Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Well another week in the greatest mission in the world has flown by!

This week Eustolia and her two kids, Luis and Nayeli, got baptized. Abel is her youngest, but he isn't old enough yet. They are pretty solid. The other family we have the picture, the husband isn't there. The sisters were teaching them, and when we got in, we gave them a baptismal date then found out they live on the border of our area, and it might be in another ward. But the two stake presidents don't agree on whose area it is, so the sisters that border us have been going by to take over. We just talked to President Reyna, and he will talk to the area seventy to figure out whose stake/ward it is in. It doesn't really matter to me as long as they don't have to get switched back and forth; they are already pretty bugged that they will have to start going to a different ward now possibly.

I went on exchanges to Monte Vista last week. It was great to see some of my recent converts. Hernan is doing well. He had a really bad accident at work. Keep in mind he is in his 60's. So he was bent over making a hole in like some type of cave and from 12 feet up a rock twice the size of his head fell and hit him on the back of the head. I guess they ran over to him and sent a helicopter to bring him to Salt Lake City. When he woke up, he couldn't remember his wife's name but could remember he was married. Eventually he got his memory back, but he has a huuuuge lump on the back of his head and hadn't worked for a week but was going to go back the next day. I guess the Lord was watching over him, because that definitely should have killed him. He is still reading The Book of Mormon but hadn't been to church in like three weeks, so we made sure he knew he needs to keep going. His son moved in with him, so hopefully he can get him interested in the gospel.

We bought lots of good food today which always makes me happy. I feel tired all the time, which I really like; it makes me feel like I am working hard. I won't lie; I would love to be in a car especially when it has been snowing the past couple days.

The weather is so weird today. It will be sunny and warm out, so we ride out a couple miles to work then all of the sudden, it is snowing. There was one day where it dropped 20 degrees very quickly and the wind and snow picked up, and we rode home. I am positive my hands have never been that cold in my life. We got back and were completely soaked and spent a couple minutes warming up and getting on dry clothes before going to dinner. So, I am more careful and carry a jacket in my backpack now, at least, just to repel water if that happens again. Other than that the biking is just good exercise. I guess I burn a lot more calories, because since being in this area I have started eating a lot more and lost ten pounds, so I am back down to the same weight that I was when I left which I am pretty unhappy about. I worked hard to get that 10 pounds! All those months of sitting around in a car and in two weeks it's gone. Oh well. I'll work on putting it back on when I sit around at home.

Elder Larsen and I are doing well together. Actually it's kind of weird how well we get along; we don't really ever disagree. We are both just very neutral toward each other. I think even the companions that I am the closest with, by two weeks we would have already argued about 5 or six things but not with Elder Larsen. Our conversations consist of deciding who wants to shower first and neither of us really care since in the past the other companion usually feels strongly about whether or not they want to go first, so we just end up being passive about so many things and have nothing ever to disagree on. That wasn't explained very well, but the idea is we get along very well!

Elder Larsen and I gave a training last week for 18 minutes three times (round robin) to the Spanish program of the mission on creating success. It was all in Spanish, so that was fun. The training overall was great. They brought in a lawyer/senior missionary that can help Hispanics get married. He gave a presentation and made several very racist comments that made everyone in the room uncomfortable or angry, but President Hiers did a good job of bringing the Spirit back and having the guy sit down and wrap up the presentation. I guess it is a good thing that he is willing to help; I am sure a lot of baptisms will be able to follow because of that.

Our branch leaders are still great and helping us out so much. We report frequently to the wml, so he stays in touch and always knows what’s going on. We have been having a ton of members come out to help us for splits as well. I like having the extra hour without dinner, because we can eat earlier and in less time and make the evenings feel more productive. The district is doing well and seems to be applying so far what I have been training on. We have been very obedient and diligent and are loving the people we are working with, so we feel successful and happy. I get depressed every time I think about going home which is pretty much every time I study or lay down to sleep at night. The good news is that I don't ever think about it during the day. I reached the point where when I invite people to be baptized, the date I invite them for is after I leave. I don't want to go home!

General Conference is this weekend, so we are going down for just priesthood session. (Translation: make sure you’re nowhere near the conference center during priesthood session.)

I love you all!
Elder Bassett

From Dad: I told your mom that you're extending 2 weeks and she started tearing up. I quickly said April fools, but she still won't speak to me.

From Jessica: That's mean! I'm sure she'll forgive you when you bring her to see Emma.


Note from Mom: He was so convincing. My heart dropped and I went into practical mode. I thought about the plans I would need to cancel and wondered what I could rearrange. I was trying to be supportive and understand-missionaries never want to come home! I knew that. But two week never sounded so long. Dad didn’t let me suffer long at all-probably not even a full 2 minutes, but it was a long 2 minutes!

No comments: