Week 36: 4th of July? So?

Another week gone, another change gone.  It goes by so fast.  But that's what happens when you work hard.  Time just flies!

Yes, work.  The W-word.  Big scary word, I know.  However, it is the secret to our success.  As Ezra Taft Benson so wisely put it, "I have often said that one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. Work, work, work -- there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work."

So with that in mind, we went to work this week, with a prayer in our hearts that we would find people to teach.  The previous 5 weeks of the change we had an average of 5 lesson taught per week.  Completely unacceptable.  We needed to change it.  So we went to work.  We have walked just about every street in the area searching for people to teach: references, former investigators, contacts, everyone.  The hard work has paid off.  This week we had 15 lessons.  We have plans to set baptism dates with two of our new investigators this week.  They're already ready.  We found them ready.  The Lord prepared them, and we get to teach them.  He just needed us to show Him that He can trust us with them.

Love

Elder Colton West

El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission

Editor's Note: so I got an explanation on the burning of the clothes from last week. He said "They were the old, pit-stained beyond belief, torn clothes!"

Also, those of you that know Elder West well, know two things for sure: 1.) he is VERY patriotic and LOVES his country, and 2.) he is very sarcastic.   Thus the title of his email this week.  No disrespect intended.  He is just fully immersed in El Salvador and that country and culture for his time there. Plus my letter to him was titled "Happy belated 4th of July".  His typical sarcasm is to title his "so?" since he's in another country.

Bowling last P-day!
(Elder West is front and center and looks GREAT!)

District in Ilopango

Tortilla with Nutella. Actually quite delicious!

My agenda for this change.

Week 35: Winter in July

Hey everyone!

So we're writing a bit early today.  We've got a couple of activities going on today, so this is really our only option: write super early.  The whole zone is going to the stake center to make pizza with some members for a zone activity.  After that, Presidente Vasquez invited a bunch of the missionaries to go bowling!  I think it's just the zones in the San Salvador metropolitan area, but we'll see when we get there.

The Work has been going well here.  My companion and I have been looking for different ways to find new investigators.  This week we've focused on searching for former investigators who we find in the Area Book.  Turns out that that is a really good way to find good people to teach.  Sometimes people aren't ready to accept the gospel the first time that missionaries come by.  There are more reasons for why that happens than I care to count.  However, the Lord is always at work, preparing His children to receive His Gospel in their lives.  And even if they weren't quite ready to make the committment before, sometimes the second time around they're ready.  

So winter has officially started here.  The torrential downpours  are proof of that.

Photo: Elder Gallegos (who went home last change) left a bunch of clothes in the house.  So we burned them.

Love,

Elder Colton West

El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission

Editor's Note: usually when the missionaries leave to go home they give away most of their clothing to ward members or investigators in need. I'm not sure why in this case they chose to burn them!  Maybe they were not in very good shape. I've asked and hope to hear next week!  I know even hard-working missionaries still need to have "boys will be boys" moments.  So maybe it was one of those!  The fire was the ONLY pic he shared this week :(  so I am sharing one of my faves of him this week as well :)

We can tell Elder West was anxious to get off to that pizza making and bowling! We hope to hear more about his investigators, companion and the rain next week!

One of mom's faves

Oh my! boys will be boys!