Miracle Baptisms On the Way

its kinda nice being here in altamirano, because no other missionaries
or anyone really is calling to bother you or have you go with them to
do something, etc. and we can just have the full day to ourselves.
today the other missionaries from the zone arent coming in, until
wednesday, so we wont have our district meeting tonight. that is an
interesting thing about this area, is that this is the only part of
the mission where president will allow that the district meeting is
not held every monday night, because it is so far, and because it is a
lot of money. it is just another hot day in la tierra caliente!
elder white and i have had another good week. our goals and numbers
were a lot better than we hoped for, and we still needed to do so much
more! we ended up with 19 new investigators and were hoping for about
10 more, and sadly we only had 6 in church this week, because the huge
family from last week didnt go, and a few others we were hoping for.
now, the best news of all, is that we had a sweet baptism this weekend
for sheila(its pronounced shayla) not like steve irwin would say it, i
have accidently slipped with her a few times hahah! she has been an
eternal investigator, for about 9 months now, and has been really
looking to do whats right. she was a referral from the ex branch
president, who is only 23, and because of her, her grandparents, and
little brother got baptized, and they were just waiting for her. she
knew it was true, and had been going to church pretty frequently, but
just never felt that she would be able to complete with the covenant
after bieng baptized. so we had a good talk with her on mosiah 16 and
talked about the necessity she has to complete, but in a loving way,
and she really understood the harshness of the words of abinadi and so
we challenged her to be baptized for this saturday, and she said yes.
because we are so far from the rest of the zone, and no other leader
wanted to come all the way out here to do her interview, i was
authorized to do her interview, and we had a good talk. i forgot how
much i had liked to interview people and ask them the questions to see
what was really in their eyes and heart. she passed and was baptized
in the river, because we dont have a font here, and it was my first
baptism in the river!! haha yay! we got a lot of her extended family,
who is also listening to the gospel, to go, and they had a great time.
that same day, we went to a wedding for a few people we are teaching,
and their family members. sadly they were married for the catholic
church, but its ok, it is still a good way to get united and start a
new life to be able to feel the gospel as a necessity of life. i
think im saying necessity a lot because this morning we hear the song
in spanish ´the bear necessities of life´ from the jungle book haha.
we were still missing a lot of other people at church that told us
that they were going to go, but thats just how it is. this week has
been really hot, and nothing like last week. there was not a cloud in
sight and we were cooking all day. on friday, elder white had to go
out to huetamo(where the other missionaries are) to do two interviews
for them, so i stayed here to keep working, and i stayed with the ex
branch president(the one who is 23). we had a good time, and he has
had a lot of experience with working with the missionaries, so it was
really nice to keep working hard, and not have to straggle with a
member. the assistence at church is still doing ok, we had about 45
this week, and we want to be doubling it soon elder white and me. it
has happened before, and we want it again, so we have set new goals.
our first goal is baptize more, and we found two miracle baptisms
yesterday at church, so we will go with the both of them this week and
see if they can be baptized on this weekend. one is for sure, and the
other is a little farther away so we will have to see if we have
enough money to make it through the end of the month. this thursday,
we will have the zone conference, and we are getting excited about it.
we will have to miss half of wednesday to travel out there to iguala,
but its worth it, and the 300 pesos for a round trip... thanks to
everyone for your letters, and your inspiration, and family stories. i
cant wait to see you in such short time, but that just means that i
need to keep working hard to be able to get home and see you all with
my head held up high!! love you all. see you next week!
elder facer

Rainy days and temple days...

