09/12/2011

Hola Familia, This week was awesome but it was also a little rough. We worked hard and had a pretty normal week, with a lot of success and more or less miracles. But we have four baptisms planned this week. Sister Virginia and her son Fernando. He's 19 and she is 35. They are sincere and ready to be baptized. We got to teach the dad of this family alot this week. He has some kind of sickenes where his whole elbow has swolllen up so he can't work or do anything. We taught him the word of wisdom and surprisingly he agrees with everything and he read the whole pamphlet in front of us because it interested him and almost the whole section 89 in doctrinos of convenios. Then read the law of chastity too. He participates alot but he doesn't think he should be baptized again because he was baptized already. So we're gonna teach him about baptism and the restoration. We really hope this will help him. But what made us way happy is that Fernando told us he wants to serve a mission like we're serving and he wants to help others who have problems like he did with alcohol and tobacco. But I truly hope things go well so he can stay strong enough to get to that goal that he has. The mom cried in front of a family of members where we did a combined family home evening because of what her son is struggling with. And she truly knows this will help them out so they can be happier and that her son can become a better person. The other two baptisms are for two little girls who are ready to be baptized and have a rough time in their family because the father drinks all night on Saturday and sometimes the mom has to go out and work so the kids can eat because the dad is drinking so he isn't bringing in any money. He won't listen to us and he leaves everytime we come to teach. So I truly hope something happens so they can live a lot happier. But it's awesome because they learned how to pray in primary and they say before they pray bow my head close my eyes and cross my arms. It's fantastic. Well something funny that happened this week is that my companion sat on gasoline on a chair and then stands up during the lesson way fast and says in English "ohhh burns" haha. He refused to sit down the rest of the lesson because his butt was burning. It was way funny. After awhile he couldn't feel it anymore. What was pretty rough this week is that we lost 4 baptismal dates because they didn't go to church and a family of four didn't go to church and this was after we talked face to face with them before church. They told us they were getting ready to go. But I haven't lost hope for them. We plan to teach them this week with members so that we can help them out with more confidence to go to church. But one last little miracle is that the sister of Eddy who we baptised wouldn't be able to get baptized because she was living with the father of her child. Now they've seperated and so if she repents and gains a testimony of the church and of its restoration, then she will be able to be baptized and the great thing is that she has gone to church two times now. Well love you guys a ton. I wish you an amazing week. Help someone in need. Invite a less active to church. Love, Elder Christoffersen P.S it made my day to hear Andy Markus is doing his mission papers. Andy you will not regret it. It will bless you more than you could ever think.