Buenas Días Familia,
Wow, this week went by super fast, but was filled with a whole lot of great stuff. I really feel like I learned a whole lot too. Sounds like a lot happened up there in Utah also. Marathon being ran, Birthdays, and vacations. All sounds super sweet. I do have a couple things to say.
1. CONGRATS GEN AND KRICK ON THE MARATHON!!!! wow that is so stinking amazing. I am thoroughly impressed. 4 hours and 59 min. Crazy!
2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND JOFF!!!! I can´t believe how old you are joff. 35! Crazy. Hope the parties were a blast.
3. Dad, I have been wondering where you all would go for the famous 4th of July trip. Swimming in the St. George house sounds like the best and just super chill.
4. KC, I really have been praying that the bar went well. Best of luck!
I think that is all the big things. I really hope for everyone it went well all your weeks. I suppose that Hilz is still working like crazy and it sounds like Malia is doing good in the new house.
For me here in EL SAL everything has been super super great. This week like always went a little crazy, but I feel like I am getting better at being organized. At the beginning of this last week I started to read Preach my Gospel (which is like the guide for missionaries) and I was reading about goals and I really started to think about my life before the mission. Then I realized something that kind of hurt. I realized that I really feel that I never had any REAL goals before the mission. Sure I wanted to go to college or when I wanted to graduate, but those were things that I just had to do. I realized this week that I need to put goals for myself. Like I feel like the mission was the first real goal I had, but I still haven't been to good at putting goals and fulfilling them.
So me and my comp started to talk about goals and what we really wanted to do for this last week of July, but more so what we want to do for August. We talked about all the great investigators we had and in the end we prayed and we feel like we can baptize 10 people this month and we want to work a lot harder to reach this goal. We even put goal of what we can do on a weekly basis better to try and reach this goal.
We got talking and all of the sudden we starting making an analogy of our investigators. How they are like a sports team. We have our starters (those who are the most positive 10) then the bench-warmers (those who aren't super positive, but have potential), the Hall of Famers( the Recent Converts) and the Injury Reserved (The Inactives). It was actually a lot of fun and we figured out a way to keep track of how we are doing with our goals through this. I sent a picture of our white board that we did and the ¨Depth Chart¨we made.
So we got out to work and really put it all in this week. We went to this area that is 40 minutes away in bus with a member who lives out there. He gave us 5 references of families out there and we got to talk to them all. It went super well and we found some great people.
I think I have told you all about this family we have been teaching for about 2 months now. The dads name is Oscar and he is a great guy. He listens to us and is really nice, but can't go to church cause he always works. The mom's name is Iris and she is like such a nice lady. We have made pupusas, tortillas and these things called pastelitos with her and she loves The Book of Mormon, but has a problem praying. She also went to the temple. Then they have a daughter who is also named Iris. She is so positive and reads and has prayed and knows its true. She even went to church once. About 3 weeks ago something happened and I don't know why, but they just stopped progressing. They wouldn't read or pray or anything. This week we decided we would give them one last chance or we would leave them. We went and talked with the daughter and really prayed to find the words of what we should do. We asked her if she would get baptized the 31st of July and she thought.... then said she really knows these things are true. We found out that she was scared of being separated from her family, cause they are all Catholic, but that she knows these things are true and if the parents gave permission that she would do it. We talked to the dad and he was actually super happy to hear she wanted to do this and said yes. This Sunday she got baptized. It was probably one of the best baptisms I have been too. The whole ward pretty much came.
We worked super hard this week in hope that week could complete our goal to bring 10 investigators to church. We did all we could and really tried to get everyone to come. We woke up early Sunday and called everyone and then we went to everyone's houses and tried to help them come. In the end we got to church and only 3 of our investigators were there. I ended up giving a talk and while I was giving a talk a couple we have been teaching came in and I was so happy to see them. Then after 2 other really powerful investigators walked in. We ended up having 7 investigators come to church. It isn't ten, but I am super grateful for 7. That is a lot.
Last night we worked super hard to visit all of these people. We ended up getting to all of them and teaching them great lessons. 4 of the people who went to church we put baptismal dates for the 7 of august and 2 others we put goals that they will pray about the 13th of august. Last night I laid in my bed super amazed at all that got done this week, just because I figured out how to work with goals.
It has been a tiring week, but totally worth it. I think everyone feels the same. It is like Gen and Kristin. You both had the goal to run the marathon. You worked little by little to get there and in the end you achieved it. Heroes right there. I hope I can really learn this here in my mission.
Thank you all for everything and I hope this week goes great for you all too. Love you all and talk to you next week.
Elder Gillette
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