Mason's Letter -- February 19, 2011

Familia,

Hey so this week has gone pretty good for me. I'm sorry to hear about all the crap you have to go through dad. You are definitely doing a lot more than me though I think. haha I was thinking the other day, man, it would be nice to just be done dealing with all these problems...but it actually looks like as you go on in life we just have to deal with more and more. I dont know if we will ever get a break. Imagine how our Heavenly Father feels with sooo many problems in the world, I'm sure He's grateful for people like you who, instead of making more problems, solve them.

On Sunday we got the confirmation of Francisca done. It went really good and she's progressing really well in the gospel. We went over to her house unannounced the other day and we caught her just sitting on the floor of her house (they don't have furniture) reading the Book of Mormon. It was way cool, and we almost just wanted to walk away and let her keep reading.

On Monday we had the Pday of the sisters. So yeah...do I need to say more? Basically they were supposed to play soccer and basketball and other games, but in the end they all just showed up to chit chat. Typical. But they did start playing stuff after awhile and they had fun. My comp and I were their little slaves making sure everything was ok. One sister just showed up to the pday with a piñata. So I had to go buy candy for it and set it up. haha.

On Tuesday we went to the zone meeting here in San Pedro Sula. We did the training things and got the missionaries pumped up. Then after that my comp and I went on divisions in Castaños, my old area. That area is just absolutely dead right now. After Elder Guzman and I left, they have only had 1 baptism. Yeah like 6 months without anything. It's true that it's a hard area, but it's definitely possible to find God's chosen children there. The elder from that area called me the other day trying to get advice to what he needed to do to baptize there (I guess their bishop said that if they wanted to baptize they had to ask me how to do it haha). I really had no secret to tell him, I just told him to have faith and to work really hard. So we went back there to try and get things going again.

When I was there I just could remember all the hard times I had there but also all the things I learned while being there. I really learned a ton in that area and I'm grateful that I went there. That's where I became a man...well if you can call me a man yet. But I felt really satisfied with the work that I was able to do there, and I felt blessed that God gave me a few baptisms as well. So that was a fun day. I saw a few converts and they are still doing great. Also I went to a bunch of old investigators that stopped progressing, and basically all of them wanted to hear the missionaries again. So hopefully they can have some success with that. Also on Tuesday I got another ingrown toe nail taken out.

On Wednesday we had to plan for the changes. We got to Pres' house early in the morning and started it up. We all could feel the guidance of the Spirit and it was really awesome. This time it only took us 8 hours to do it, when last time it took us 11. It went really smooth. Last time there were a bunch of things that we didn't feel good about. But this time everything felt really good. It's crazy how time flies when you are doing the changes. It feels like we are in there for only a few hours at most. It's really a cool experience. I know that they are definitely inspired. We only had to change a few things around on Friday just to finalize things.

On Thursday we did the same thing as Tuesday, just that we did it in the zone of Progreso. I feel like the training things we are doing are really helping. I guess after that meeting, the sisters of that zone went out and tried the techniques and they worked and were able to put some baptismal dates. Also that day I went on divisions. I went with some elders who aren't having much success right now. They have two baptismal dates, but just of 2 little girls like 8 and 9 years old. So I thought that was weird...and against the rules since they never asked the President's permission.

They said the mom didn't want to get baptized and stuff, so I went over to their house to see what was up. The mom of the girls was way nice and stuff and we asked her if she would go to church and she said yes. So then I just challenged her right there for baptism and she said yes. So we set the date for 2 weeks and she accepted to get baptized with her little girls in 2 weeks. Ummm...so what were the missionaries thinking? haha they just had to not be scared and be direct with her. That's kind of a problem in the mission, that so many missionaries are so indirect and scared to challenge people, so they just baptize little kids. I remember when I was in the MTC, One teacher who had come to this mission said that Satan would tempt us to waste our whole time just getting the easy baptisms of 10 year old girls. But he told us that if we looked for Priesthood and adults we would see miracles...and it's so true.

Today we had to get up early to go solve another emergency. I dunno why emergencies always happen on my pday. But I guess 2 elders got into a fight and they were almost about to beat each other up and they called the President saying that they couldn't handle it anymore. So my comp and I went over there this morning to work things out. We just sat them down and did like a marriage counseling thing haha. They just started complaining about each other like little kids. So we just talked to them and stuff and gave them advice and kinda chopped them up a little bit. My comp is really good at just chopping people up, so he did well. Then I always kinda heal their wounds with encouragement and nice words haha. It's a good companionship. So they were all happy at the end and we felt way good with them and they said they were going to fast and pray together that day to figure things out. We hope that it works out.

So that was my week. Kinda boring I know, but it went good. Oh, we had some really spiritual experiences with one of our investigators this week. He has been refusing to pray, but he always reads the Book of Mormon. So we felt like he was scared he would receive and answer and have to go to church. But he has always been like a sad, depressed person. So we did our little work, with my comp chopping him up a bit and me encouraging. And he really humbled himself and almost cried I think. So the next time we went back he had prayed and he was way happy and everything had changed in him. So now we are preparing him for baptism in March. It was really cool.

Thanks for everything, I got your package, it was great thanks!! I love you all.

Elder Mason Cardon