Week 91

Hola familia!

Wow... short email! Haha that doesn't happen to me a lot! Usually you send me a new testament every week! 

Things this week have gone by fast! We have gotten a lot done! Let me start by telling you about my new comp. Elder Vicente is from the Phillippines, específicamente, he's from General Santos. He speaks basically perfect english, because that's what his family speaks, though he can speak 5 languages fluently. He is hilarious! Him and I have been getting along so well! There hasn't been a boring day so far! He likes to talk a lot, which is good. It keeps us entertained during the long days. Him and I have a very similar sense of humor, which is good. He also likes to work a lot, which is perfect! I haven't had a companion like that in a long time! I asked president to take away my district leader position, which he did, so Elder Vicente is district leader. He... has the vision. I'd say that's the only point where sometimes we are not in agreement, because he loves baptising, and wants to do it now. I like to wait a bit. So we'll see how this cambio goes, but I think I'm going to love it. 

The work is going smoothly. As I have promised Dad, I wish to make these last 12 weeks my strongest weeks. And as many have challenged me, I plan to follow president more in his vision for this mission, in other words, we set 30 baptismal dates in the street this past week. It kinda goes against everything I want to do, and against my vision that I've applied to myself, but we will continue for a solid 4 weeks with this, so I will reserve my judgement till then. We have plenty of ''new investigators'', but unfortunately, nobody came to church again. This is the 4th week in a row. We had so many people lined up to come, but I don't know what happened. I regret to say... it doesn't bother me too much anymore... I'm too used to it. We have been teaching a few families, the first being a single mom with her son, Constanza and Sebastian. Seba is a friend of Mílan, the recent convert, and Constanza is friends with Maritza, Mílans mom. Constanza is progressing well, we have taught her pretty much everything. Everything was going perfectly until we tried to teach her the Word of Wisdom. As we were beginning, an ex of hers showed up, and joined us. We began teaching, and I decided to just keep on with the WoW, and that was a mistake. The first mention of alcohol, he goes of on a tangent about how beer is good for you, and soda kills you. He also talked about marijuana, and if it's legal now as medicine, why on earth would we forbid it? And tea and coffee are good for you! Ohhhhh it was such a bad lesson. She didn't know what to think, and so I just ended it, tried to put in a spiritual testimony, and got out of there. But other than that moment, she's progressing. It's been good teaching her. We are also teaching a family, a mom Ethel, and Pablo and Sofia, her children. They are progressing a little as well, but didn't come to church. 

So today for pday, we borrowed a couple of bikes and headed up to the top of our sector. It was so fun! We were able to see the greenest part of the mission, and then ride the road down! It was great! I don't have a camera, but Elder Vicente too lots of pictures, I'll try sending you some.

It's weird to think I'm coming in close to the end. I want to make these the best cambios of my mission! Vamos por esta semana! Hope you all have a great week!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Schmid