Wow! Today starts the 4th quarter in my mission, especially because exactly 6 months from now will be my very last P-Day... But that is no excuse to stop now, I have been in and seen way too many basketball games where the other team has came back from down late in the game and won it, so even though I may be up by 20 points right now, I just gotta keep on working and pushing until I make it to the finish line. And as much as I love being a missionary, I will admit, I DO NOT want this game to go to overtime haha, I think a nice, satisfying 20 point blowing "win" to my mission and then coming home to see all of you guys again would be perfect. So good thing there has been no major "injuries" in this game and my coaches (President Mann, President Stutzneggar, and you guys back home) have done an amazing job supporting me, helping me, and cheering me on so far. Plus, all of my teammates (companions and mission buddies) have always been awesome and have been there to have my back too. So even though there have been some ups and downs this game, I´ve definitely had some good runs too where I´ve been on fire, and now I just got to finish the job in the 4th quarter.
So the work was awesome this week!! We were a little sad when the other team him a big 3 pointer and when Brenda, Edith, and Cesar told us that "they just wanted to teach us, not to baptize them" which was a little sad to hear but at least they knew why we were here as missionaries and were grateful for our help we brought to them. Even though that was a little disappointing though, we still had a ton of other success putting baptismal dates with Lazaro, and Abraham who we found earlier this week. They are both super excited to get baptized and are such humble old men so hopefully we can keep helping them progress. And we were SO EXCITED when we FINALLY got another appointment with Tiffany!! It was super hard these last couple of weeks because they were gone on vacations and cancelled on us about 4 times but we finally got our groove back with them and they said they will for sure be coming to church with us this next week! If you don´t remember Tiffany is our investigator who we found from Houston Texas, who only speaks English. We talked a little more to her husband this time too, Enrique, who actually has quite an interesting story. He was fully on his way to go on a mission and come back and play football for BYU when some problems came up in his life and he moved to Houston. That is where he met Tiffany being her waiter at Olive Garden and then he was having some visa problems so he came back to live here with his parents and brought Tiffany and his 2 little girls with him. They seriously are such a cool family and even though Tiffany is super smart and knows a lot about religion and the bible and has a lot of tough questions for us, she seems to be progressing, they always love having us over, and I am just so happy when I am with them. I truly love them. And it is weird but right now my biggest desire is that she gets baptized and that they get sealed in the temple in one year from now. It makes ALL the difference I think when you truly LOVE your investigators and the people you serve, and DESIRE their salvation more than anything else. And it is crazy how much you find yourself praying for these people and thinking about what you can do to help these people better as you study, or are just walking in the street. And I feel like God has definitely blessed me with revelation, as they counselled a lot in the general conference, for each one of my investigators when I truly love and care for them. Also, it has been hard lately trying to get Ramiro´s number, but I finally got it today, and will call him tonight, and from what it sounds like, he is still going strong in the church and is on his way to get sealed in the temple with his wife next month!!! Seriously coming into the mission one of the things I most wanted was to see one of my converts get sealed to his family in the temple and I think I will get AT LEAST 1 with Ramiro next month! I have been so blessed with so much success and joy in the fruits of my labors on my mission. So even though the other team hit a big 3 pointer at the beginning of the week with Brenda and Edith, we came back with a big run that gave us some cushion going into the 4th quarter.
And now for some of the fun highlights of my week. Today we got to go visit Esteban at his house who made us carne asada and we made some homemade sherbet afterwards!! Man does that guy know how to cook, I am so grateful for him and he always tells me that I am his favorite because I am the only missionary who continually goes back to visit him haha. I mean I guess I am just trying to take advantage of some really good food. But I really do love him a ton too, and I always call him my "Tio Mexicano". We also found a really good taco place in our area this week and Elder Moody still hasn´t gotten sick so I guess that means either I have done a pretty good job taking care of him, or he has a REALLY good immune system haha. No cold, no stomach flu, not even diarrhea I don´t think, which is pretty impressive. Although I don´t normally ask him everyday if he has diarrhea, that might be a little weird. We also had interviews with President Mann and Sister Mann this week which were such a great blessing as always and got to see Coco again for a zone activity!! This time with investigators and members and we talked a little bit more about how we can relate it to Family History Work. I love that movie so much. And on divisions, Elder Diuguid and I helped fill up water balloons at a church primary water day which was really funny. I love little kids a ton, and even though it took us a good 30 minutes to fill all 200 of them up, they were gone in about 38.6 seconds haha... I guess that is how all water balloon fights are though. And for some reason that thought it was SUPER HILARIOUS to get the missionaries all wet who were only filling the balloons up!! Hmmm.. okay, okay, maybe we were egging it on a little too though and threw a couple ourselves. Good thing too because it has sure been BLAZING HOT and sunny this week! And finally shout out to the very best mom and family in the world who put together the most AWESOME Easter package for me!! Love you guys so much! I can´t believe it is only a month away to make my last skype call home! Ahhh!!! Well anyways, love and miss you guys a ton, thanks for everything, especially your emails, prayers, and letters, and I look forward to hearing from you next week!!!
Tu Hijo, Hermano, Sobrino, Nieto, Primo, o Amigo Favorito,
Elder T-Claaarrrkkkk!
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