The Work Continues

As you can see from the photos, Irene was baptized. She is the last of the Centurión siblings. There is a picture of her, her son, and her two sisters. The one next to her son is Clotilde, who we baptized a few weeks ago. She has been living out there in Ybycuí, but came back to visit. She is reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and trying to dress more modestly, so we are really happy with her progress.

This week we have Melissa Paez, a nine-year-old whose sisters are active, and Nila Perez who are preparing to be baptized this saturday. Nila is the mom of several active members and lived in the area of the other missionaries in our ward, but her husband did not want to get married. This week she left him and moved in with her grandma, which is in our area. Luckily, she wants Elder Cortes, who has been teaching her, to baptize her. They are looking for a house, so we just have to hope they find one within the ward or wait until next week.

On the other hand, we are still working with Sara and Santiago so they can stay together and get married. She has been progressing a lot. We watched Finding Faith in Christ, and she has been telling us more experiences she has had with answers to prayers. I hope she will soon decide to have faith in God, herself, and her husband so they can have an eternal family. 

We found LOTS of other great people this week who expressed interest in baptism. Unfortunately, none of them came to church, so we have work to do. One cool story--we saw a mom and her kids moving rocks in their yard, and we stopped to help. They turned out to be members that stopped attending church just a few months ago. We came to back visit them and found out that the Young Women´s presidency also visited them this week. That family, the Zaracho, came to church this week. The Lord always has a plan.

Somehow, I knew after writing my last letters what things you would ask me to explain more. We´ve been writing each other for quite some time, it appears. About health blessings, it´s the bishop who has the authority and responsibility to minister to the members. Therefore it should be him or an assigned home teacher or member of the ward council who goes to visit them and give the blessing. We can only give blessings under their direction. But some people have gotten in the habit of asking the missionaries because it´s easier (we always have time and are willing to go help). We need to let the ward leaders do that more.

Ca´acupé worries me because they haven´t had any baptisms since I left, and it sounds like the attendance is declining. They did finally get a release from being branch counselors, but no members have stepped up to take their place. Here I am busier than when I was a counselor just because of how many people we are teaching, baptizing, retaining, etc. in our area and in the zone. Each convert is a lot of work, but it´s worth it.

Corbin is talking a lot with some of his other friends about housing. I´ll see what they decide on. If you can talk to his mom and Truman (when he gets back....wow! time went fast. Congratulate him on being an excellent missionary), that would help me out. I, too, wasn´t too worried about location. But what would be a reasonable price? What happens if I get married before the school year starts? 

Haha, just trying to scare you. Stay focused. But really, thanks for all your support. I hope that everyone is doing well with jobs, studies, missions, families, and all of the eternally important things. Whatever happens, remember that when the storm comes it´s time to ask for more help from God, not run away from him. Love you all!

-Elder Morgan the Older