Week 70 in El Salvador

April 25, 2011

Hey,

Changes are coming up this Wednesday, and the mission will be opening a couple new zones. In June we will have a new mission president, the name has been announced.

Things have changed in my area too.... lately we have found a bunch of new people.... we are working with one man named José Amadeos, who when we started off he was the last on our list who we thought would progress.... he was a drunk, he smoked, and also had problems with coffee...but as of a month he has quit drinking, as of 16 days he has quit smoking completely, and he no longer drinks coffee---he says that now in the mornings he only drinks cold water. He also has read many parts of the Book of Mormon, and says that he has already started Mosiah. If I stay in this area, we have a goal that he can be baptized on the seventh.

We are also teaching a young woman named Kenia.... she comes every Sunday now, but the problem is that, due to the people she lives with, we cannot teach her in her house.... so we started to teach her in the church, during the last hour.... last night she called us, told us this “thank you thank you thank you.... ever since I left the church I have been reading the book of Mormon, and I just have a good feeling about it...” she told us that she had read the whole introduction, the testimonies, and had started in Nephi.

The attitude of the ward has also been changing a bit...little by little, but now there are more members that are willing to work with us.

I’ve noticed something among the investigators.... we have one family that we just dropped...because they don’t act.... but they have seen blessings and miracles, and have been investigating the church for years off and on.... he says he feels a certain presence with the missionaries, he has had priesthood blessings and has been healed twice, he even told us that he met President Hinckley when he came to El Salvador.... but, he owns a lot, is a millionaire, and is always busy, and won’t set a time apart for the church, even though he always says he wants to go.....I’ve noticed that experiences don’t make a good investigator, or understanding, even though they are important elements, but what I’ve noticed that is more important in a good investigator is 1...that they make thoughtful decisions and 2...that they keep their word.

YES--I remember when the prophet came to Nauvoo...it was a sunny day, and we were seated pretty far away from President Hinckley...I don’t remember hearing much of what he said, or even being interested, but I remember that you gave us lunchables and told us to calm down. I remember we were all seated on your quilt (I believe the one that you made from the jeans), and that at the end of the ceremony, while we were going to the car, it was announced that a child had been lost...the child was with President Hinckley, and they were calling for the parents.... I remember thinking that that kid was lucky, he was under the wings of a prophet, that I wanted to be there (I’m not sure if I asked you or not if I could go meet him), but yes, I remember that day.

That’s about it for now,

Corey

Week 69 in El Salvador

April 18, 2011

Hey,

All right, so I’ll see what I can do for my camera, but I might be getting a new one in a week or so...it still takes photos, but the lens doesn’t adjust at all, and it won’t go in either. I’m not going to get rid of it yet.

I was gonna ask you about my friends in the missions, but it sounds like everything is going good...

Kinda weird---I’m not gonna see Ian for like four years. He’s probably gonna grow a couple more feet while he’s gone too. I won’t even be able to recognize him.

The work here is a little tough right now...if I can describe it shortly, read ALMA 4:11.... there are huge divisions in the ward, and we can really only work with like 7 people.... in my past areas, I was working with the whole ward, and we had success..... but here, I have only baptized one person in the last seven weeks (absolutely terrible for here)....the bishop is part of the division, and there are groups of members against him too, so nothing works out. I’ve pulled out every idea I’ve had, and I think I’ll need more ideas...we started working with the members.... we come home every night absolutely exhausted. Sometimes I feel like my best isn’t enough.... my companion is still working hard...and we work well together..... I figure it follows a pattern though.... after the hardest trials are the most rewarding blessings..... I look back on my time in Illopango, where I only baptized Giellermo Roberto Masferrer, who now has the Melchizedek priesthood and who finished reading the Book of Mormon before I left.... a little while ago I heard that every Sunday, he goes around helping the missionaries to pick up investigators.....I have a hope that it will be a similar story here.

Six days ago, I placed a goal that I was going to study the Book of Mormon, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price, all two times more and the New Testament once more before I finish the mish.... I am finishing Matthew and Second Nephi.... I think I’m a little behind.

I haven’t sent my photos yet.... they told me that I shouldn’t send envelopes, but that it needed a box...I’ve got three more paintings too. I feel kinda bad, haven’t had time to paint at all, even p-days.

As for dad’s question----I will be staying in the El Salvador San Salvador mission.... we will have the temple and the prophet is coming to dedicate it!

chow fo now.

Corey

Week 68 in El Salvador

April 11, 2011

Hey,

So, I have an interesting story about yesterday.... a couple of weeks ago, we decided to unplug the refrigerator to save on the electricity bill, and I guess there was stuff frozen into the side walls, and it all melted.... for a while we wondered what was making the house smell bad, so I opened up the fridge.... the only thing that is worse than this rancid smell is maybe the white fish in Dillingham.... I put all the stuff in a plastic bag, and then moved the refrigerator to the bathroom, where I squirted my shampoo on a broom, and began to scrub it out...I got it mostly clean, but I think we’ll have to buy bleach............Anyway, the bags were still left over, so I took them outside (along with a huge pile of bags that have been accumulating in the back yard from years of missionaries...they never take out the trash)......but, seeing the bags, one of our neighbors commented that the trash did not pass until Tuesday, so I drug it all inside again, to the back yard (back yards here are closed of by tall cement walls).....not knowing what to do with it all, and wanting to get rid of the smell, I decided “well, we should just start a fire, everyone does it here”.......(here you do not need a license to burn)...so I started a fire with the cardboard boxes and papers, and the tree we had pushed down....it got going good so I threw the bags on, and all the bags of the previous missionaries....bad idea.....I saw the bags melt from the bottom to the top, and the contents spilled out, including about six cans of spray deodorant and a couple cans of OFF bug spray and one plastic jug of gasoline, and a couple bags of fruit that had fermented and expanded from the pressure.....you’re probably imagining the scene, I had every bucket in the house filled with water; I’m glad the neighbors didn’t come knocking on our door...but it went well....no more trash, and now we actually have a back yard.

Bosques de la Paz was Mission Impossible 1, and here it’s like Mission Impossible 2, but we’re getting by ok.

A little bad news...my camera broke.... I was handing it to my comp, and it was dropped in the hand off. ...I’m going to buy a screwdriver to see what I can do.

Holy week is coming up...its going to be like 42 degrees C...

I haven’t asked about my friends in a while, how’s everyone doing up there???

That’s all folks,

Corey

Week 67 in El Salvador

April 4, 2011

Hey,

So, news...the mission will soon be called the El Salvador San Salvador mission...no more east and west...the west mission will become the Santa Ana y Belize mission. WE ARE CONQUERING THE WORLD ha-ha...we will be taking over several zones from the other mission.

Conference was awesome. I don’t know if Dad saw the priesthood session, but super cool...the prophet’s exhortation to get the young men to marry was interesting...it might be a good thing, ha-ha I can see a chain of events.... everyone in singles branch will marry, singles branch will diminish, and soon there will be no singles branch, and by the time I get back, I can still be able to go to third ward as a happy single.... keep me updated. Just joking.... I am thinking about what he said...

We are working with a youth family.... a family under eighteen, just siblings and cousins, the parents lie in another city. Hector, the oldest is 18 years old, and seems to be taking the lessons well, and loves the church. I’m hoping that they will progress, and he can go on a mission.

We have dropped several of our old families, and have found others, more positive people, and I hope I can see them get baptized.

So, that’s about it for now, sorry I didn’t write much

Chow for now