Well this week has been a great week. I think I am learning more about myself in this area than any other area I have been in. I have never seen so many trials in my life. So many emotions go through my body every day and some days I just don't know how to feel. I am so thankful for my trials because it makes the good times THAT much better. I am working as hard as I can out here and I can honestly say I have no regrets with what I have done in these past 5 weeks in this area. Every day I wake up with motivation to work as hard as I can each day.
On Saturday we had a baptism for a young boy named Ruben. His family has not been active for awhile but have now come to church 4 weeks in a row!
We will be having two more baptisms coming up this weekend. We have also been working hard with The Castrejon family. This family is crazy. They have 5 boys that just love to fight, they are all so hilarious!!! But anyways, we have found the soft side and we have had some pretty awesome lessons with them. Two of the sons in the family have not been baptized, since they went inactive a couple years ago. It is a family of 7 that is now going back to church. The boys Juan and Rodolfo will be baptized on Saturday.
Yesterday we had 84 people at church. We are continuing to see success in this branch and everyone is so happy to see so much progress out here. Every day I am loving this branch so much more. I am giving everything I have for this branch and I want to finish these last 8 weeks with no regrets. We are now into the last couple minutes of the fourth quarter and I can't give up now (unless I'm a Shark or a Warrior! hahahaha)
On Thursday as we were walking to a lesson we passed a house and an older man yelled to us, calling us over to his house. As we approached his house, Elder Aviles and I thought he was drunk. He went inside for a couple of seats and told us that he had seen us pass his house almost every day and that he had been wanting to talk to us. His name is Efren. As we began to talk we realized how many trials he has had in his life. Turns out he was not drunk and it was one of the most humbling experiences I have had in my life. Efren went to the baptism on Saturday as well as church yesterday. He has so much knowledge of the Bible but has lost lots of his vision and can't read. We bought him a magnifying glass today, so hopefully he will be able to see the letters better.
Also on Saturday I was fed turtle and racoon. When the investigator told us what we would be eating I could only imagine eating the racoon we had locked up in a cage in our backyard! In my mind I looked back at everything crazy I had eaten in my mission- I realize that only in Mexico I would have these experiences. So I ate it and it was actually pretty good!! A lot better than the pig snout that I was fed in Chapala hahaha!!
Thats about it for the week! It was a great week! These last couple weeks I have learned that if we remain faithful throughout our trials, the Lord will bless us...no matter where we are!! Thank you everyone for all the love and support!! You are the best!! Have an amazing week!
Love,
Elder Mike Payne
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| This is a Catholic church after the earthquake |
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| The frog we found outside of our house. It was HUGE!!! |
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| Our beautiful church out here in San Jeronimito |
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| More pictures of the church |
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| Making salsa in a molcajete |
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| Eating raccoon |
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| Eating turtle |
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| Ruben's baptism and his family that we have been working with |
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| Playing volleyball with the Gonzalez family |
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| Our huge study room |
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| Our kitchen |
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| One of our bathrooms |
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| Our bedroom |
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