Mason's Letter -- April 23, 2011

Hey familia,

This week has thankfully been a normal one. We have basically just been in the office because it's interview week with the President. So all the missionaries come into the office in the mornings and while they are waiting for their interviews, my companion and I have to review their area books. So really it's pretty boring. There are a lot of elders that don't care at all about their area books and that bugs me. Very few of them had really great and updated ones. So I'm getting kinda sick of being at the office, but luckily we just have one more week of interviews and then we get to head out to Ceiba and Colon. So at least I will be getting to travel a little bit. Sadly we don't get to go to the islands this time....I don't think I will get to be able to go back there while being in the mission. Maybe though, who knows.

We have also had time this week to work in our area a bit. There is a cool mountain in the area with a ton of huge houses, so we climbed it and contacted all the houses. It was fun, but we didn't find anything haha. But we have received a few good references there and we have a new plan to work with the members that should be really good. So we hope that we can find some new people to teach soon. The branch only needs 3 more Melchizedek Priesthood holders and it will become a ward. So we are really trying to find chosen men in the area.

Yesterday we went on divisions with the zone leaders to do some of their baptismal interviews. I had one of the coolest experiences of my mission in one of the interviews. So I went into the interview with this lady that has had a few doubts about everything. Her husband and son had already passed their interviews. So she started off with a powerful testimony of Joseph Smith and how she had prayed to know if he was a prophet and she received a warm feeling wrapping her whole body and she knew it was from God. So we felt really good in the interview, but when I asked her if she believed Thomas S. Monson was a prophet she said she didn't know who he was (this happens sometimes in the interviews) so I took out a picture of him and explained all about how Joseph Smith had died but how God has continued to call prophets today.

She looked at the picture for a good while and said she didn't like the idea of there being a prophet and 12 apostles today. She said she didn't know if he was a prophet and that she couldn't be baptized in the church. So the whole interview started going down hill really quick. I explained for a while about prophets and the organization of the primitive church and everything, and said if she knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet then she would know that Thomas S. Monson was also a prophet. But she was being really hard. So finally I asked her how she found out if Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said because she had prayed and God had answered her.

So I asked her how she could find out if Thomas S. Monson was a prophet...she said, "I dont know." I asked her, well couldn't you ask God about him too? She said, "Oh yeah I definitely could." So I explained that she would receive an answer about him by praying. She said she would pray. But I said well let's do a prayer right now and you will ask God right now. She agreed. I told her to take the picture and look at it and then pray, and then look at the picture and meditate and listen to her feelings. So she prayed and it was really powerful. She was really sincere and you could tell she honestly wanted a answer and she really needed one.

I was praying super hard as well in my heart that God would answer her prayers in that moment. I can't lie, I wasn't sure she would receive an answer right on the spot or not. As you all know many times God does not answer instantaneously. The majority of times He answers us slowly and with diligent reading and prayer, like David Bednar explained in his talk on revelation in conference. Well in her prayer she stopped and went silent for a good minute or so. I kinda looked up at her and she was just sitting there with her eyes closed with the picture in her hands. Then she ended in the name of Jesus Christ and looked at the picture. I was thinking about what to say if she told me that she didn't feel anything...but she looked up and I asked, "Well?" She just simply said "He said yes".

Wow! It was really awesome and she explained what she had felt. She had a ton of faith to be able to receive and answer like that right on the spot. But I know God answered her prayers right there because it was such a critical time and crucial moment. Then we just finished the other questions and she passed fine. But overall it was like an hour and a half long interview and was super intense. Elder Andersen was outside freaking out because we took so long. but it was a way cool experience.

So that's basically my week. Here in the country it has been Holy Week. So the city has basically shut down, there isn't anyone in the streets. Everyone is on the beaches and all the stores are closed. It's so weird how a city of over a million people can look like a ghost town haha. The only people still here are the Mormons and the hobos. Also this month was a terrible month for baptisms, there were a lot of factors that affected us this month. But next month we all are positive and feel like we will baptize a lot more than 300.

Love you all, have a great week,

Elder Mason Cardon