Week 100: Just Dunk It!

Wow, this is the second to last time I'm going to be doing this.  How strange.

Baggy moment aside, we had a pretty good week this week.  The absolute best part was getting to baptize one last time.  That's right, we had a baptism!  Rafael was baptized on Saturday September 26th.  I am super grateful for the chance to baptize one last time in the mission field.

Other than that...  Well, we're working with Rodolfo and his family to help them proggress enough to get baptized.  Really, they are already ready, but we just have to help them understand that.  I'm hoping that Elder McDaniel will baptize them shortly after I leave.  We just have to have a grown-ups only talk with Rodolfo and Julia and get them to decide if they're going to get married or if Rodolfo is going to move out.  That will be for sometime this week.

Well, that's all for now.

Til next week!

Love,

Elder Colton West

El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission

We took a goofy picture after doing some boxing traning with former
Central American boxing champion, Tony Portillo. The hats were his idea.

There was  a cow chowing down on the church lawn a few days ago!

And then a few days later we found a tarantula on the wall of the church

Best for last: Rafael's baptism photo!

Week 99: Happy Independence Day!

So this week we celebrated Salvadorean Independence Day.  It was pretty awesome.  We celebrated by going out and doing a contacting activity close to the parade route. We gave out free water and took pictures of people with the Salvadorean flag as a backdrop.  We're going to print out the photos and take them to the people this week.

We have a baptism for this weekend!  He's a 15 year old kid named Rafael.  He's the son of a recent convert who was baptised about 4 months ago.  When his mom got baptized, he didn't want anything to do with the church.  But she didn't give up on him.  She has been trying to share the gospel with him as much as possible since her baptism.  And the hard work has paid off.  Rafael wants to be baptized!  We're planning the baptismal service for 8:00 on Saturday Morning.  A bit early, but the whole ward is going to be a bit busy in the afternoon, celebrating a wedding.  So the baptism will be in the morning.  But the important thing is that Rafael is going to be baptized!

Things are going very well with training Elder McDaniel.  He is on fire!  Always finding scriptures to share in the lessons, helping with the lessons as much as his language skills allow, contacting, everything!  I know that the area is going to be in good hands when I leave.

Well, I'm out of things to write about.  Til next week!

Love,

Elder Colton West

El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission

Elder Vasquez & I

Elder McDaniel & I. Those are legit sombreros!

Elder McDaniel and I at our Independence Day activity

Elder McD in a torrential downpour.

The street turned into a river.  So I decided to go stand in the middle 

on a chunk of pavement.  The rest of the pavement has been 

washed away by the awesome tropical rain storms.

My area.  Pretty awesome.

Distrito Usulutan Sur. 
Left to right: Elder McDaniel, Elder Eve, Elder Dunkle,
Elder Slighting, Elder Fernandez, and Elder West.

Pizza with the Bishop and his family.

The bishop's niece got married on Saturday. 
The happy couple will be sealed in the San Salvador temple this
Thursday, and the reception will be Saturday afternoon