"Turning Around"

AYE AYE AYE ARRIBA ARRIBA(which actually means upstairs) I guess I'm going back to the JUNGLE! It is kind of a bittersweet for me. It is sweet because I will be able to see all my wonderful Colombian friends, and I'll be able to speak spanish again! JEAH! Elder Rodriguez will be with another elder from France that speaks Spanish really well, so I think my work with Spanish investigators will be fairly minimal. The only lame news is that I will be back in a car, STINK! I was just getting back into shape! Anyways, I'll be zone leader over there. Usually I would be depressed about that but I'm excited for the challenge. Apparently, French Guiana has not been doing that well. One of the branches is on the verge of collapsing, and the Spanish/French Cayenne branch is in cahoots. So this mountain ahead will keep the pedal to the metal for me. There is no letting up! My companion is a reincarnation of Jack Black..haha, he walks, talks, and cracks jokes like him. He came in with Elder Schwab and this whole last transfer he has been out with the Dengue(a nasty sickness, that they call the bone braking flu). So he has not had much experience. But I like him already, and know we will have a mighty great transfer.

We had a great lesson with Claude Laurent this week. He is really progressing, and although he said he doesn't want to get baptized at the moment(about a week ago), he is still coming to church probably. When he is at church he is great, however, when he is at home he doesn't do anything with his life. His inability to ACT is really preventing his FAITH from increasing to the point where he feel he needs to be baptized. I feel he recognizes that he feels good at church, and so he continues to come. Two days ago we had a great lesson with him and we taught him about the plan of salvation. The spirit was so strong as we taught him from the Book of Mormon about why we are here on the earth, and what we are here on earth to do. We read from Alma 32:32-34. As we used good questions to help him understand that we are here on the earth to prepare for eternity and to meet God he also understood that we can't just waste the precious little time we have. We then explained that the only way to use our time the best is by following the holy ghost. After which we read 2 Nephi 32:3 and 5....the spirit was so strong. We were planning on challenging him again to be baptized so he could always have that divine influence... however when we went to commit him, the spirit wasn't pushing us in that direction so we challenged him to read the scriptures every day. Nephi set those scriptures up in a way that either commitment works... but Claude was excited to do so and I really believe that as he keeps that commitment his faith is going to soar to the point that Elder schwab and his companion will baptize him in the next few weeks.

ZOUK (a type of local music) IS THE BOMB DIGGITY. IT IS EVERYWHERE HERE!....Look up a song called 'elle ou moi' and 'kembe red pas moli' They are two of my favorite I hear on the bus haha. I try not to listen to it too often because it really chases the spirit, but its still cool.

This transfer has just flown by, and without a baptism in the area I do feel I could have done a lot better. We were not as consistent at finding, teaching with members, and working with inactives as we should have been. The were times when we saw great success in each one of those aspects, but the consistency was less good. I have learned a lot by my mistakes though, so there are no regrets. I am comforted by the fact that the state that I leave my area is better than when I arrived! One Melchizedik priesthood holder was fully reactivated. Jose Lucea is now coming to church regularly, paying his tithing, reading his scriptures, and preparing to go to the temple. We are just finishing up that last step and he will be done with 40 Days. Another brother, Simon Laurent, is now working towards getting the 2 priesthoods. When I got to the area there were no investigators whatsoever. Right now there are 2 investigators, Claude Laurent(Simon's brother) and Alain. Alain just needs to stop drinking coffee and stop gambling. He is drinking and gambling less and less though as he reads the Book of Mormon. And last night he accepted a baptismal date for 3 weeks. There are many other investigators who have soft baptismal dates and have been to church at least one time.

I share you these things to not boast of me and my own work, but to show that despite my weaknesses as a missionary, despite all my flaws, I have still been able to be a tool in the hand of the Lord. I plan to apply what I have learned by my weaknesses to be a better missionary in Cayenne. I plan to hit the ground running! The mercy of our Heavenly Father inspires me to be better and to work harder.

So another week gone by....I thank you mom for the love and support you give me. I love you and pray all continue to goes well for everyone.