Elder Taylor Bassett: He gave us a referral, then another and another...

Working at the Service Center

Well, this has been a good week. It started out awesome, because I got a $15 rice cooker with my Walmart gift card and 20 pounds of rice which as it turns out is a lot of rice. But the best part is that we found out that there is a bus that goes everyday from Logan to Preston which is awesome, because that is where the temple and all the stores are (Sam’s, Walmart, Deseret Book). So we are blessed for not driving on p-day!

SO this week we were trying to follow the Spirit more when finding more. We also decided to be better about asking for referrals from everyone. We had a slow day and were driving to contact potentials and pulled over a few times to talk to people. At one point, I passed an old man and decided to not stop and then felt like I should, so I turned around and talked to him. He was a member and can't go to church, because of his health, so people just bring him the sacrament. He said he didn't know anyone to give us. We shared a two-minute message then asked again, and he gave us a Spanish referral. Then we decided to ask again, and he gave us another…and then another. So we got three referrals from a guy who doesn't ever leave his house. We let him know how much he was helping us. Then later that day, there were a couple of girls that had pulled over with a flat tire. We got three referrals from them too (all English, but still good).

The leaves have been falling a ton this week; it's like Georgia. At one point, we stopped and helped people rake leaves. That was fun, I couldn't believe how many there were. We actually raked leaves twice this week. That reminds me...some of the best pumpkin bread I have had was from the packages that you sent me. Thanks so much for that, Mom! I made Grandma's potato salad recipe! Five pounds of potatoes and a dozen eggs makes a lot…maybe I will cut it into fourths next time, ha-ha.

Idaho can't figure out if it's fall or winter....Mom would love how many leaves are here! We stopped to help some people rake leaves this week, and it was so awesome! I didn't have my camera, or I would've taken a picture...it's like being in Georgia.

I still look the same..I keep hoping to feel taller, but nope..suits still fit the same.

Which reminds me I got a new suit this week! 15 dollars at DI, and it's a way nice suit. It was way too big, but there is an older woman that does alterations just for the missionaries. I guess she was trained for five years by a "master tailor" on men's clothing, so she is reconstructing that for me. She said she couldn't believe I found a suit that nice at DI...so yeah, that's awesome!

I also got the patriarchal blessings and the cd...love that finding cd! It has a lot of good insights, and I recognized a couple voices from people that did that leadership training in our mission! We have mission conference tomorrow. I am very excited. Elder Falabella from the Seventy is coming. From my last interview with President, he said it will be a lot about some of the new inspiration President Hiers has received for this mission. That will be awesome. Then we have to be in our apartments for the rest of the night (at six) on Halloween; no trick-or-treating for the missionaries. I am interested to see what changes they will make. Last month, the mission went 12000 minutes over our allotted amount of minutes, so they might make some phone changes.

So this week I actually did recognize the difference that reading The Book of Mormon in Spanish made. I was reading them in Spanish and realized that it was easy, and I started praying after and realized for the first time that thinking in Spanish isn't hard. I have to make myself do it, but at least I am out of the habit of translating everything. Having said that, I still have an incredibly long way to go.

So we found a miracle guy tracting this week. We shared the first lesson right then and there, and he said he wanted to get baptized, and he knew that it was true. The bad news? He leaves to move back to Peru in a week and a half and had work this past Sunday, so he couldn't go to Sacrament Meeting. Darn.

We have been working more with Ignacia. She is the one who has the four little kids and no job or husband right now. She came to church and loved it. She plans on coming back. Pray really hard that when she finds a job, it will not be on Sunday. Her kids really love primary and aren't shy at all, except the oldest girl. The youngest runs around hugging everyone and calls everyone her tia or tio (aunt/uncle)...except for the missionaries. We are the only people who are not her aunts or uncles. Ha-ha But she really likes us. They have to walk everywhere, and we pulled over this week to walk with them to the school, because it’s hard walking four kids on busy streets for a mile. I walked with the boy, he really likes me. He told me lots about his family, and how he can't see his dad anymore, because he wouldn't stop hitting him. The oldest girl barely just started talking to people again, because of the way her dad treated her, so I am glad that he is gone...I really hope he doesn't come back.

Ignacia's kids...the older kid isn't one of them, but I asked him to be in the picture. The little girl holding my hand calls everyone 'Tia" or "Tio."

