Well, I'm proud to say that we're working really hard! A little less proud that almost all of our 5 baptismal dates we had at the beginning of the transfer are dropping. I have faith that the Lord's will will be done, and we will work as hard as necessary to bring it to pass.
Jose had a date for the 30th, but we haven't been able to contact him. I still have not met him.
Mariela had a date for the 6th. Same case. No contact.
Juan had a date for the 6th. He is 14 years old. We are teaching him, but he says his parents will not let him get baptized or come to church; we at least know what we're up against! I love it when the investigators just tell you the problem! It's such a huge blessing.
Cleofas, who is a golden, old lady, has a date for the 6th. I believe she will be baptized then, but she is moving in a week. She will be moving to the area that Elder Stout's last companion, Elder Gilbert just got transferred...
Elder Stout had a lot of problems with him, and all kinds of disrespect was taking the spirit away. Thus, upon hearing the news of Cleofas' departure, which she told us about on Friday, he became very upset. He said to me, "I just don't see how someone who does the stuff he does can get so many blessings like that. But that's a conversation for another time." We were biking at the time.
I pulled over before going into the next house. There's a scripture in D&C that blatantly says if ye have not the spirit, ye shall not teach. That, folks, is commandment language. We had a good long chat to help him push his grudge back and get the Spirit again. I figured that since I had gone through a lot of the same stuff, I could help him. We're still working on not talking badly about Elder Gilbert, but it is helping. We felt a lot better afterwards, hugged it out, and went into a really good lesson.
My understanding of the Lord and his purpose is flawed, yes, but improving. I love the mission because the gospel and all of its facets are all making sense. Heavenly Father is too good to me.
Cupertino has a date for the 20th of February. We did a tour of the church with our ward mission leader, Arturo (who is a stud!), on Friday. He loved it, and said he would come to church on Sunday. Now that he knows someone and has been to the building, there isn't much of an excuse. We'll be talking to him later today to figure out why he didn't go. He even told Arturo he'd come when they were talking on the phone before church. Man, sometimes keeping commitments in this culture can be so difficult!
On Thursday, we got a text from a less active lady named Efigenia saying she was in the hospital. We went to visit her and give her a blessing. As I called her on the phone, I couldn't understand what had happened. Turns out, she had gotten a spider bite. There was a huge red patch on her lower leg that was swollen; it had gotten a lot better since the bite four days earlier. Crazy stuff. We gave her a blessing then went back out to the car. We realized that the Houston Zoo was right across the street from the parking garage where we were. We took some pictures from the top of the garage. It was pretty cool. Sorry, forgot my camera.
Things are good here. I love the ward! There aren't many buddies like there were in Kemah, but there are good people. Elder Stout's pretty proud of the fact that we had a "perfect week" in which we had food appointments every day fromSunday to Sunday. I'm pretty impressed as well haha.
I'm still working hard, and I promise I won't stop! This gospel is too good to do so. There is too much in store. I'll quote one of the passed prophets (can't remember which), "my life is like this pair of shoes. To be warn out in service." That is my mission. I live it, and I love it. I love you all, and wish you a great week!
-Elder Spjute
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