September 18, 2012

I got the package [from the Fullers] and am working on the letter part. We got someone with a baptismal date on saturday and then another who won't commit to a date but said he was going to make it to the temple before he dies.  He is almost 80 and in really poor health.  We had a carne asada for the Mexican independence day but no investigators, even the two who live across the street, came.  They haven't even gotten one to church in like 4 months.  We had a really cool experience blessing a premature baby and his father who are from Tijuana and had to take an ambulance across the border to get him to the Ronald McDonald children's hospital here.  He was baptized in 1999 and then went on a mission within a year but has been inactive for a long time, he is starting to come to church again though.  We always offer that kind of help [clearing plates/ helping with the dishes] but they either never accept it or we never have time because we are only supposed to be there for an hour.  Not that we get fed very often anyway though.
My branch has problems.  There are a few good people, but with rare exception nobody does anything but complain.  We aren't supposed to take over the jobs of auxiliary leaders, but we are forced to help just because we need to get more than 25 people to church a week.  It has been extremely difficult but we are starting to see success.  We got one with a date on Saturday, now we need to see if he can keep it.  We are starting to get some referrals as the members grow in their trust in us, but still not much is happening.  It is also hard because most of the people we teach work 2-3 jobs and are never home.  On the rare occasions they are home, they are tired enough that it's hard to convince them to listen to us.  Also, nobody comes to church because they all work on Sundays.  It's not a case of they work on Sundays to have a nicer car or anything like that either.  They have to work 14 hour days 7 days a week to survive.  A large number of the people we teach only rent a room or have 10-15 people living in a tiny apartment or house.  We are starting to see more success, but it is very difficult to get them to keep commitments.  Also, my companion's family got sealed on Saturday and some relatives flew all the way out from Australia to see it.  The mission president told him on Wednesday that they were doing it in San Diego instead of Salt Lake and gave us permission to go to the ceremony and for him to be a witness.  (It was his mom with his stepdad, he was born under the covenant but then his parents were divorced and remarried, in case you're wondering why he had to get permission and why he was a witness).  It was a really cool experience though.