Mason's letter -- August 2, 2010

Hey familia mia.

Well this week was the week of changes and all of that so it has been pretty crazy for me. I have been praying a lot for a companion that wants to work because with my last one it was like I was just dragging around a suitcase all the time. And I got an answer to my prayers. So changes were on Wednesday, and the zone leaders kept saying stuff about how I didn't know what was coming at me. I didn't know what they meant until changes. Well turns out I'm training a new elder... and I'm the district leader as well. So that's a lot of new responsibility, but I'm ready for it all.

My companion is Elder Guzman from Guatemala. He is like 24 years old, really short, and he speaks perfect English. haha so we just speak English here now haha. He is really cool and a big blessing. He is really smart and has a strong testimony and loves to work hard with me. So we get along great. I was a little surprised at my call to be a district leader, but it's been great so far. Elder Jackson, my mtc comp, also was made a district leader but in another zone.

So we have been working a ton and running around doing my other responsibilities. I had to go on Saturday to do a baptismal interview and it went really well for being my first one. I hope we can animate the district to baptize and work hard. The last month there wasn't a single baptism in the district. But we already have one so we are doing good. I'm way excited to try to turn things around here. I know we will because we have good elders here now and they have been working really hard.

So this week we have found a lot of cool people and have made a lot of progress here. We received a referral here that we are going to help him get married and baptized in these next 2 weeks. It's a guy that lives here in my area that was baptized in Guatemala when he was working there for a while. So he told his "wife" to start going to church and she went and loves it. But she was going to a different chapel in my district because she didn't know about the chapel here in my area. Well she wants to get baptized and her "husband" got back from Guatemala last week and they want to get married now. He has a really strong testimony of the restored gospel. The only problem is that he goes back to Guatemala in 2 weeks for a month or two to get surgery. So he wants to get married right now and have her baptized right now. So we set some dates down and now I have to find a good lawyer that will do it. I'm really excited for them and they will be a wonderful family in the church. It was a huge blessing.

Also we had a less active family go to church yesterday that we have been working with. So in church yesterday the dad of the family was telling us that he really didn't want to go to church and he had a huge headache from all the stress and stuff in his life. He has always been a little hostile towards us when we go over to his house. He always just talks about how evil gringos are and how much bad stuff we do, and tries to get me mad. But I always keep my cool. Anyway Saturday night he went to sleep with the intention of not going to church on Sunday. But he had a dream that he was in church and that he bore his testimony and that he talked with the bishop and everything was fine in his life. He woke up with more peace and less of a headache. So he went to church... He didn't bear his testimony because he was too scared, but he did talk to the bishop. Afterwards he looked relieved and happy, and he actually smiled at me and said he will be waiting for us to come visit him this week! It was really cool.

Last night we were working and it was almost time to go home, so we were walking home and talking. And then I just was thinking about the mission and everything and I thought about my Patriarchal Blessing and the one part when it says ¨go the extra mile¨ in my mission. Well we had about 10 minutes left so I decided to contact one more street before going home "to go the extra mile." So we did it and at the end of the street we met a lady who's husband was an ex missionary but is now inactive. She got pregnant when they were dating so he stopped going to church but he always has bugged her about going to church again. So she told us that and I got her number and we are going to go by this week and teach them. So we were walking home and the husband drove by and rolled down the window and said that he will be waiting for us to come by. Me and my comp both felt really good about it, and I'm glad I listened to my blessing to be able to follow it and find the people that are ready to change their lives.

So this week was great and full of success and the spirit. We will continue working hard and the Lord will bless us. I love you all family. Hope you have great week!

Love Elder Mason Cardon