Another week in paradise

(Sorry this letter is late..I was at girl's camp all week. -Angie)

Well another week in paradise has passed. I still can't belive how fast they go here. We have been playing a Spanish game this week where evertyime you speak English you get a point and whoever has the least points at the end of the week wins. It's been good, because I'm so competitive I won't speak in English at all unless I need to in meetings, which is ok because that's not part of the game. 

Earlier this week, a missionary had an interview with his district leader, and it was about 45 minutes. He said my companion and I were overstepping our boundaries but also weren't doing enough. He also said he is mad at his companion for being too pateint with him. When he vents he wants an angry companion, not a calm understanding one..haha. Also he said he is mad at another missionary for being overprotective of his candy. He had a bunch of other little things he is mad about, so this week we have been trying to make him as happy as possible. 

So there is this missionary name Elder Crane in our district that is really good at drawing. The way he takes notes at meetings is he draws pictures of the speakers and kind of makes comics of what they are speaking on. He is so talented, and he even drew each person in our district as the avengers. He draws so quickly it's like those people that you pay to draw you at Disneyland, and he does it all day (he focuses too, but that's how he focuses in a way). 

So a missionary in our district shared his conversion story. He was taught and decided to be baptized but at his baptism someone mentioned repentance before baptism. He realized he hadn't repented yet, and the missionaries hadn't told him he needed to. He got baptized and still felt horrible like he had done something wrong and he messed up. (he was 14 at this time) He prayed that night for repentance hoping it wasn't too late. This was late at night with the lights off in his room, but when he opened his eyes his room was glowing and that's how he knew he was forgiven. He went to sleep that night with his room lit up. He very casually told this story and I don't think he realizes because he is so humble what an awesome story this is, but he has such a big desire to be a good missionary that it's awesome. 

So this week, because of the spoon incident, people have been trying to sneak spoons that aren't bent yet into Elder Wright's pocket. It's pretty funny. For the first couple of days, he thought he was doing it by accident, and we tried to convince him he was the one who had been bending the spoons. It felt like something that would be on The Office, because of how well we pulled it off. He would always return them then come back the next day with a spoon in his pocket. The person who was the best at it was Elder Brimley. He was so good, at one point he walked up to Elder Wright, put his hand on his shoulder and slipped a spoon in his front pocket while talking to him face to face. It was pretty cool that he could do it like that. (He said it's because of how many times he has seen Ocean's Eleven.) 

In our district, we say, "You can't handle the truth!" a lot from that one movie with Tom Cruise. We found in 2 Nephi 32:7 that that's the scriptural version of 'you can't handle the truth', which was hilarious to us. I guess we just don't have a very good sense of humor as missionaries anymore. 

So we watched the Joseph Smith video this Sunday. I have never had such a good experience watching. Right before it started, I prayed to have a witness that these events happened again. I think I cried probbaly thirty minutes of the whole movie which is weird for me; the Spirit was so strong. I was pretty happy. We read section 13 this week. It reminded me of when dad had me memorize it on the way to the fathers and sons camp out at Camp Bountiful. I still remember it from then when dad shared it with all the men. 

I had an interview with my teacher this week, and she had me talk about my strengths and weaknesses. We decided that my strength is obedience and my weakness is patience/charity type things; which is funny because on the attripbute activity we all took every attribute was rated on a scale of one to five when you finished based on your test results. I had roughly 4's for everything except for patience and charity I had like a 1.5 which everyone in my district really appreciated. haha. But, anyways I have improved on that and am still working on it. 

Some missionaries this week had issues with mail. It has been a distraction always. You're not supposed to read mail until night, but all the missionaries did anyways. At one point, Elder Adams (our district leader) needed to wait to get afternoon mail for about an hour. Two missionaries weren't patient enough to wait that long (this is the second time this has happened and that we have asked them not too because they aren't allowed in the mail room). They went against what Elder Adams said, took the combination to his mailbox, got their own mail, and then lied about it when we asked them. I got to practice being patient while Elder Wilkey explained the new rule that they won't ever get mail again during the day. They have to wait until at night time in the residence so that they aren't distracted. I think they learned their lesson. They weren't very happy with that new rule. 

We still play lots of soccer. The new district this week had one Elder from Chile and one from Mexico. The first day that they played, they scored all six goals our team made; they were so good! It will be fun to play with them over the next couple weeks, but I usually play three days a week, and the other three, I lift. 

