This has been an awesome week, my good fellows and... (wait, what's the girl version of a fellow?) Ah, well. Anyway.
Like I said, the work has exploded! Like, you know what a bomb does? EXACTLY THAT! We've been seeing so many cool things happen, and I'm convinced it's because Elder Hansen and I have just been working our tushies of and not giving Satan a break. We've figured out a good system for inviting people to be baptized, and people are accepting left and right and it's just the most legit thing! If all goes according to plan, as of right now, we should have baptisms lined up for four consecutive Saturdays once General Conference has come and gone. And we've got a couple more that are like RIGHT THERE!
So here's our peeps:
Mario was just married this week! That was the main thing he had to get past - living the law of chastity. He's been living with his girlfriend for quite some time now. They were basically married, just not married. You feel me? So the main thing holding him back was that. BUT THEY GOT MARRIED THIS WEEKEND. And the wife's already a member, so it could't get much easier than that! He's set to get baptized on the 18th of October. Every time we ask if he's still up for it he's like, "Claro, chavos; no se preocupen." Which loosely translated is, "Duh, bros; chill." So we're excited for that one.
James is the 12-year-old kid who's getting baptized the week after General Conference. The one who saw Tom Cruz giving the Priesthood to the actor Joseph Smith. Oh man, teaching him has been an adventure to say the least. Last time we went in to see him we were like, "So, James, what did Jesus do when he came down to the earth?", and he responds, "Well he came down from heaven and killed everyone and then brought everyone back to life and then he's gonna come again and kill everyone again and then this time we won't come back to life." I'm just like dude, where the heck are you getting this information?? But it's all good, slow and steady and not distracted wins the race.
Kino is the son of a recent convert in the Spanish Branch here in Rupert, and he really wants to get baptized. This family is absolutely hysterical. Kino speaks perfect English, but his mom certainly does not. We were talking about the differences between English and Spanish and she (in Spanish) was like, "Exactly, like in Spanish we say 'fallecerse', but in English you say 'passway'. And I was like what the heck are you talking about, lady? Nobody says "passway". For the longest time I thought she was saying "password", but after a lengthy game of charades I learned that she was trying to say "pass away", which is absolutely the correct translation for "fallecerse". You may have had to be there, but I almost threw up I was laughing so hard. We taught her, "It's pass away, not passway," and then she kept trying to say it and holy crap it was just a good time. ANYWAY Kino is the man. He comes to church every Sunday and when they do the Sacrament prayers and all that jazz he likes to repeat the words to himself so that he can have them memorized once he receives the Priesthood himself. Pretty cool stuff! He's got something kind of holding him back as far as we can see, but we have no idea what it is. Hopefully he sticks with this goal and gets baptized on the 25th of October like we have planned!
Lindsay is a 14-year-old girl who's like super dang busy. She does volleyball a ton and all this stuff so it's tough for her to meet with us too often. Her mom was raised Christian and her dad Catholic, so her parents always got into fights when it came to religious topics when their marriage started out. They ended up having to just drop religion completely in order to keep their marriage intact, with the result being that none of their kids know anything about the gospel or Christ or ANYTHING. It's pretty sad to see, and it gives a very good example of why, in our church, though it's not required that we marry "another Mormon", it's definitely encouraged. It certainly makes things a lot more comfortable. Anyway, Lindsay's mom really wants her to make her own choice and find a church that suits her well, and so far, Lindsay's making a pretty good judgment if I do say so myself! She understands the importance of baptism and really wants to get it done, she just wants to understand things a bit more before she takes the dive. Fingers crossed!
One more quick thing before I wrap up this ESSAY. This week we had a cool opportunity to watch, before it hits the theaters, the new movie produced by the Church called Meet the Mormons! It was a super good movie showing 6 different Latter-Day Saints and their individual stories and it was really inspiring and revealing when it comes to how Mormons actually are. I think a lot of people just don't understand us, and this movie does a pretty good job of teaching everyone the truth in a really non-threatening and chill way. So I would suggest that all you guys get your booties into the theaters when it comes out and give it a watch! And invite all your friends and whatnot so we can ALL understand Mormons a little better! Just an idea.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a very rewarding week, or something like that. Peace, love, kisses, and all that jazz.
Elder Slavens
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