Aqualung

I've got a cold right now, which is about the only down side to a pretty good week.

 

This week was Alex's baptism. He's the 20 year old son of a recent convert. He's a really solid kid. He even comes to church in a white shirt and a tie. I'm pretty excited to see what he can add to the branch. Everybody in the branch was pretty excited for his baptism. There was actually a pretty big turnout. The only scary part was when Elder Scott was doing the baptism he'd forgot to ask his full name. So it took him about 20 tries but finally he got it. I was one of the witnesses and kept having to call for do overs. He kept wanting to include his nickname "Alex" instead of his real name "Manuel Alejandro."

 

After the baptism we went to Alex's house for a carne asada. His mom was pretty excited that he got baptized so she threw a little fiesta. The food was good and we even got to listen to the member of our branch who's in a mariachi band sing a couple of songs. He's probably one of my favorite members up here. Aside from being a professional mariachi, he also speaks really good spanglish. He sprinkles his Spanish pretty literally with heaping helpings of English with a thick Spanish accent.

 

In other news, our branch presidency attendance was once again 1/3. I guess we should be thankful that our second counselor didn't get deported. He got arrested this week but apparently he showed them his temple recommend and they let him go. The only problem is that now his car is impounded...again.

 

We also received some good news last night. Our investigator family that's waiting on the dad finding a job not on Sundays might be able to get baptized really soon (please pray for them!). He might be able to get a job in construction that would let him come to Church this upcoming week. And even if he doesn't get that job he'll get his work permit in a month and with that it'll be pretty easy to find a job not on Sundays. That's a huge blessing that I've been praying and fasting for.

 

I went down to Phoenix again for a leadership meeting this week. It actually made me kinda sad. I felt really old when I realized that most of my friends have gone home. Still, it didn't make me miss Phoenix one bit. I love the weather up here. The only bad thing is occasionally getting eaten alive by mosquitos.

 

Transfers are coming up next week. I really want a companion that's solid and self-sufficient. I kinda get tired having to play cleanup. This week Elder Scott got mad because we didn't make it to the first vision in a lesson. I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling him that our lessons take so long because his teaching's incomprehensible and I have to reteach everything he says. If there's one thing that irritates me, it's when my companions start lecturing me on things that they don't do well at all. The guy we were teaching didn't even understand what a prophet was and so I asked Elder Scott how he supposed he would understand the Joseph Smith story if he didn't even know what a prophet was. He didn't seem to get my point. One thing I've gotten really tired of on my mission is teaching a whole first lesson and the person not understanding one bit of it. I'd rather teach slow and help them understand than teach the whole thing and the only thing they take away is that Mormons believe in some Smith guy.

 

It should start cooling down here soon. I'm excited.

Love,

Elder Grasley

P.S. Sara, my letter to you from a month ago got sent back by the USPS. Sorry.