 

I'm starting to get used to the Lao ward.  I'm going to miss a couple of families quite a bit when I leave.  It is crazy how kind they have been to us.  I really wish that I could communicate better with them.  But they are still really nice.  I always feel bad though because a lot of them don't have too much money and they want us to eat with them.  Then they are always saying eat more...eat more and i just eat more so that they don't get offended.  And when we leave then send us home with food.  It really ruins my diet when I have meals with Lao families.  But i've really come to love them because of their kindness.  It is really really amazing how much charity they have.  We actually have a Lao investigator!  Its a 9 year old that hasn't been baptised. His family is active so its almost cheating but its still an investigator.  We are teaching a Lao recent convert English now as well. 

 

This week we will be looking for more investigators. Our current investigators aren't very good.  They aren't progessing or keeping commitments.  But hopefully that will change this week.  We have zone conference this Friday that should be good.  It usually is. 

We went to JcPenny's last week and found 5 dollor ties!  They were on super discount and they were nice.  That is the best type of shopping. 

 

I love you all. I hope all is well,

 

Elder Parsons