Mason's Letter -- September 12, 2011

Hey everyone,

Well this is my last full week in the mission field. I feel normal and actually I don't think it has hit me yet that all of this will soon come to an end. I'm so thankful that I could serve here in Galeras and meet these wonderful people. I have been too busy to be able to think about home. Also I don't want to talk about it to my comp and rub it in his face because I don't want him to get too homesick. So all that helps me to keep focused and working hard.

Mom, I found your package this week. Apparently Pres Veirs was going to bring it to me, but left it in a chapel about 5 hours away from here...good one Pres. So I heard a few rumors that some bishop had my package so I made a few calls and found it. Now my zone leaders have it and I should get it tomorrow. So it got to me before I left the mission...thanks mom!

This week we had our baptism of the Bautista family. They were so excited all week and it was probably the most spiritual baptismal service that I have ever been to. We prepared everything really well. I bought a cake, and there was some good member support. The sad thing was that the branch Pres couldn't make it...so we were the only priesthood present, so the elders from the other area here had to stay and be the witnesses. But it was super awesome and afterward sister Bautista shared a powerful testimony. I felt so happy that we got everything worked out with them. Unfortunately the husband had to work and leave town, so he didn't show up and couldn't go to church. We are still working with him, but he's still a little bit hard. I feel like I have really made a connection with him, and his wife says that he respects me a lot. So that has helped to break the barrier.

Our other family will be baptized this weekend...my last baptisms...and a complete family. That will be awesome. But our goal is 8 baptisms for this month and we have been working hard towards it, and we still need 2 more. So we prayed for that, and got a reference this week that we put a date for the 24th of this month, and an 18 year old showed up to church Sunday that we had invited in the street on Saturday, and we put the baptismal date in the investigator class for the 24th as well and he accepted. So the Lord has blessed us to be able to get our goal this month. I know that it will get done, and I feel happy to leave the mission like this.

Also I feel happy this week because I found out that in the area that we worked in when I was AP, an investigator that we had got baptized on Saturday! Rodas and I had started to teach him, his wife is a member. So we started to work on him and it was really hard at first and he didn't want anything with us at all, and many times he wouldn't receive us. Then with Elder Lopez, we continued there, and one day he just came out of him room after rejecting us and said that he had a weird strong all of the sudden desire to listen to us. Every time after that he listened to us intently. However, we tried many times to get him to church and he kept saying that he didn't feel a desire yet and that one day he would go, and when he would go he would be there to stay. So we kept pushing him, and when I left the area he decided it was time and he went to church and got baptized.

I feel good because we tried so hard with him and kept being persistent, and the Lord changed his heart.
 
I'm excited for this week. I love this work and I don't know what I will do with out it. I wish I could do this for my whole life. And I suppose that I will, because it doesn't stop here.
 
Love Elder Mason Cardon