Another Week (March 3)

Hello all,

Well this past week went really well! We were able to have the confirmation of Vanessa who is one of the girls we baptized two weeks ago but she couldn´t make it to church last week so we did it this week. As always it was great and I loved being a part of it.

This week the other Elders in the ward had 3 baptisms so we worked all day Sunday to help them prepare everything that they needed for it. I was asked to lead the service and serve as a witness so that was really nice of them. I love serving in any sort of capacity at baptisms because they really are such great experiences. I love seeing people accept the Gospel! It really is one of the best things ever to see people change and leave their old selves behind as they press forward with faith into their new lives centered in Jesus Christ.

 This next week we should be having the baptism of María who we have been teaching the past few weeks. She is legit and really excited to be baptized. We will continue working with her this week and I will let you know next Monday how it all went! We are also starting to teach the rest of her family and she has some brothers who are really cool kids and our goal is to try and get them baptized in a few weeks as well and help the whole fam enter into the church together! We had quite the surprise this week when Maria´s mom told us that she was baptized into the church about 20 years ago but went inactive shortly after. She said that if her daughter decided to get baptized she will accompany and support her for sure and if Maria wants she will even start coming back to church. It has always been my goal to bring a complete family into the church so I hope I stay here next transfer and I can realize that goal!!

Speaking of next transfer the transfer day is this next week so I will not have Pday next week on Monday but rather on Tuesday. I will let you know then if I get pulled to another area or not but I think that I should be staying here.

As with other things everything is going well here. The weather is cooling down nicely now and I am loosing much less water due to sweating than I was a few weeks ago haha. It is actually very comfortable now and I wish that it stayed like this all year long. It is all good though I am ready for the change and soon enough winter will be upon us here as summer starts heading into the states as well.

So today is Carnival and apparently that is a big deal here or something. It took us about 40 minutes to find a place that was open with internet and everyone is wearing their old clothes cause apparently it is not uncommon to get soaked in water and beer today. Haha I guess it is a tradition to get wet on carnival or something and I will be sure to walk around with my mouth well closed. I will let you know next week if I made it through today dry or not haha.

Anyway there really is not much else going on around here. Sadly due to inflation Subway raised the prices on their sandwiches so we don´t go there any more. I guess the inflation is going rampant here cause all the prices on things keep going up. They raised our monthly allowance by 100 pesos but even then we are having a hard time keeping up with the price hikes. It is all good though the church is keeping good care of us and the financial secretary here is working really hard with headquarters in Salt Lake to keep up!

Basically we are just working hard here and pushing right along. Feburary flew by and it is hard to believe that we are actually going into March already. The time is going by fast but I am loving every day that I have here. I am pretty excited to see what happens this next transfer and whether or not I stay here. I love this area and I kinda hope that I do stay here but I am willing to go wherever the Lord has a need for me.

Real quick I would just like to testify of the power of the temple. It truly is the house of the Lord and we are all so blessed to live so close to there in Logan. If any of you feel like you just need time to think or escape the world I promise you that there is no better place than the temple. If you cannot enter than even just to go and sit at the base of such a magnificent and holy building will help you to feel at peace and help open the windows of heaven. We can always feel the spirit stronger when we are in the service of our fellow men as in the temples or when we purposely strive to be closer to God, the both of which we can do in the temple. I know it is hard sometimes to find time but even if you have 5 minutes to drive past the temple even with the kids in the car and say a quick prayer, the Lord will bless you more than you can know. I love you all and I hope that you all can get the support and blessings you need from our willing and loving Father in Heaven. Always remember that every blessing we recieve is dependent on the principle of the Gospel to which it is attached. So basically keep the commandments and the Lord will bless you. I love you all and if there is anything I can do for any of you in any way just let me know! I love to hear from you all! Have a great week!!!

Love,
Elder Zollinger