2.28.11

Good morning fam!
This past week was pretty good. We were able to teach more lessons with members and recently they are trying harder to help us out. I think we are gaining their trust back since my last companion. So that is good. As for investigators, André (16) and Silas (19) weren´t baptized on sat. They were supposed to be but André´s mom didn´t give permission for him to be, and Silas didn´t pass the interview. I guess he doesn´t have a testimony of Joseph Smith, which is pretty important. I am trying to figure out why he accepted to be baptized into this church if he doesn´t know it is true... haha. We will work with him this week to get an answer to his prayers. And we are also working with Andre´s mom to get permission. Hopefully we can get them baptized on the 5th. That would be a good present for me.

As for Italo....UGH!!!! We had a great lesson with him on Tuesday, and the spirit was strong. He was excited for baptism and I thought ´this time is going to be different, he is going to be baptized this time.´ I made it very clear that he needs to come to church before his baptism and if he doesn´t he cannot be baptized. So we scheduled some more appointments with him and every single day we passed by there and he was gone. Then Sunday came and went and he did not come to church. So, he will not be getting baptized. It is one of the hardest things I have done so far is to drop Italo. It makes me so sad. As long as I am still here we will pass by every once in a while, but he is a dropped investigator now. He is keeping all of the commandments, except the Sabbath day. I really hope he will be baptized in the future and that all this work didn´t go to waste. I really like Italo. It is really too sad that he won´t be baptized. It is a little discouraging, but.... what can ya do. I gave it my best with him.

Geovanny and Vera are not married yet. They were dificult to find in their house this last week so we weren´t able to meet with them about marriage. I am getting the vibe that my comp wants to give up on them, but I won´t let it happen. Vera isn´t totally into the lessons yet and doesn´t keep commitments, but Geovanny is doing well and I think as he progresses, Vera will come slowly but surely.

I was watching a little boy in church yesterday durning the sacrament. After the sacrament was passed to him and his mom he followed his moms example perfectly. She closed her eyes and folded her arms and he looked up and did the exact same thing. Like every five seconds he would open one eye and check to see if his mom was doing something different, and if she was he would copy her exactly. It was a cute thing to watch. It made me think of how I should do the same thing and keep an eye on my mom to to way I should act. And also the Savior because he gave us the perfect example. I need to follow his example and open an eye every once in a while to make sure I am still doing what is right.

Oh, and things with my companion are ok. I love Elder Donizeti. He is a good missionary when we leave the house. ( a little lazy in the house for study and things, but no one is perfect). He is a little down on the mission right now and is havin problems staying positive and excited. But for the most part we are doing great and helping a lot of people. There could be a transfer today. but the official one isn´t for 3 more weeks. Really, there could be a transfer anytime, anyday. Americans get visas and other things happen that there could be a transfer whenever President feels like it haha. It is good that way so people work hard all the time instead of just at the end of a transfer.

Thank you for the updates on your lives. It sounds like the trading deadline in the NBA came. What are the Jazz doing? They had a good playoff team for a lot of years and they trade all the players away to start over? that is a little strange. But thank you for the sports updates. I know I shouldn´t be worried about it, but I like to know what is going on. It will be tough to not watch a single game of march madness... haha. Go Kansas!

It is strange that I am only a teenager for one more week. 20 seems so old to me. I feel old just thinking about it. I am not going to be doing anything too special for my birthday. It is right in the middle of Carnival down here. Carnival starts Friday and goes till Tuesday. We have to go to our house every day at 5 pm during those days. It will be pretty boring.

But anyway... Thanks for the letters on the Sabbath day. I will use some of the things from our lives to help explain to investigators why it is important. You guys are the best. I love you all so much and have a great week! I miss you!
Isaac