One of the Elders in the new district asked me permission that in the mornings if he finished getting ready faster, could he read the Book of Mormon some more before breakfast. I was so happy after everything people ask to do, and he asks if he can have extra time to read the scriptures I couldn't believe it; it made me so happy. 

Oh, before I forget can you give me Dereks address? Phil and I wanted it. Another one of the new missionaries that came in this week (in the other zone) is Brian Wood. He looks like he is doing well and happy to be here. He only lives two doors down and is in Phil's district so he is around friends, which is always good. I'll be writing Brett a letter today I'm proud of him; I'm glad he is making good decisions. As for my sibings, originally I planned on writing you all back once a week, but I don't think I'll be able to. We just don't have enough time here. I really love your letters, and if I only write  you every couple weeks or so, I hope that's ok. There's lots of work to do and letter writing takes a while, but I will write each of you back soon I promise. One questions for mom or dad. Where was the Savior's spirit during the three days after he died before resurrection? Was He suffering more during that times since He had to experience all pain? Or was He just dwelling with the Father as a spirit? He said to Mary, "I have not yet ascended to my Father," so that made me wonder what He was doing those three days. Just curioius if you had any thoughts on that. (To answer that question, Mark sent Taylor these verses: 1 Peter 3 and 4 and D&C 138 Section 138 is one of my favorites! -the read 1 Peter 4, go to the link, then after reading chapter 3, click next on the top right and it will take you to chapter 4. It's user friendly, but you never know.)

This week our teahcer had us memorize a quote on dillegence. I only know it in Spanish, so I'll type it really quick. The boys should memorize it before their missions.  It's in Preach My Gospel (a manual for missionaries) in the Christlike attributes section by dilligence. I'll put an apostrophe right before the letter that should have an accent. 

Muchas veces he dicho que uno de los mayores secretos del trabajo misional es el trabajo. si el misionero trabaja obtendrá el espíritu, si lo obtiene ensenará por el espíritu, y si enena por el espíritu, llegar'a al corazón de las personas y él mismo será feliz. No senirá nostalgia por el hogar, ni se preocupará por la familia. Pues todo su tiempo, talento, e intereses estarán concentrados en obra del ministerio. Trabajo trabajo trabajo, no existe ningún substituto satisfacerior, especialmente in la obra misional.     

I mainly did that just to make sure I still remembered it, but it's a great one to know. So a little bit more about this new district. They are FANTASTIC. I'll tell you one of their stories. One of the sisters was I think 19 and decided that there was a God. She wanted to share that with others as a favor to God. So she prayed to know which church she should preach for. The missionaries showed up two minutes after her prayer. So she got baptized and put in her papers as soon as she could. WOW, Elder Wilkey and I had that reaction at about every testimony that was given in there. There were two missionareis that had just met that day. They don't speak very much English, but one was giving his testimony and started crying talking about the blessings he has received in his life. His companion grabbed a tissue and put his arm around him and patted him on the back just like they were brothers, but they had met only a few hours before. It was a great example of Christlike love. 

Their district leader is named Elder Wadell. About a year ago his dad got called to be a general authority in Peru (first quorum). Before that, he was an area seventy in the same area/quorum as dad for about six months then was called to the first quorum. So, if that happens to you dad, good luck I guess. haha.

 Anyways, I didn't forget the temple food. Today they were out of waffles. I was worried I wouldn't get the same carbing-up temple breakfast experience, but we discovered they have amazing hash browns instead. Crisis averted. People in our hall started doing 100 push ups as fast as they can. The kid that walked around without his shirt off all the time and has dress shirts way too small held the record. I wasn't about to go take my shirt off and show-off in front of everyone but just so I could say to myself that I beat him, I did it in my room and beat him by one second. I was happy, but I'm still not even close to 100 in a row like Tyson could, but one day I'll get there! 

Jessica said she will keep sending junk food unless I ask for something else, so if you must send something, send fruit, because we get sooo much candy here. (costco muffins are a fruit too by the way) And mom, thank you for your weekly packages. I always appreciate your insights, but I'm just letting you know I hope you don't think you set the precedent that you are sending one package a week my whole mission. That's asking way too much, so I will enjoy it in the MTC, and you don't have to feel like you need to keep doing it for the rest of my mission. I don't want you spending that much time on me. I'm sure you're plenty busy with other things. And keep the pictures coming everybody. I love getting mail here! 

Tomorrow I will meet my mission president, and the next two devotionals should be awesome because of the mission president's seminar. I am pretty excited. But anyways I have to run....take care. 

I love you all!

Elder Bassett