Mas Letter -- May 14, 2011

Hey familia,

It was way fun to Skype last Sunday. Yes Cal is a stud haha. And was my haircut really that bad? I actually really like it to tell you the truth... the shorter it is, the less hot I get and the less I have to pay for constant haircuts. Yeah the secretary told me the other day that he bought my plane ticket.... weird.... no more talking about that, it makes me too sad.

This week was an interesting week. There is an area here that has really been struggling for a long time. It's an area that is way far away from everything else, so it's not part of a stake or a distict, just part of the mission. So to say the least there is a lot of apostasy there. Well, the branch is basically crumbling and falling apart. there used to be like 3 branches over there, but all have been closed down (the branch presidents and other preisthood leaders went inactive) and it looks like the same is happening again.

So the missionaries have been super discouraged with the work and basically haven't done anything for a while. So my comp and I took a trip down there to go work with them and see what was happening. So I went and talked with the branch president and he is super cool and a way good leader, but he is basically doing everything by himself, with help from the missionaries. His counselors have all gone inactive, as well as the elder's quorum president and other men. there are only 2 active preisthood men in the branch.

I went and visited one of the counselors that is going inactive and it was an interesting visit. He is basically against the branch president and thinks he is evil and running things wrong and his wife was really bitter and cold to us, I'm not sure why. He is a returned missionary and everything. So we worked with all of them, but there are just really big problems down there, and I really don't have the authority or the experience to solve branch problems like that, I'm only in charge of the missionary work.

It's really sad though, because the missionaries dont even want to baptize because they know the people will go inactive. All of the baptisms within the last 2 years have been that way, and all the investigators that they take to church never end up going back beacuse they don't like it. so it's really tough. I've never seen the church fall into apostasy like that before. Now I can see how the primitive church of Jesus Christ fell away. But we returned on Wednesday and explained all that stuff to president veirs, and now he will make a decision. We talked a little bit about combining the 2 branches that are there before they both die out. Maybe that will happen.

But while I was there I got sick from eating some nasty tortillas and beans that some lady made us. So I've been throwing up with diarrhea ever since... not fun. But I'm finally feeling better.

On Thursday we made the changes. They are looking pretty good and we did it fairly fast this time. but i will be here in the office another change.

This next week is all the crazyiness with changes and the newbies coming in. It will be fun, I'm always excited for change week.

Well I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Mason Cardon