Teleporting, Music Videos, Tone Deafness....but best of all - Charity

Hey Family!

This week has been pretty crazy. We haven´t really found any new solid investigators in a while so the past few days has seemed pretty slow, but we have our goal for this week! We actually had seven possible baptism dates for this last Sunday, and we ended up actually having zero. That was a little lame. One lady is a diabetic and got sick the night before and had to go to the hospital. But the others just weren´t at church or anything. I´m honestly not super down about it because I think Blanca and Jose and their family still need to gain a real testimony. Blanca is pretty ready, but I´d like to teach her a little more, and their kids haven´t been around enough for the lessons, and Jose has a drug problem we found out. So looking back it´s a good thing the Lord made fit for an extra week to work with them or however much more time it will take for them to recognize the changes the Atonement and everything will make in their lives.

Mario, the one who is friends with Carmen and Ruben has moved away. He´s been really sick, and probably doesn´t have much more time. It´s pretty sad because his marriage isn´t in very good shape and he has a few young kids. But after he moved away Ruben told us that Mario had let him know he´s actually already a member of the church. I guess something bad happened in his family and going to church meetings reminded him of how happy they use to be so he didn´t want to go anymore. But the crazy thing is that he almost got baptized... twice. He actually almost committed to baptism, without ever letting us know that he´d already been baptized. Anyway. He´s in a pretty rough situation.

Carmen has been getting food from the Bishop´s store house since he doesn´t have any money, and he´s already sold the chairs at his table and things like that to try to make it a little farther. But he´s been making meals with the supplies they gave him and inviting other people who are in difficult financial situations over to eat. He´s finally getting over an ulcer he had on his leg, and his work is starting to pick up a little. His story reminds me alot of Job. But it´s awesome to see the blessings he´s been recieving from his selflessness.


I´ve actually been studying Charity this week alot. I´m starting to focus on one Christlike attribute a week to try to show the Lord I want his help to be the best person I can be. It´s not hard to keep Charity in the forefront of my mind since most everyone here is full of it. They really care so much about their families and friends and whoever else they come across that they´ll do whatever it takes to change another person´s life for the better. It´s amazing the way that this work becomes easier when I´m trying to see these people as the Savior sees them, and let that love be the power behind what we´re doing.


We´ve had a few funny experiences this week. There´s a sister in the ward who has a son with special needs. He´s always super stoked to see us and gives us high fives and stuff when we pass him in the street. The other day we were walking to an appointment when I glanced back and saw him peeking at us from behind a light post. He quickly ducked behind the pole, but both his arms were pretty clearly visible on either side of it. We kept walking and he jumped behind a corner and was peeking back at us. We pretended we couldn´t see him so it wouldn´t spoil his fun. We went up a little further and he snuck out from behind the corner. When we looked back he ran behind the corner again. We decided to hide around another corner up ahead and try to trick him. We stood waiting for about thirty seconds, and then looked out to try to catch him sneeking up toward us, but he wasn´t back there anymore. We started to walk forward and noticed him about a block and a half ahead of us sitting on the steps of a store. I don´t know how he teleported himself up there so fast but I was pretty impressed.


One thing I´ve learned about the culture here, is that you can do anything you want that would normally be super nerdy or weird, as long as it´s to music, because then it´s cool. The other day we were walking past a group of about twenty people gathered in the street. They varied in shape size and age and were all just standing there. Backstreet boys were playing from the garage of a nearby house, as we got closer we realized they were all doing like a music video dance thing in the middle of the street. The dance moves weren´t super complicated but they were all really in sync. It was pretty goofy looking, but they all seemed to think it was pretty normal. How´s that for a neighborhood party?


This week we had to go help the sister missionaries for an evening. They had my companion talk to one of their investigators who had been coming up with excuses not to get baptized for weeks. We ended up baptizing her that night which was pretty cool. After that appointment we were on the bus headed to the church. One of the sisters started handing out pamphlets on the bus, and my companion went to talk to a man who was sitting alone. The other sister decided we should start singing hymns. So me and her were singing hymns for everybody on the bus. It was a little rough, because the sister is a tiny bit tone deaf, and she would do a note change on every chorus and at the start of every verse. She was a much louder singer than me, and I never knew when she´d do a note change, so alot of people probably thought I wasn´t very familiar with the songs. But it was fun.


