Just Another Day in the 'Hood...

this is rosy´s baptism, her sister is in black, kariely
good afternoon family and friends. well congratulations to joseph for arriving to mexico safely and early! it will be fun to compare the differences from the north and south of mexico, because there are big differences. well sad to say that the zone didnt complete its goal, but after praying so hard to have it completed, i was comforted by the spirit as i was confirmed that we wouldnt complete it, and it made everything much more bearable. especially to know that it wasnt the lords will that we completed the zone goal this time. it was a struggle, and i feel we gave all that we could to complete it, but the lord had different plans so we had to change ours to be in line with his.
during the challenge to give a baptismal interview to another area, on our way back, we were on the same street, and 20 feet away from a drive by(got out of the car and shot then got back in) shooting.... we didnt even see the car pass, then they got out and killed a policeman because he didnt obey them, and tried to run, but we dropped to the ground as fast as we could, and got between the bank of the curb and the cars to get out of the way. nothing else happened, but it was an adrenaline rush. the cool thing is that just as i was talking about the spirit comforting me about the goal, it was right after that the spirit kept us calm during that drastic situation and guided us to what we should do. i can honestly say that i felt guided and protected by the lord in a dangerous situation. that is the first time i have been in that type of situation, and everything went smoothly for us. the good thing is that the drug traffickers that do the killing, arent just looking for whichever person to kill, but only their enemies. thats why the lord says love one another, always!!
sadly jared didnt get baptized, but we did have a miracle baptism. we were planning to baptize rosy this weekend, but as i was praying one night about her, i had the thought that she was ready, and didnt need to wait any longer. she had a testimony, and knew the doctrine, so why wait? we talked about it in our companionship, then in our next appointment, challenged her to be baptized that friday, and she doubted a little then accepted and knew that was right. so cool! she passed her interview easily, and was almost asking if we could do it even earlier. haha. she was an investigator that elder miller and i found, and she is great, smart, diligent, and has studdied. there are few people like that here in the south that want to listen to the gospel. her sister is a member for 4 years, and gave her the good example. everything went great in her baptism, later i will send her pictures.
zl council went really good, we talked about upcoming events, such as zone conference, the next zl council and that elder ballard and elder jensen(presidency of the seventy) will be coming to visit our mission on september 10!!!!! wow, super exciting. that will be such a cool experience, just like the last two that we have had(elder johnson, area president, and president rasband). we also talked about the problem the missionaries are having about being unfocused and it is a result of not having a good relationship with heavenly father and therefore lacking spirituality. the 6 parts of spirituality are prayer, scripture study, ponder, fast, service, and love which embraces everything. it was a very good talk, and i will send the email on spirituality to mom.
well everything is going good for elder sarduy and me this last week. we are slowly getting to be better friends, and more united. he is still struggling to get up th hills, but he is trying hard. now that he realizes that i will be leaving this next change, he is trying to learn how to do everything before i go, because he will probably also be training a new zl next change. but all is well in zion(acapulco) well more like zarahemla. jaja love you all, and thanks for your support, and prayers. by the way, if clarissa rees reads this, i sent a letter to you today, so im sorry it will take 2 months, but it will get there. i got your letter yesterday. ps: happy birthday manuel, betsy, and john! i know i cant get it right on the day, so thats the best i can do. love you all!!!
elder brigham facer