Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Welcome to Castledale and new area!

 
Hola Padres! y los demas!   16 April 2012
     Espero que todos tuvieron una buena semana. (I hope you all had a good week.) Well our week was a little tougher, but it is just one of those weeks that you learn from and move on. We had a lot of trouble finding new people to teach and to have people actually keep their appointments. Throughout the week we had about 10 people cancel their appointments, so we just battled through all of that and just went to work. We definitely worked pretty hard, but the results weren’t really evident. But that is part of everything we do; we work hard and hope that we find "those that will receive us".
As you already know, I did have dinner with the Snow Family (Steve Wilstead's sister and brother-in-law). Yes, Mom it is the same one that picked me up when I was walking in the middle of no where about 8 months ago. I didn’t know it was the same people, because Snow is a pretty common name around here, but it was a strange coincidence. It was a pretty good dinner and the world really is a small place.
This week I also was able to go up to Price on exchanges. It was pretty weird to be passing by all these places that I used to go and visit people. It was also pretty weird to be teaching in all Spanish again, and to have a companion that knew how to speak Spanish. The missionary I went with, Elder Bennion, is actually from Vancouver, Washington. There is a surprisingly high amount of missionaries here from the Northwest. (I guess, it is kind of like all the missionaries in the Kennewick Mission are from the great state of Utah.) We had some pretty good lessons and were able to visit a lot of potentials with him.
The pictures are of Elder Leguizamón (my son) (in mission terms, when you train a brand new missionary, he is your "son" -- Chad trained Elder Leguizamon) and I drinking an Argentine drink called "mate". It is kind of like an herbal tea thing. It looks a lot like crushed up green hay, but it tastes really good and is really healthy. The benefits of being companions with two Argentines and I know more about that culture.
The weather was back and forth the whole time. I saw temperatures in the 60s and then in the 30s. I saw everything from wind, rain, hail, and even SNOW! I still continue to be amazed by the diversity of the weather here. I really do think it is worse up here. Everyone here always says, "if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change." I am really starting to believe that is true.
This week we had a baptism, but we really didn’t do anything for it. Last Sunday at our missionary coordination meeting, we were told about this kid that was getting baptized on Saturday and that he was going to be a convert baptism. It was a fiasco and things were not easy for us and there was so much miscommunication between the ward and us. I won’t get into too much detail, because I am still a little frustrated with it, but the important thing is that he was able to enter into the sacred covenant of baptism.   This week has been a test of diligence and I can see the blessings that the Lord has prepared for us on the horizon, we just have to follow through with the work here and we will see those blessings.
NEWS FROM HOME:  (We explained that the weather has finally allowed us to work in the yard and clean things up from winter.) It is good that there is some yard work getting done. I assume that I will be doing a lot of that when I get home, won’t I Mom? (YES!) Well it is pretty funny to think that Bryson won’t even go outside because of the wasps, when before you couldn’t even keep that kid inside! (He is a very active 5 year old!) I did get a good laugh out of hearing about Wendy Scrimsher's talk. (Gave examples of Wendy’s talk and how she pointed out that her husband is annoying!)   I always loved that lady for her boldness and she does just tell it how it is. (I also apologized that we don’t have a lot of money and we all have had to work so hard for anything we have or get.) Mom, the lap of luxury really isn’t all it is cracked up to be. I know that every parent wants more for their children, but growing up I didn’t always understand the financial things. But now, I appreciate the learning experiences that I was able to have growing up. I know that I will be better off for the times that we have had to scrimp and save. I know some kids here in the mission and before that, that were given everything they needed and now they don’t know the meaning of the word sacrifice, or they just run out of money by the second week of the month. So it was a blessing in disguise! Well thank you for the support and the emails! Have a great week! I love you all!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!  de la viña del Señor!  
ELDER D
p.s. I love you!

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