SO we had an interesting conversation with our ward mission leader. Often times we say, “It’s not the Lord's will…” when we give a blessing and really not much happens. When Peter tried to perform a miracle and couldn't cast the spirit out, the Savior said it was because we have little faith. The scriptures say that miracles cease due to the lack of faith. So, do we just use, “It's not the Lord's will” as an excuse for our lack of faith sometimes? Or is the lack of faith in reference to the world in general? It came up, because his mom has Alzheimer’s, and he gave her a blessing and hasn't seen improvement. He attributes it to his lack of faith. It just made me think.

Thank's to grandma and grandpa for the letter this week. I REALLY liked grandpa's insight on fasting and how when we are preoccupied over things we forget to eat, and that is the same as it should be with fasting. We should be so focused on other things that food isn’t as important. I actually talked about it in gospel doctrine. (The teachers for elders quorum and Sunday school haven’t been coming, so usually the sub doesn't know what the lesson is and kind of just asks a question and looks at me and wants me to talk the rest of the time...ha-ha. I like it though.) As I ramble on and turn through the scriptures talking about whatever the lesson is on, I learn a lot from what the Spirit tells me. Plus it's so much less pressure just sharing my thoughts than having to get up and give the lesson or speak in sacrament, so I like it. And it gives me the leeway to guide the conversation in different directions when we have investigators there. Usually they talk about the gathering of the lost tribes and stuff like that, so I try to talk about more basic things. We talked to the branch president, and I think Elder Senn and I will start teaching a gospel principles class now that we have some less active/hopefully soon recent converts coming regularly.

Mom, can you call Sister Sanft and ask her how Chad is doing? If you can get in touch with his mom, that’d be better. And even get an address for him...and Brandon Bourgeous.

We spoke on Sunday. There are a lot less people than a normal sacrament, but I was still a little nervous. Elder Senn went quick, so I talked for a little over 20 minutes. I just talked about the four points that every investigator should know, and how they needed to teach that to their families and make sure their children were capable of share that when it comes time for them to leave. A lady came up and said I did well, but I need to smile more…ha-ha. Will I ever learn? Another guy we walked up to talk to this week said I stick my chest out too much and have an arrogant look about me, and I need to be more humble. That was interesting, but he gave us a referral, so that's ok.

We kind of started doing speech lessons for language study. The words I am having him work on are girl, church, charge, and jaw; those are the ones he really just can't say, but he is practicing and doing a ton better. His English is really good.

So Brother Hatch called last night. We are going to his house for Thanksgiving and sometime before that. We are also speaking in his ward in a couple weeks, so that will be good English practice for Elder Senn. I love being with Elder Senn, but it's hard for me that he never gets it when I quote ‘Remember the Titans’ or song lyrics. Like I will say something like, “So Elder Senn, if I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by?” and he just says that I am crazy, and he doesn't understand what I am saying. Clearly I get a little crazy studying for four hours every morning...ha-ha.

So we had the Padilla family in church this Sunday. They came on their own and said they were ready to get baptized. We went by for our scheduled lesson to set up a date and interview, and they cancelled. We showed up the next day with a member of the ward, and we set a date for this Sunday. He talked to his boss and will not work on Sunday anymore. She is done drinking coffee, and he says he wants to start paying tithing, so he can get blessings. I am very confident that he is ready and will stay strong…especially after how he spoke to his boss without us asking him to and just told us he wants to pay tithing. Her I am a little worried about, but we will continue to work with her and help her through the process. They have struggled at church, because they have a son in jail, and they said a lot of people judge them for it. I am not sure if that is true, but they decided this week that regardless of anyone else, they are going to go to church, because God wants them to and not for anyone else.

Tomorrow we have a first lesson with Ignacia, and then she should be moving from there. The man whose wife passed away came to church and told the branch president he will come every week now, so he should be getting back into it. I am really excited about the Ricaldi family. They have genuine interest but only have one hour a week we can teach them. We locked ourselves out of our apartment right before their appointment, so we have to wait till next week which was too bad.

The Albino family is doing very well. They always have questions, and you can tell that they really want to know and feel the spirit. We can only teach them once a week, so progress is slow, and she still teaches at the Catholic Church. We will see how that goes. Pray really hard for them. I really like them, and we don't know exactly where to move with them from this point. She really likes her job at the Catholic Church.

Well, I think that is all for now. Still no mission calls? I love you all and hope all is going well. Keep the letters coming!

Elder Bassett

The best part about the cold here… the flies are dead! Because of all the farms, it’s not abnormal to have a few hundred flies in your house, and I haaate it. Having flies crawling all over you is the worst, but now the cold has come and there are dead flies everywhere. That was just the greatest blessing ever.