Mason's Letter -- November 22, 2010

Familia,

Well this week was pretty good, a little bit hectic but good. I got mom's Christmas package and grandma's too. They got here pretty fast actually so that was a nice surprise. Thanks a lot for all that, I am waiting until Christmas to open it up though.

So this week was a week of doing errands for the zone and stuff. We had to go to San Pedro a couple of times this week. One day we had to go and my comp had to take an English test for BYU in the mission office. So I just went around town with the secretaries and they let me drive the mission car around San Pedro. So that was pretty fun and the first time that I've driven in 14 months. It felt good--really
good. haha.

Also I got to work in the area, because my comp went on divisions to another area. So I was in the area with another semi-new gringo. I feel like I am getting to train every single elder in the zone haha. He was really timid and wouldn't talk to anyone. So the whole time I was just trying to boost his confidence and tell him how good his Spanish was. So I think that helped him out a bit. I made him teach and talk a lot so hopefully he learned some stuff.

Then Saturday and Sunday I went on divisions to another area. I had to go to the area that is having a ton of problems with the elder who is flirting a lot. He is training a gringo right now so yesterday early in the morning we had to travel to San Pedro. We had to go a a really nice hotel to meet Elder Clark (of the area presidency) there. In the hotel I saw the most Americans that I've seen for 14 months, and they were all LDS as well. They were there in San Pedro doing a free dental clinic in the stake center. So it was fun to talk to them and stuff. Also, I got to meet President Clark. He made me feel really good and told me to keep up the good work and to keep helping the elders. Whenever I meet an area authority I feel like they stare straight into your soul. I hope he saw some good things in
my soul. 

So that was a fun morning with President Clark. Then Pres Viers took us over to his condo and he cooked us some eggs and bacon and toast with raspberry jam. It was awesome, I felt like dad was making me some breakfast just like the good ol' days. Then he drove us home and we went to church. Then Sunday afternoon I just tried to work really hard in the area. It was absolutely dead so we had to revive it. Also the new gringo doesn't know the area still so we got lost a few times haha. But basically I just went to a bunch of members and worked all day with the ward mission leader. 

We got a lot of good stuff going in their area and we gained back a lot of respect from the church leaders and members. There are a lot of references and stuff there, but they are holding them until the one elder leaves so they can give them to good missionaries. It was really sad to hear that. The new missionary got really animated though. He said it was the hardest he had ever worked in his mission and he felt really good about it and he felt the spirit a lot. I told him that's how it should be everyday. Hopefully I helped him out a bit as well.

So now I'm in my area. I came home to find a dvd player in the home...pretty sure my comp was watching some worldly movies while I was gone...oh well only 1 more week with him hahah.

But this week was really good. I felt like I could really help out the zone a lot and that the spirit was guiding me a lot in the things I was saying to the people and to the missionaries. If things go good this weekend, we will end up with about 33 baptisms in the zone. That's a pretty good number. We also have 2 more baptisms planned for this weekend so we will end with 9 baptisms this month. I'm pretty excited for that.

Oh thanks for reminding me about Thanksgiving. I had completely forgotten haha. 

Love you all. Have a good week!

Love Elder Mason Cardon