The Letter Hiatus is OVER

After a few week hiatus, Elder Hoots is back with a letter.  His new area has presented a few challenges, one of which is internet time on his p-day, so he has missed a few weeks.  But he is working hard and making us proud.

His address has been updated on the Contact Info page and you can start sending him packages and letters again. 

Thank you to all of you for your support.

Well this week brought a lot of good things and a lot of trials. I passed my 8 month mark about three weeks ago and I hope its just an 8 month thing but I haven't been feeling too great. But the area is growing a bunch.  So I'm taking it in stride.

Every week we have investigators come to church and right now we have a lot of strong people that we are teaching right now and who want to hear what we are saying so we are just continuing to work hard. 

My ankle after about three and a half months is still bad.  Because of that I have had to go to therapy two or three times a week and its not doing anything haha.  But whatever, I just do what the doctor tells me to.  But I have to take it easy and my companion and I can only walk like 5 hours a day.  I hope it gets better soon because that really limits us.  But we are doing what we can with the five hours we have.

I am happy with what is going on here in my area.  I'm always trying to get better, just like everyone else, so it helps me focus on the work.

When I got to this area, everyone said "awwww that area is impossible."  And the numbers showed it. In six months they only had 1 baptism.  For Mexico that is bad. So I was nervous to start in this area. But when I got here I told my companion we were going to get five baptisms in six weeks.  And guess what.....right now we have five scheduled and they are all awesome people.

We have this one kid with a date for this week. His name is David and he is 23. When we first starting teaching him he was an alcoholic.  When we first went to teach him, he was always in his room with no light and drinking. But now, he keeps his door open, listening to music, he goes and plays basketball and buys us pizza and soda.  He hasn't had a drink in three weeks and is a totally different person.  It is great to see the change in him.

We are also teaching another kid named Francisco.  He is 16.  The cool thing about Francisco is that we didn't have to do work to find him, he is the boyfriend of a member. He works with her dad.  Nothing much to say about him.  He is a typical 16 year old and is kind of shy, but he has a date set for September and he is excited. Good things happening.

Also, I have found my favorite kids ever. Stefanie 12, Dana 11, Alejandro 10, and Cristian 8. Their dad is a member but he hasn't been to church in like ten years. They are awesome little kids. When we first went to teach them, they were kind of shy. They knew a lot a lot a lot about the Bible and Jesus even though they have never been to church. But the first time we went, the two youngest kids prayed. When we finished the prayer, there dad was crying both times. Now, just a few weeks later they have come to church two times and they love it and they said they pray all the time still and are doing what they are supposed to. Their dad goes with them and all but he is still struggling.   We are working with him so he can get get baptized and get the Priesthood.  Right now its not looking so good, but we are working with him. It's hard because he likes coming to church, he likes praying, etc.  But he is held up on a few things, so we have some more work to do.

Good things happening in this area. I am so glad to be here and meet all these people. I love it. And hopefully I can get a little happier soon. Hahaha.

And thank you for all the cards and candies that got sent to me this Christmas. I loved them and it really makes an impact. Love you all.

Haden