Mason's letter -- 26 July, 2010

Hey familia,

Well another really hot, really fast week here in SPS. I am glad you weren't complaining mom about the air conditioner....but come on. and good call with the cheese packets. haha I never realized how much I actually learned from your frugality until I came here on the mission. I'm actually a really good money saver and I hate to buy new stuff. Sometimes my comps get mad at me because I'm so cheap (but latins don't know how to spend money so I don't take offense to it) haha. I only buy things that are on sale here in the stores. so you can be proud of that.

So we found out the changes this week, and Elder Simon has a change. I had kinda figured that that was gonna happen, so no real surprise. We will see what happens to me. I have heard rumors that I'm gonna be training, But you never know. I'm excited for the new changes, I need a companion who actually cares about missionary work. haha

This week was a pretty good one with all the lessons. We had interviews with President Veirs this Wednesday and they went really good. We talked a lot about the changes he is going to do here. we are going to start activating a lot of the less actives. He told me that in one stake here there are 6000 members... and only 2000 of them are active. That's a low percentage. I think there has been a lot of pressure to baptize here in this mission (it being the number one in the world for baptisms) so many have just baptized for numbers and not really had many conversions. So Pres Veirs is focusing on actual conversions and not just baptisms. I really like that and have been thinking a lot about that this week and I have been looking for future Priesthood leaders. Then I got a few letters this week from some converts in La Ceiba, and they are truly converts. Jackie is doing way good and will be going to the temple this next year, and is 100 percent sure that she will be going to a mission. That's so tight. I let another Elder here read the letter and he is preparing to go home almost, and he told me that he has never once received a letter like that from a convert. I hope to have many more letters like that throughout my whole mission.

So we passed by an excommunicated member...an ex-bishop this week. the 1st counselor asked us to go and visit him. He was a bishop twice in one of the strongest wards here in the mission. He has been excommunicated for like 5 years or more, I'm not really sure. But his sons have all gone on missions and are still strong in the church. But now he is living in a tiny one room apartment away from all his family and his wife. It's a really sad story. So we went there one night. We read with him Lehi's dream (one thing the president told me to do with less actives) and I asked him at the end where he was in this dream. He thought a little bit and confessed that he was in the great and spacious building, in the world. I agreed with him and then said that God loves us so much that he has given us repentance, and even those in the world can get back onto the right path and grasp the iron rod once again.

I bore a testimony to him that it was not too late to make this repentance and return to the path, that it would be difficult but possible. We felt the spirit really strongly. At first he wasn't paying much attention, but at one point he just starting paying a lot of attention and was listening intently. He expressed his desire to repent but wasn't sure if right now he was prepared to do it. I explained that by small and simple things he can prepare himself, he said he will come to church this next week and will read a chapter in the book of Mormon that I left him. We then asked him to give the closing prayer, and in the middle of his prayer he stopped for about 2 minutes, and silently cried. I knew that God was witnessing to him through the Holy Ghost that He STILL loved him, through all the sins. i know that's what he felt because I was praying for that.

On Sunday we passed by a family of a father (Javier) and his 2 little sons of 9 (Answar) and 6 (Andrik) years old. the father has dengue, but the sons went with us and the 9 year old invited all his friends haha. So we took 5 little kids to church. we passed by one of his friends house, and the 9 year old yelled to him to wake up and shower and get dressed because he is going to church in 5 minutes. and 5 minutes later out came two twins all ready to go, but their eyes were still asleep haha. it was pretty tight that that little kid did all of that. So last night we went by all of the families of the little kid´s friends. The families seem pretty cool and we will keep teaching them. Tonight we are going over to Javier's house to watch a church movie with all the neighborhood kids haha.

That's about all that happened this week. I hope everything goes great this next week for you all and for me with my new comp.

I love you all,

Love Elder Mason Cardon