Hey everybody!
So this week was crazy insane in the membrane, so i will start from the top, but before that...
Happy Graduation to Emily, Nick, and all the rest of the class of 2011!
Well on Tuesday we went to go chop some firewood for a women we had contacted while knocking the week before. We are so used to doing service, that we have found we have more success teaching if we offer service before even bringing up the church or religion. They of course know who we are, but they gain a different idea of us after we have helped them. This contact, I remember, was really cool because we talked to her for a solid 5 minutes before religon was even mentioned. After that first 5 minutes, she finally told us "I have been thinking about looking for a church to go to". Pure mercy from the Lord i tell you... Although it seemed like Christmas for us, we didnt want to scare her off. People in this tiny town tend to not like us whn we talk about church and the gospel. So all we told her is that we would like to talk to her and her family some time next week, but that we would come by and chop some firewood for her tuesday. We came, hacked away, and werent left with a lot of time so we set an appointment for the following day, Wednesday. A member came with us that has a chainsaw to help, so that was fun to use.
Wednesday came, and when we arrived to her house, out came this women that looked a lot like her. It was her sister, and she asked us if we could cut some firewood for her as well. Of course we said yes. We finished with hers pretty quickly, and were about to ask if we could share something with them, when out came another women, this time the sister in law of the two other women, who of course asked if we could cut some firewood. It was a lot of firewood for each family, and my hands were already a blistered mess. We agreeded with a willing heart and began chopping once again. By the very end of her large pile of wood, the mixed blood and water from my blisters had begun to drip down from the handle of the axe to the ground. It was pretty knarly.
Turns out, on this one piece of land, lives 5 families, all related. We call them, our tribe. We finally taught them on Thursday and put 10 baptismal dates between a few of the children over 8 years old and their mothers. We have not yet had the chance to talk with their husbands, because they work long days during the week, and are mostly drunk on the weekends. It wouldnt be the first time a drunk changed his life through the gospel, but 5 at one time...that might be a first. Im hopeful for that to happen.
Friday we taught them again. In order for them to progress towards baptism, they have to go to church. So we focused on getting themto go. They told us they would be able to this week because they were going to go out to the other property they have, 7 or 8 kilometers away to get more firewood (what is it with the firewood, seriously!?). We offered to help, on the condition that we went early Saturday morning so they could go to church. they agreed, so we were up at 5 Saturday morning and were off with the Brother in the branch who owns our house, who has a big dulee, construction bed pick up. We swung by and picked a fwew of them up, and of we went to the middle of nowhere, literally. It was 5 kilometers down the main raod outside of twon, and another 3 or 4 kilos down this tiny, extremely rocky road. I felt like we were on a jungle exersion, because every 400 meters or so, we had to jump out and hack away a fallen tree with machetes and axes. Luckily we had a member come that brought his chainsaw too. The truck also got suck like 3 times. But finally we arrived, and began gathering firewood. I didnt bring my camera, but i wish i would have, cause it was pretty cool out there. We completely load the back of the members truck up with wood, which was mountain load. we took it back and unloaded it for them, and in total it took lik 5 hours.
We went with them Saturday in the late afternoon to verify they were going to church. We figured it wouldnt be a problem now, but to our horror they said they had an "event" that they had been planning for a while. Its a yucatan tradition i guess, where they take all the young girls and spread their legs apart farther than what is natural, so they can bare children more easily. These Mayans are one crazy people. So none of them went. But we did have one man go, who his married to a inactive. He works every Sunday, but we taught him about faith this past week, and he said he wanted to come and would try, and he made it! That was poretty cool.
So i was pretty bummed that that family didnt go, but they will of course have many more opportunities. In total, including the husnands and the people we havent takled to yet, there is 15 or more that live there. We will see how everything goes this week.
We got a call Wednesday night about a conference that will take place in Cancun the 25th of this month. A 70 is coming to speak to all the recient converts, inactives, and investigators. He also promised our mission president that whatever investigator goes, will get baptized. Needless to say, we have been inviting everyone. We already have about 15 or more people agreed to go, not including this family we found. Now all we have to figure out is transportation... More on that as it develops.
Friday morning, I witnessed my first tropical storm. It was pretty awesome. It wasnt quite a hurricane, but close. We were tracting when it hit, and i didnt have my rain coat, so we headed back to the house. But within 1 minutes I was soaked as if I had jumped into a pool. people were looking at us from inside there house as if we were crazy. There is a picture taken from inside our house of us on our patio.
We have a baptism set for Saturday that looks really solid. Her name is Andrea and she is the sister of another recient convert. She has two little kids, and a husband who is not yet ready to listen, but we are getting close!
Well thats all I have time for this week. Im praying for some more miracles this week. Hope everyone has a great week, and remember, there are no problems, only opportunities.
Love, Elder Kitterman
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