(No Subject)

I just got out of the Leadership Council, which was great as always. President Agazzani always knows exactly what the mission needs. We watched "The Pump," an old church movie I remember well, and talked a lot about being obedient and patient. He was very direct, as always, sharing some great scriptures, like D&C 27:15-17, and talking about the consequences of some disobedient missionaries once they get home. He talked about not abusing health blessings--members here have a problem with that, and I have gotten lazy about asking ward leaders to do it, but we really should do that every time. President also said we should not give investigators blessings unless they really need it, have done all they can, and absolutely understand how the Priesthood and Faith work. A lot of people have erroneous ideas about healing and the priesthood, as you can probably imagine.

"Elder Jessop and Me from the meeting we had today."

We talked about a lot of other things we can do to get more references from the members. The mission presidents in the area just had a conference with Elder Ballard, who seems to be the world´s expert on effective missionary work. Wish I could tell you all the things we learned, but I´ll give you more details after the training. Also, because the District leaders attended this meeting, too, I got to see two of my best friends in the mission, Elder Jessop and Elder Godoy. We really make strong friendships here, and I love hearing how my old areas are doing (even if Ca´acupé worries me).

"The one next to me is Hugo (he´s 30 years old). In the middle is Nico Galeano who taught Hugo much more than we did."

Well, as you can see from the photo, Arnaldo and Hugo got baptized. Arnaldo was incredible, he read the pamphlets about the commandments we hadn´t taught him, and he understood perfectly. Hugo was a little harder to teach, and he didn´t show up for his interview the first time, but he´s very happy and wants to progress. He also needed a translator (my first convert who really doesn´t speak much Spanish). It was a stressful weekend trying to get all that arranged, including while we were doing exchanges. I can´t imagine having a bigger workload than what I have now (yes, I know I said that when I trained and when I was a branch counselor, haha), but I am grateful for my companion and the excellent missionaries in our Zone who keep working hard. We had a very successful month, and I hope that continues.

Yesterday we finally got Irene, the last of the Centurión family, to commit to be baptized. It was a very spiritual lesson, with testimonies from her siblings. We were very straightforward, showing her scriptures and explaining that the Spirit doesn´t always strive with us if we ignore the promptings we receive. She didn´t think she needed to be baptized because she had already repented of her sins, but by the end she felt the Spirit very strongly and commited to baptized this Saturday.

We don´t have many other people who are progressing, but there are many who could. We chased down Eladio one night when we found him drinking. He didn´t want to go home, but when his 8-year-old son came with us, he went back to his wife, who was very upset. He doesn´t seem very motivated to change, but--if only for her sake--we´ll keep working. The only other person I´ll mention is Santiago, who I don´t know if I´ve already talked about. His girlfriend is a member who doesn´t have a testimony, does not want to get married, and doesn´t think she can change. It´s tough. We pray for and teach her more than him. He came to church and already seems like a member--very strong testimony. We just have to get her to change or, if she continues to be stubborn, convince them to separate so he can live the commandments and be baptized.

I also did exchanges with Elder Connor Peterson, who is going to be a Wide Receiver at BYU. We talked a bit about that, but I really encouraged him about missionary things. He´s new and has a lot of energy, and I showed him the importance of listening and teaching by the Spirit, among other things. He really enjoyed it, and I like helping other missionaries, too.

With all the people writing me and these post-mission things to take care of, I´ll try to stay focused. I do love being here, and I am thankful for the card you wrote. Thanks for all your support. Remember to trust in the Lord, even when we can´t see why. Things will always work out for the best in the end (D&C 100:15). Love you all!

-Elder Wesley Morgan