Monday, June 29, 2015

Beloved Mother & Father

Spencer Tuft (back to the right) on the boat taking them to the island off San Lorenzo. 
Hi Mom,

I'm doing great this week and not much has happened on this end. We've had a lot of visits and a lot of knocking on doors but it's really slow. Sometimes I just stop and look at my companion and smile because it's really hard. But then God opens a door and we step through it. This past week, we were sick on Tuesday but it was just a flu-ish thing that went away quickly. Now we are better. 

This week was hard for one of our investigators because we started him reading the Book of Mormon and he's read a lot. But then his girlfriend called him up and is a little bit jealous and wants to get back with him again and he doesn't want to... so there's been some drama there and we haven't taught him because he's not been there when we have appointments. But we have a visit with him today and we'll see where that goes.

We went contacting in an area that Elder Cruz has already contacted before but we just started taking turns and were kind of exploring as we contacted. Every door was another person not interested and we had only taught one lesson up until that moment in the day. We just kept going and we finally found a door that let us in. There were two young adults there that attended us. One told us his name was Enrique and that he was already baptized in our church. The other is now our investigator and his name is Franklin. Enrique and Franklin were really upset about a new Bible (BoM) and so we started to explain using the bible and 2 Ne 29 and that cleared up all their doubts and were going to come to church but didn't come. We'll call them today to find out why. 

We've also been teaching Ana. She came to church yesterday and asked us after church, "What do I need to do to be baptized?" then her sister, who's older and has a baby and a "boyfriend/partner" and she asked us, "Can you baptize my baby?" I just smiled huge and said, "Your baby is sooo precious that she doesn't need to be baptized. We'll explain why later..." But the older sister is named Elizabeth and their mom is named Suyapa. We taught all the Plan of Salvation in five lessons with them but now they all want to be baptized because they know it's the true church based on just the Plan of Salvation. We'll have to keep teaching them and Suyapa needs to go to church but they're progressing now.

We also received a reference from other missionaries that is basically a baptism next month. He called us and said, "Hey, the missionaries in the other ward taught me all the lessons and I prayed and God told me this is the true church, can I be baptized on the 18th?" So he has a date for his baptism and he's progressing as well. He asked us as well, "When you guys leave, who will visit me?" So I'm hoping that this ward gets their act together and does their visits. They never do home teaching here. 

So those are the most positive investigators right now. We do have more but not any progressing. This week we need to look for more so we can be baptizing every week.

Many member Hondurans this week asked me, "So... your country is allowing gay marriage now, huh???" I was sooooo upset about that. That should be a decision of the state and not made by nine people.

That's awesome for Nate, Andy and Zac. Tell them all hi for me and congradulate them for me. The missions up north in Honduras are a lot different from what I hear from people who have lived there. Andy has a part in his mission that has black people that speak a form a English but it's very different at the same time. But it's more industrious up north. Everyone that lives there is a little more wealthy or a lot more poor, from what I've understood.

Love you Mom!
====================
Hello Dad,

I hope you can read about the investigator status that I sent Mom cause I won't write that again ;)

I'm a little bit stressed all the time for the welfare of the zone but like it says in God's Army, "I can't convert you, Elder." And that's the same for every missionary in the mission. Me and my companion have talked about problems in the zone and a lot of missionaries say they are working but don't have hardly any lessons in a day. There are so many reasons to throw in the towel or just keep banging your head on the same brick wall. So we have a saying that comes from Elder Cruz's dad, "Don't drown yourself in a glass of water." So thanks for the little sayings at the end of your letter. They make a great addition.

Our novel approaches are teaching the members the lessons again to get rid of apostasy and we teach them humility in all things. We are really hitting it off with a training meeting we do every Saturday that we started two weeks ago to help get references from members. We are opening the mouth in every opportunity possible and asking for references from non-members too. We do a lot of contacting every day with the Book of Mormon. We want to fill San Lorenzo with so many BoMs that the people have to read it because it's driving their curiosity insane! :D Just a few things we're doing...

I didn't wish Lindsay or Megan a Happy Birthday last week because I ran out of time but I did think of them as I logged off and all through-out the week. So Happy Birthday to them, if you can tell them for me :D

We will be going to the temple soon, as well, but we don't know when. This will be the second time.

As you might notice, I've taken out more money in this change from my bank account. That's because of missionaries being sick and traveling and wanting to eat WELL and not just garbage. We don't over-do but we do like to enjoy a good meal twice a week that costs a little more. I'll just have to adjust to ZL conditions.

I didn't tell you but Elder De Jesus has been the AP for the past six months and now he'll be done next week when this change ends. 

Love you Dad! Don't burn up in the heat of Utah ;D
Elder Tuft

PS I logged on to my missionary account and the page was translated into Spanish and my name showed up as Elder Copete which means, Elder "Tuft of Hair". So I'm Elder Copete now :D 

Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal (SMILE) 2 Ne 9:39

No comments:

Post a Comment