Mason's letter -- October 4, 2010

Hey familia,

I will answer your questions first. Ok, so long sleeve shirts would probably be way too hot. I have 2 long sleeve shirts and I only use them when I absolutely have to because they are way too hot. To tell the truth so are short sleeve shirts. I wish we could wear tank tops, flip flops, and shorts with a tie but that isn't allowed (don't ask me, the mission rules sometimes don't make sense). haha So if you could, short sleeve ones would be appreciated. Also, that's fine about the shoes. It's just that I will most likely be leaving SPS here in October, so I won't be here for Christmas (just my guess). So I dunno what you want to do about that, maybe you can send me money early and I can buy them in the next few weeks as like a Halloween gift or something. So just tell me what you think about that.

Well this week was really good. We got to enjoy conference here in SPS and it was really spiritual and awesome. On Saturday we just stayed the whole entire day in the stake center for all 3 sessions, and we all went and ate out during the breaks. So it was really fun and a nice little break from the routine of the mish. Unfortunately the ¨gringo¨ room (in English) had had the air conditioner stolen, so we had to watch it without air. But it was still great. We always have benefits of being in a room together away from everyone else though, like we get to eat candy and stuff. It makes it feel like home a little bit. I think at home I always took conference for granted and didn't really listen that well, but I've really learned how important it is to listen well for Heavenly Father's messages to me. I am always intrigued to hear how there are always common themes in every conference, even when the apostles never know what the others will speak about. It's truly revelation from God. Some few common themes that I noticed in the conference were:

1. FOLLOW THE PROPHET (2 people spoke on the 14 fundamentals of a prophet, we should probably study those)

2. SMALL SINS can destroy us over time and the importance of REPENTANCE

3. the HOLY GHOST and His role and blessing

4. AGENCY and the importance of making right decisions.

So yeah it was awesome. I guess my companion told me that in the Spanish sessions the translators had some serious problems translating Thomas S. Monson´s stories and improv stuff that he always does at the beginning of his talks. haha the one where he was singing that little song on the piano or something I guess the translators would just go quiet not knowing what to say and then another translator would grab the microphone and talk a bit and try to describe the joke and then another would grab it and try to describe a little more hahaha at the end, none of the Spanish speakers had any idea what was going on. haha so I hope Brock didn't struggle too much with that. It was really funny though. and yeah in the Priesthood session I saw a few guys I knew from high school in the choir. That is weird that I'm already at a year and they are just barely going in. Also it's weird to think that I will just be watching one more general conference in the mission field!

This week was really great weather. It was cloudy all week with light rain. I guess there was a hurricane that hit in Central America, but it died off before it got to Honduras, So that made the weather really cool (when I say cool I mean maybe below 90 degrees... maybe). and we found some great people this week. I'm really excited about Fernando (the guy that we kept contacting at the perfect times). He is a true seeker of the truth and has been reading and praying a lot and he feels a really strong desire to go to church and keep reading the Book of Mormon. We gave him another Book of Mormon, one for his house and one for his work!

He's so cool, yesterday his friends and family had been saying a bunch of crazy rumors about the church to him so he asked us a bunch about those rumors yesterday. We assured him of everything and taught him what we really believe. He said he would just tell his family that he was still going to go to church to see what it was all about and that he didn't know why but the desire in him to keep investigating was so strong and that he feels like this is what God wants for him. So his family just said well go and try it and if it's good then tell us and we will go with you. So that's awesome! I know he will progress well and be baptized, he will be a great Priesthood leader.

So that's all that happened this week. It went by really fast so I don't have much to say. I'm excited for tomorrow because I get to go do some baptismal interviews for some people we put the dates on 2 weeks ago in an area here in the zone. I'm excited to hear that they are progressing well and will be baptized.

I love you all family. Thanks for everything.

Elder Mason Cardon