Elder Mike Payne: Week 95 - June 9, 2014 - Rain rain go away, come again in July!

This week was a lot better than last week. Elder Sanchez and I are doing great together. We are finding lots of new investigators and we have lots of baptisms planned for July, which makes me feel good because Elder Sanchez and his new companion will have a lot of work when I leave.

One of the biggest challenges out here is the weather. One day it is like 120 degrees and the next it is flooding. It's hard because when its raining no one wants to leave their house or go to church. But we are trying to find solutions to help the members and investigators go to church. There is no drainage systems out here so it floods all the streets and then when it starts to get super hot everything just evaporates and makes it super humid, it's unbelievable! haha

We were able to have two baptisms on Saturday. It was pretty tough because it was raining ALL day and the baptism was planned at 6 pm. We rented a little van/ taxi and went and picked up all of our investigator´s friends so that they could have support. It ended up being a great baptism. These two investigators are super awesome.

Maria's husband died about 5 years ago and last week we taught the Plan of Salvation. We didn't know that her husband had passed away until we asked her what she would be willing to do to live with her family forever. She started crying and told us about her loss and how she felt. The plan of salvation is so incredible because it gives us a hope for what is to come and an understanding as to why God does what he does. Maria told us that she is going to do whatever it takes to go through the temple in a year to be sealed as an eternal family. Experiences like these make me sad about ending my mission.

So we ate the iguana that my comp and I killed last week. It was super good. Our neighbor made the food for us and didn't take off the skin- she said its kinda like eating fish... all you have to do is peel off the scales. But we ate some iguana tacos and it was pretty good!

This upcoming week we should be having another baptism. We have been working hard with a less active older lady, Carmen, and her family. Carmen's daughter and grandson are taking the lessons and progressing towards baptism. Andres, the grandosn, will be baptized this week and then his mom wants to be baptized the following week. So it should be a good experience. Hope all goes well!

The Ortega Sanchez family said they are going through the temple for sure on June 28. I'm super excited because that will only be three das before I end my mission. It will be nice to reflect back on these last two years and feel the spirit of the temple again.

Thanks for everything and all the support you all give me. I can't believe I only have just a few weeks left. As for now I am just going to continue working as hard as I can and soon enough I will be home to relax hahaha!

Con amor,

Elder Payne