Mason's letter -- February 1, 2010

Hey Fam,

Sorry this email is a little late but we just got back from a zone activity. We went to a beach way out in the jungle to play around. So we took a few buses to go out there and when we got there it was pretty disappointing. The beach was really dirty, but it was still fun. We just threw the frisbee and played soccer. We actually played a game with the gringos vs the latins. They thought they were going to kill us because they are ¨the best´at soccer, but yeah us gringos killed them by like 5 goals. Go America! I'm glad I learned how to play soccer before the mission.

One day this week we spent a whole morning giving service to a community in the mountains. We made a whole entire street. And this street wasn't just a nice flat stretch of road. We had to pave a road with about a 60 degree upgrade. So we had to mix cement mix and sand on the ground with shovels and water and then carry the cement bucket by bucket up the hill and dump it on the road. Wow it was ridiculously hard. I have so much respect for the people that do that every day. I never thought I would take a cement truck for granted before.

We are still working hard and seeing results out here. We had 12 investigators at church this week and we have 3 baptismal dates for this Saturday. If we work hard this week we can baptize a lot this month. Right now it seems like we have so much to do these next few days, and it's a bit overwhelming. But it's a giant blessing to have so much work to do. I'm excited for this month. I hope I don't get a change and I stay here.

This weekend we worked with the AP. He was here in Miramar so he wanted to come work here for a few days. He came and we got a lot done with him. He is a really good missionary and always teaches me a lot. He was really pleased with our work and so is the president.

We have a really awesome investigator right now. Her name is Jaquay and she's like 20 years old. she's a really cool black girl and will be a really good member. She's getting baptized this Saturday. So we taught her about the law of tithing this last Saturday and she had a hard time grasping the math aspect. She's really intelligent but we had to get out paper and do some math problems with her to show her how much she needed to pay. haha it was reallly funny. But on Sunday she came to church and said to me, hey Elder Cardon I want to pay my tithing, where do I go to do it? So I showed her how to fill out the sheet and everything, but the counselor in the bishopric said she couldn't pay until she was a member. so she is going to keep it till Saturday. She's awesome and an inspiration to me. she just is so humble to accept the gospel and everything so fast. She is one of the ones that it talks about in the Book of Mormon being humble without being compelled to be humble by the Lord.

We have a couple right now that is really cool. they have a kid and they aren't married, so we have to marry them, but they are kind of against marriage because the lady's family hates the guy, Roberto (he's the guy that has revelations and stuff in dreams). So they are just too scared to tell her family that they want to get married. So we just spent a whole night trying to comfort them and encourage them that they can tell her family and they need to do it. Roberto seemed really pumped to go do it. He is funny cause he gets really pumped up when we come to his house. One time we just passed by to say hi and he was in the shower. So he came like running out of the shower with only some shorts on just to say hi. haha he's cool.

But we are really blessed right now with all the investigators and work. It's a struggle sometimes having 2 wards to juggle but it's all good. For example one girl lives in the boundaries of Independencia Ward but only wants to come to Miramar Ward, because she has a lot of good friends there.

Well, be good members and help the missionaries. Give the missionaries a bone and find a reference. It's cool to see members be a part of the work.

I love you all and I'm so glad for all your love and support. Thanks for all the letters this week!

Love Elder Mason Cardon