once again family, we meet here on the computer. what a joy to hear
from you all again and to know that you are all doing so great and
receiving so many blessings from the lord. a few of you commented on
how you have learned new things or remembered important information by
pondering. i have realized a little more this week, the importance of
pondering and how my heavenly father answers my thoughts in a very
personal way and in the right time after giving it a lot of thought.
i was pretty shocked with all the news that everyone gave me! tara is
playing soccer in a few weeks, lys and manuel got a new car and are
having huge success wit hthe business, scott is out for north dakota,
mom is in DC and dad... well i wont mention it now, its a suprise.
haha. also speaking of suprises, arturo and rosy, the family going to
the temple, told me yesterday that they have their date set for march
9 and 10. i think i will be going with them on the 9th, and i cant
wait. a week before i go home. what joy to know the blessing the
gospel can bring to our lives. he mentioned, arturo, about elders
quorum and how they were talking about examples and one young single
adult stood up and said that after jesus christ and his parents, that
i was his best example. the ysa was alfredo, another convert we had.
it really shocked me that the lord let me be such an infulence in
someones life so that they thought of me as their greatest example. i
was really stunned, and humbled to hear how the lord had used me to
impact someone in such a way that they were completely converted to
the gospel. it was touching.
well in this week, we had a lot of success, and a lot of rain. it was
very unanticipated to rain in febuary here in altamirano, and it felt
nice and cool all week. but once agian today is hot and dry. we had
a finding spree and found 25 new investigators and had 15 in church!!
it was a huge blessing to see half of the branch be investigators, and
all the members getting really excited to see the house of prayer
growing. it is pretty dysfuncional but i love it. it only has 5
years of being a branch, and they are working hard, so that is what
counts. we alsmost had a baptism of a girl that knows the gospel is
true, but is still waiting that god confirms her answers even more....
but we will be patient and help her realize the answer she has. sadly
we cant work our whole area, becuse it is about 1/4 of all the state,
so we ahve sto stay pretty close to home and to the closest pueblos.
but everything is going great! elder white is a blast, and he is a
really good teacher. he walks fast, and is still dedicated, even
though he has almost the same time as me. later ill send pics,
because i am about out of time. but i love altamirano!! its been so
wonderful to me, and one interesting thinga bout this area, is that we
really have to follow the scriptures when it says, dont worry yourself
about what to eat or wear, just wait for the lord to provide. we dont
have sisters that give us food, unless they offer it, or we ask for
it. usually our investigators feed us, because the members just live
too far out. some come each week from an hour and a half away to
church! i have learned a lot of humility in ths branch ,and will keep
learning more. love you all!!!!
elder facer

The last transfer...

hey family. all is well in the heat of guerrero again. what?! yup,
i got changed to altamirano guerrero. its a little pueblo, and from
cuernavaca on a direct bus ride, it took 5 hours... so its a little
farther than acapulco in a sense. elder sonntag will stay in pradera
to train a new american, but will have to wait for visa problems, so
he is with another companion in the same position as him. but he
will receive an elder dalton from orem. i dont know if i knew him.
and i dont know an o`sullivan either dad, sorry. so im here with
elder white from boise idaho(he is black) and has one change less than
i do. so im super stoked to be with another elder with a lot of
experience again, and i know we will have so much fun together, and
work so hard. altamirano is a pretty dangerous place because of
drugs, but he says nothing ever happens with the missionaries, and he
already has 4 and a half months here. i remember elder snyder telling
me about altamirano, and for some reason i got super excited about it
in my first area when he mentioned it to me, and i am so happy to
finally be here. its so far out of the mission, i dont ever see anyone
except for another area that is just a little farther than we are, and
one other area for our district meetings. its nice to be away from a
lot of missionaries and their gossip and telling me that im dead(a
missionary term for ending the mission, not that im going to die) so
im way stoked to be here. mom and sharon had some very good comments
on success and working hard till the end, and it was good to hear from
betsy and maryjo too about all thats going on. especially how crazy it
is that jeff already has a year in the mission. but thats just how
time flies.
well, everything ended really good for elder sonntag and me. sadly we
didnt baptize laura nor her sons, but i feel that they will be
baptized very soon. the entire ward was pretty shocked that i was
leaving, and i threw it on them in one blow. as i was leaving the
church yesterday, a heard a few comments that made my day. one lady
said that they felt like i was really a part of the ward. another 12
yr old girl was bawling when she heard i was leaving, and it was sad,
but it had to be done. we also had some very good success in getting
our investigators to church, and ended with 6 (with three others who
still arent investigators) so almost 10 this week! it went really
great, and also had a good testimony meeting. we spent the afternoon
saying goodbye to people, and had a little rain storm that took the
power out by our house, so until 10pm we didnt have light..... and
today we didnt leave until 1pm, so we havent done too much recently, i
havent even unpacked. we got home, and came to write. i really feel
like we worked hard our last week in pradera, and did what was needed.
hopefully elder sonntag can send me the baptism pics soon of all the
people we were teaching that get baptized before i leave. i think the
main commitment i have to do is prepare myself to receive the spirit,
and follow all the promptings i receive. love everyone and be humble
to be able to be guided, and always act according to Gods will. just
as that quote you sent me mom, its not my thoughts, but the way the
lord sees it should be done. well i love you all, and cant wait to see
you, well ya i can wait, because i still have more work to do here!!!!
i love the work, and every opportunity the savior has given me to
grow(d&c127:2) i love every minute of it, and will make it and not
break it, to establish my foundation for the rest of my life right
now. i love this phrase: ANIMO!!!! and i tell it to everyone i meet,
have someone explain it to you, because my time is up. but we will
talk next week and i will have a lot of good news to share with you
all. animo! much love
elder facer