District Meeting Fun

This week for the district meeting we talked about the importance that the Book of Mormon has in the conversion process. After we talked about that I asked the elders to go outside and look for the golden plates. When they found them, they were blank, so we each wrote on them our testimony as to why the Book of Mormon is important to us. It was something fun and new for them to do. So there is a picture of Mormon (me) compiling the book of the district of La Union, and there is another photo of Elder Rodriguez, whose parents live really close to us, and he has

the Urim and Thumim, the knife of Laban, the plates, and a ball of curious workmanship (thanks to grandma).

(Colin made the plates out of soda cans he cut open and boiled.)

Looking Back...

Well, everything is going great. I am a little sick with nasal congestion, but it will go away soon.It has started to be super hot this week, by 7 in the morning I am already sweaty. It is crazy. I am tired though; not going to lie about that! But things are going well.

I really love studying the scriptures now. I never did it too much before my mission, like you know, but it is really interesting. There is so much stuff to learn it is amazing! So many cool things have connections to other things. Also, before my mission, I almost never read the Bible but it is really cool as well. It is so interesting how there are so many things in there that relate to the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon. It is just so neat. The sad thing is that it seems the more you get to know, the more you realize how little you know. Also, you can tell a big difference in your day when you really study.

I loved Cojutepeque, not just because of the people, but because that was where I had the most doctrinal growth on my mission. My first change there, it was 4 missionaries in the same house and so there was always something going on, and there was almost no studying in the morning. Finally, I decided I had to change something. The others wouldn't do anything, so I started to set my alarm at 5:30 in the morning. This was one of the best decisions of my life! I started studying every morning for an hour in the peace and quite. I would go outside in the cool morning mist; it was great. When we finally changed houses and got our own, I still woke up at 5:30, it was so great. Really, in the time of 3 months there, I have never learned so much about the gospel. It also built up my confidence in the language because I would only study in Spanish. It was just one of the best things I could have done. I feel as though I have a better knowledge of things, even though I don't know every thing, at least I am a little more educated in the gospel. But wow, I still have a ton to learn, but at the same time I am so happy with what I have been able to gain. Scripture study is such a blessing!

A Lesson from a Hobo :)

In El Salvador, according to Colin, drunk and/or homeless men follow people around everywhere, begging for money.  Recently when Colin and his companion were hitchhiking, a drunken homeless man came up to him and his companion and told them that servants of God should not have to hitchhike, they should be able to ride the bus.  So then the man gave each of them a quarter so that they could take the bus- quite a big service for a homeless person :)

My "Sons"

These are the two Elders I have trained - Elder Aguilera on the left and my current companion Elder Martinez on the right. In our mission we call the ones we train our "sons". This photo is from the conference we just had with President Perez. He "macheted" us for about 5 hours on being more obedient. It was intense. But the whole Zone baptized again this week, so it worked! Changes are coming in a week and a half and I am hoping I don't get changed.

October 2010

This week was really good. It started out slow, but buy the end we were "echando fuego" or throwing fire! We found a few really good families, and even one that is already married (that is a miracle), and what's even better, is that they came to church. Even better is that they said they really liked it, and even more, said that they will be coming back, and then said "baptize us"! OK, that is just a joke, that last part, but in 2 weeks is what we have planned.

One of our converts kind of went crazy on us the other day in front of her sister who is planning on getting baptized this Saturday. She started going off on the temple, and how it should be open for everyone. We explained how it is, but they just have to go through preparations first and all that stuff. Then the mom who is super sweet, but crazy and goes to another church said ´I agree, that is true´ to what we were saying. But the daughter kept saying, I don´t like it and all this junk. Finally, we, as did Alma to the people of Zarahemla, spoke out in pure testimony. We were not angry, we just spoke absolute truths about the true gospel of Jesu Cristo. As we were talking, the mom would shout out "that is true" every now and then (the mom has read the Bible like 5 times). So when we finished up, the daughter was upset because she knew we where right, we said a prayer and went home. As we were on the way home I was talking with my comp and we decided that it would be a miracle if they came to church in the morning. We were really sad. But as you know, what we said needed to be said. So we were at church, and at 8:59 there entering the door was our convert and her sister both smiling and happy! A miracle happened! At the end of the meeting we went and started talking and the convert told me that it didn´t matter if she knew everything now, but that everything would come in it's allotted time. I was super surprised. When talking with my comp after church, he said he had talked to the sister and she told him that after we left the mom got mad at her for talking to us in that way and for acting so crazy. She also said that everything that we said was true and that she needed to believe us and not worry about the small things, but to know that in time the understanding will come.

Last month some of the group of missionaries that came to El Salvador with me got together on Monday and had a fancy lunch at the Chili's. This is our photo.

Lunch time!

For Travis

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS TRAVIS I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That made me so happy.*

*Colin's reply after learning that his friend Travis got his mission call to Chile.