Happy April!

A little late, but worth the wait.  Sorry I've been slacking lately.  This is Haden's letter from April 2.  I'll post two more letters this week and we should be all caught up!  Hang in there.

Hoots seems to be turning a corner as he quickly approaches his 1 year mark on his mission.  He's been working hard in the area that everyone told him was impossible when he started and the results are piling in.  Check out the stories below.

Woo hoo!!!  Finally the work in this area is going amazing. I can't even explain. But I will try.

First of all when we started the week we had 2 people who had a date for their baptism, by the end of the week we had 7!  We have four who are all ready to go.

First we have Adriana. I told you guys a little about her last week. She is a single mom with an awesome heart. She was super ready. When we first went with her we put a date for her baptism and she said, I know that I wont be ready by then.  And we said "Hey!  Have faith and you will be." When we went for the next appointment. She told us she had a dream.  And that because of that dream she knew what we were teaching here was true and that she was ready to get baptized.  It was so sweet. 

The next is David Sanchez, he is such a loving, awesome guy. He is like a little kid in a big guy's body. He has a date set for the 14th. But he always had the doubt if the Book of Mormon is true. He went to church with us Sunday and when we visited him Tuesday, we asked him, "how do you feel about the Book of Mormon?"  He told us that he believed the book was 100% true. So awesome.  Last night we visited him again. We always sit outside and talk with him on the sidewalk, so last night as we were sitting there someone walked by and said something not very nice to us.  David got very upset....shoot, he was more upset than we were.  After the guy left, he said "Don't worry about that fool, he is drunk. You are doing the right thing. I'm sorry that he talked to you like that."  We explained to him that it wasn't a big deal, it happens all the time to us.  He said that when the guy was talking to us, he felt like his spirit was going to split into 2.  I just wanted to give him a hug. He asked me to baptise him and I am really happy about that. I cant wait.

Now the new people.

First is Maira. She just moved here with her husband. Just a little side note. She is 16 and he is 27. But whatever.....who are we to judge, right?  She is funny. She is a 16 year old girl so yeah. When we were leaving I told my comp, he has a lot of patience. If i was in her husband's shoes I would be like, "are you serious you didn't understand that?" Or "why would you say that?" Or "don't touch the cat for like five minutes please. It will live with out you."  But that's why she is with him. haha. But  she has a date for the 28th.  Because they have to officially get married first.  Hopefully everything works out OK.  Every time we go with them they show us some weird stuff. Like on Tuesday they showed us weird food.  And a picture of a dude eating a live baby octopus and the tentacles were outside of his mouth like sucking on to his nose and stuff like that.  He told me he is going to buy an octopus and he wanted me to try it.  I said, "I wont touch that thing let alone put it into my mouth!" Then yesterday they were telling us weird animal facts. Did you know that the cat is the only other species that can die from an STD? How awesome is that?  And we can get aids from monkeys, but they don't die from aids, but humans do.  And we can't catch an STD from a cat. I don't know why but I have a feeling I will remember that for the rest of my life.  Haha.

Then we have Karla. We met with her a while back.  She is a 16 year old with a baby and she left like a month and a half ago with some dude. Well, now she came back.  She's telling us that she wants to be baptised but we are going to take it slow because we want to know if she really wants it or if she is going to run away again. She is crazy, but funny.  Right now, her date is set for the 14th.

Those people are sure things.

But then we have Dolores. She is a good lady. Her daughter is a member but doesn't go because she doesn't like going alone. We have been talking with her and she is really close. She has questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. But you know. She will figure it out. We have taught her some sweet things and some things that are just deep deep doctrine. She is going to make a decision soon she told us. Hopefully real soon.

Then Vianna y Mari Peña.  They are cool.  They have been talking to the missionaries for about 2 years.  We have met with them a lot.  And now it's do or die to get them baptized.  We put a goal for the 28th.  We told her that as long she she does what we tell her she will find her answer, but if she doesn't pray and ask sincerely then she  won't know.  We told her to keep reading the Book of Mormon and to pray.  We told them that we have a lot of people that want to hear what we have to say and are really searching, so if they wanted it then they had to work for it, or we couldn't keep coming over. They said they understood and that they were going to work hard. 

So, it was a sweet week.  I love my companion.  The work is going good and I can feel myself changing inside more and more.  I am becoming a better person and missionary.  I can feel it. thanks to all for your emails and love and support.  I love you guys.

Love,

Haden