This last weekend we organized a huge missionary activity for the primary kids. They all got little name tags and we taught them a little about the messages we usually share with people. Then each companionship got to take a few kids around to do real visits with less active members. We took two little dudes that were almost ready to graduate from primary. In the first appointment they just bore their testimonies. In the second we let them do the whole visit by themselves. We didn´t say a single word. They started and ended with a prayer and shared a message of the restoration with the members. It was sweet. It´s awesome to see so many young kids preparing for missions so early on.


Gram: I got your dear elder. That car wash that gramp had sounds like it was a blast! I loved reading all about Addy´s birthday. It sounds like you all had a pretty great time. Thanks for keeping me updated gram, I love you.


Bam: I also got your dear elder. Cabeza is the word for head. The part I ate was the top of the spine and a little bit from the back neck meat of what I think was a pig or a cow. That´s sweet that your finally getting new sisters at your house! You´ll have to tell me if they´re as great as the last two once they move in. Thanks for your letters bam, I love you.


Mom: I also got your dear elder. Thanks for letting me know about the USB cord on it´s way. And tell Christian thanks for watching out for me and reminding you. Haha. That was awesome to hear about the triathlons! I bet it´s been a blast seeing dad and the uncles do so good as usual. I was going to get a birthday package on it´s way to you today but we ended up spending our whole p day cleaning! Everybody had to scrub down their houses today because there´s a chance in the near future of a certain apostle visiting a few houses after a big mission conference. I hope he comes to us. But I´ll get that package out as soon as I can, and hopefully it will be there with in the same month as your birthday, sorry. I love you Mom.


Dig: that sounds pretty sweet about the three musketeers. Haha. Your e mail was hilarious as usual by the way. Your e mails always make my day a little more fun dig. So you made yourself a pretty sweet spear huh? That´s too bad somebody threw it away. I love ya diggy o.


Denny: Your story about the bike jumps was sweet! sounds like your a pro. That´s cool that you and Dig are having alot of fun in the new neighborhood. Love you Den.


Shash: I was sorry to hear about your head injury! I hope your feeling ok! That sleepover sounds like it was a blast. Is taylor sayin shash now? haha. That´s a funny story it sounds like you and halee had alot of fun. I love ya sloosh.


Nay: Thanks for the story about Evan and Drew. That was pretty sweet to hear their thinking about me. The food down here has all really been pretty good. I actually had some spaghetti and pork chop tacos the other day, which was a little odd but pretty delicious. The whole fish with ketchup thing still doesn´t sit very well with me, I guess they put ketchup on their pizza here too which is crazy. I´m glad to hear your taking care of Persie for me. Tell her I said hello. I can´t believe you´re already doing stuff to get ready for college! That´s crazy! you´ve got to let me know how your ACT went when you find out by the way. So you´re back to the old question of dance or soccer huh? Well if I were you I would go with whichever I thought would help me the best in the future. I would also go with whichever made me the most happy. I would also pray about it. And I would also remember that there´s probably not a right or wrong answer, and that either way you´ll probably be happy about your choice in the long run. I love your idea about if you went to BYU and how I could pick you up on my way back for the weekends. That´d be sweet. But I´d still be wearing my red U shirts when I came by to get you. I love hearing about what you´ve been up to Nay. Don´t worry about your letters being too long or anything, I love hearing from you! I love you Nay.


Dad: That´s sweet that you get to take a trip down to Pheonix! I bet it will be pretty sweet to see the Jensens again. That story about the old couple with the corvette was pretty sweet. There´s a guy down the street from us that has a pretty sweet vette. To answer your question about the couples who don´t live together, it´s much more common that they do live together. But there are alot of couples who have alot of problems, so the husband just rents a room down the street so they don´t get in any major fights or anything. It´s a little strange. But anyway, thanks for your tips about Charity dad. I love getting advice from you. It always seems to be about something I need at that time. Thanks dad. I love you.


Thanks for your dear elders Dayna, Cristobal, Shay, and Katrina (thanks for the spelling tip by the way! I don´t know if I´m doing it still because I usually type really fast but I´ll keep working on it! Haha.)


I love you all!


Elder Dallas Robert Aguilar