Half-way there!!

I have to tell you, I miss him!! Probably a little more than I thought I would. I am happy he has taken a liking to making his bed though. He is growing more than I thought possible in a month and that is a wonderful thing!



I think you'd be surprised at what I enjoy these days. Without actual entertainment it's surprising what you wind up enjoying after the withdrawal fades away. (It's worse for some people.) Just walking around while it's raining or making a lot of wind (that's a spanish expression, I can't think of how else to say that). Also, cleaning the bathrooms - let me just say that Dad was rather right about that. Almost all the others are vying constantly to get out of doing the toilets and sinks because it's 'gross' or whatever. That's one of the best activities. You end up in class a lot, as you may know. Getting out of it for any reason is spectacular, and if that thing happens to be surprisingly physical, so be it.

I took gym easy at first, but once I understood how much not-activity there would be in each day, I started doing the BFL 20-minute satan run and I've lost five pounds from it. Some missionaries in lunch lines or what have you say not to lose too much because you'll lose at least 15 in South America just walking around and being afraid of the food.

I even do my sheets right. It looks pretty good when you do it perfectly right. I may not be nuts about how long it takes, but I get it more now than I used to.

I have to shift gears because my notes are kind of disjointed. So here we go:

One of my pants got stuck on a metal thing and ripped (seam) under the pocket. It's not bad and is only thread, but I don't really know how to deal with it. It seems like the dry cleaner-alteration people could do it. I think that's what I'll do. What would you do?

Did you look throught Missionary Pal? Fantastic, isn't it? It wasn't printed for a long time because it almost encourages Bible-bashing, but it's still useful as heck. We have an investigator who doesn't understand the need for baptism, and I'm all ready to show him on wednesday. Maybe I can get a commitment out of him? That'd be cool.

On that note, if you were here, you'd realize that you have to be pushier than is comfortable. People don't want to change, even if they see the truth and feel it for themselves. It takes a little incisiveness to get anywhere. You'd think you'd just throw baptism in at the end of the last lesson and they'd just do it - not so. It's not terribly rare to ask at the first lesson, and you'd always mention it then in passing at least. It almost seems too fast, and it would be. If this were the wrong church. But since we know they need it, we don't feel bad about commiting them early. Turns out they don't have to know everything to be baptized.

It seems like I always am asking for something. Here we go again. CTR ring? They just look so official on missionaries. Come to think of it, I just realized I have no idea what size my finger is. I thought ten, but I'm not sure at all. However, since that was what my message was based on, here it goes anyway: Choose the Right. It translates a little differently in Spanish: Haz lo Justo. I think it's a little more meaningful this way. 'Haz' means do, but also make. Make the right? It's not just choosing. Sometimes it's making, too. This is a work of building. Not so much for us, but for others. If you want to study the Book of Mormon, study for someone else. Think about what could help them out of what you read. Reading to get through the book to say that you read it again for yourself is good, but what's better? What's best?

I'm getting acquainted with how loving those you teach and talk to and actually caring about them personally is most of missionary work. People know instinctively when you want to sell them something. No matter how fun it is to say missionary work is sales, or marketing, or a pyramid scheme or whatever, that's just not true. There's a tiny bit of that on the outset, such as looking and acting professional, but that's the beginning. That can get you through the gate, but you can still have a door slammed in your face. You have to be there because you care about them, not your church. When you listen to them and address their concerns like you would to a good friend, they take whatever you give them. What does this mean to you, though? Everything. When you talk to people, any people for any reason, realize that they are doing the best they can. Care.

Elder A Conrad Crist