New comp

Well on Monday, after writing to you guys I found out that we were going to have a change in our companionship. Elder Graham left to another area, and I got put as a trainer again. There were 15 new Elders that came this change. Most of them arrived good on Tuesday morning, a group of 4 arrived late at 1 in the morning of Wednesday, and another 2 arrived at about 2 in the afternoon on Wednesday. We went to the office, and all the trainers had a meeting together with President Callan and Sister Callan. Elder King was there, and is now training and District Leader, also both my MTC companions, Elder Beckett and Elder Nelson. Also Elder Davis who came with me, and is now in my district, and another Elder that came in my group. Then the new Elders came in, and we got paired up with our companions. My new companion, fresh off the plane, is Elder Rodgers. He is from Bountiful, Utah.

I also saw and talked a little bit to Elder Hugie. His trainer is going to be Elder Nelson (One of my MTC companions). Due to the travel problems, the new elders had to do an orientation, and everything, so a couple of us had to wait. Finally after that and signing and everything, we finally got back to our area at about 5, and got to start working at about 6 or so. I am still the District Leader as well, but in my district, one of the areas split into two areas, so now we have 4 companionships in total in our district. Elder Davis (Texas, same time as me) and Elder Henriquez (Mexico, new elder) are in Libertad 1.1, Elder Sevy (Idaho, 2 changes) and Elder Bowers (Wyoming, 5 changes) are in Libertad 1.2, and Elder Pastul (El Salvador, 5 changes) and Elder Tilleman (Arizona,1 change) are in Ettiene. Overall we have a pretty young district. The work has been picking up a lot more in this week, we now are actually having more success.

It's kind of dificult, because my companion almost doesn't speak anything of Spanish, but he is learning. It is really cool being able to see the progress and be able to have studies that help him become a better missionary. We are really working on the Language so that he can start teaching more. My throat starts hurting when I have to teach almost the whole lesson, and do everything, but it is helping me learn a lot. Now in the whole world they are doing the 2 change (12 weeks) training program, and it's more than likely I will be with Elder Rodgers for at least the two changes.

This week we taught a Baptist pastor that lives in our area. I tried really hard to not let in go into a Bible Bash, because I know no matter how fun it might be, it really just isn't effective. We taught him all of lesson one, and he was very sceptical. At the end of the lesson, I asked him if God told him it was the truth, would he listen. He responed "nope." And started coming up with excuses. I was surprised by his response, and so I said, "I don't think you understood my question very well, I asked, if God tells you this is the true church, and that you should get baptized in it, then would you listen." He still said that he wouldn't listen even if God told him to. Sometimes I wonder how people can say they believe in god, and want to follow him, but yet when it comes down to it, they really don't have that desire at all. It really just makes me sad to see the lack of faith and understanding that a lot of these people have.

We have a family in our ward, Evelyn, and Emanuel. They are both fantastic, but have been having some marriage problems lately. Evelyn is very strong in the church and is working towards a temple marriage with Emmanuel. Unfortunatley Emanuel is a little more rebelious, and so we are working a lot with them to try and help them be able to work towards a temple marriage. That's about all that's new in this week. Love you guys tons, and I hope you are all well.

Les Quiero Mucho

~Elder Ryan Griffin