Mason's letter -- July 19, 2010

Hey familia,

I hope everyone had a great week. Well I hit the 10 month mark in the mission this week, Thats a pretty big stepping stone I would say. It's crazy how fast the mission goes!

But this week was a pretty good one. We continue to work hard amidst all the disappointments of the area. We had the best numbers of the whole district this last week so we feel good about the work that we are doing. We had 6 investigators go to church this last week so that was a big step up from all the other weeks. We found some solid baptisms for August so we are excited about that.

We tried to start working a lot more with the members this week So we organized 2 ward activities to try and animate them. Well the activity we were going to do on Friday wasn't so great. We planned it really good and were going to watch a church movie in the park and invite all of the neighborhood and friends of the members. Well we were supposed to be there at 5 pm to set it all up, and we were going to start at 7 pm. We didn't end up getting things set up until 8:30. By then some people had to leave and so we watched the movie with like 5 members...

Then on Sunday we had an activity after church just for the members to teach them how to talk to their friends and participate in missionary work. Only about 10 members showed up for that. But in the activity the members began to express how they need to change to help us more. So we just stopped the activity and brainstormed with the members that were there what we needed to do and organize to help change the ward. So it actually turned out really good and we really animated the members that showed up. We are going to have another meeting with all of them this Wednesday to put into action some good plans and organizations to help in missionary work. So things will be changing here.

We were working a little bit this week in a super poor area--the area that you saw in a few pictures of the bday party, We met a bunch of gringos from San Diego California. There was a big group of them doing a service here. They set up 600 water filters in the area. So we (well I) talked to them for awhile about things. It was weird to talk to Americans again. They were appalled at the living conditions. I just said yeah, well I've lived here for 10 months now so I don't even notice anything abnormal anymore haha. But it was fun to talk to them.

Also this week I bought 14 new ties. A less active family here lives behind a used clothes store. But here's the catch... they were only 50 cents each haha. They are actually really nice used American ties, But some of them are brand new and actually really cool. So I bought a bunch of them, I mean for 7 bucks 14 ties??? Then I looked at where most of the clothes came from and they are from the Salvation Army haha. But I think the ties are way cool, Right now I'm wearing a plaid tie made from wool that was made in Scotland. Pretty legit.

This will be the last full week before the changes come. I think Elder Simon will leave, and who knows what I will do. I'm excited to see what happens and I'm ready to turn things around here in the ward. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all.

love Elder Mason Cardon