We would appreciate the extra prayers for....

Ward Service Project

So I got to talk to my family on Sunday! I pretty much told them all the interesting details from the week so this may end up being a shorter email today.

This morning has been a very adventurous one. We had been ready to go help some missionaries move since last week. We helped our housing coordinator get the trailer all ready for about an hour this morning and went to go help the elder move. He texted us and decided he didn't want to waste his time moving and said, “Don't touch my stuff; I'm not moving.” So after talking to President, he got his way, and we had to push it off to another week when someone can convince him. SO, that was frustrating…learning patience one day at a time! Ha-ha

So this week we went to do service on Saturday. We got to this big park and were spreading these huge piles of bark across a dog park. (And there was a tractor right there across the street! I wanted to tell someone to go get the keys.) We were there for a couple hours before leaving. Then right after that, we had a soccer activity in 90 degree whether. We were very sunburned and very exhausted. That morning we had played ultimate Frisbee with the zone for exercise on top of that. We all have some very lovely farmers tans now.

Soccer...the beginning of the burn

Earlier on in the week we had done some more service with the entire mission. We went to the Ogden stadium where they do rodeos and painted all the stadiums with the mission. It was exhausting being in the sun, and I think everyone got a little burned that day. They fed us lunch afterwards and showed us all on fox13 news. It was good to see all the missionaries we know. It is right next to the pool in Ogden that is the same one filmed in Sandlot.

Make a Difference Day-We were on Fox 13 News!

We also had some quick exchanges this week. Elder Plowman and I went to Jefferson first with Elder Harper. So we left Elder Pyne behind in our area with five lessons that night with an English missionary as a companion. No better way to get trained than be thrown in and do it yourself! He did fine just like we knew he would. He speaks Spanish perfectly and can understand everyone and had a successful night. We met some very, very crazy people in the streets of the J1;  so that was fun. One guy named "Old School" wasn't very happy with us, because we wouldn't touch his pit-bull (It didn't look like a nice pit-bull), because it was one of God's creations. Plus he was mad at us, because we were dressed up and should be more like nature. He was a very interesting man, and we ended up just needing to walk away. So then we went to do a baptismal interview for a guy named Thomas. It turns out Thomas was a guy I found tracting about six weeks back. I remember knocking his door and having a long conversation with him. At first, he didn't want to listen, but after talking to him, he agreed to meet with the missionaries. He got baptized yesterday! He had been searching for the true church in 20 years through every book he could find and found it all in the pamphlets..miracles. I was glad the Lord put me there to be able to see him again, because I probably wouldn’t have remembered his name if they had mentioned someone named Thomas getting baptized.

So I saw Patrick Pead’s older brother! He bought us a haircut at Paul Mitchell.

We had Spanish council this week by President Reyna (2nd counselor in mission presidency) and Elder Falabella (first quorum of the seventy). They spent a long time talking about ward councils and how to work effectively with them. The best part was our bishop was there, and they mentioned that calendaring shouldn’t be taken care of during that time; it should be all about the members that are in need and investigators. This week we will see if that gets applied. The Rubio’s came, too, and talked to all of us. They both told their story. Brother Rubio gave his regular story I have told before. My favorite was Sister Rubio’s. She talked about the way he used to treat her and how God changed him for her. He made him a good father and husband and now he treats her like a queen. It was really cool to see them again. It motivated everyone I think. Then they spent some time talking about daily dose and teaching people English. They also trained on something called the Vince Lambardi. It is basically just a lesson some missionaries came up with about how to use the basics of missionary work to get a baptismal date. We have not yet tried it, but we will let you know.

Yesterday was my birthday. We went to Santa Monica Pizza. I had ten pieces of pizza, because the lady there didn't think the three of us could eat four pizzas. It was probably a bad decision being sick and everything, but oh well.

We found Francisco, and he said that he found a place to live! Outside our area...so Elder Senn will have a baptism this Sunday if all goes as planned with Francisco. Liz didn't come to church this week and neither did Ana and Angel. Ana and Angel we taught last night, and he said it was just laziness, but he is for sure going this week. He is still kind of iffy, because he feels like people at church aren’t there for the right reasons. We addressed that some more and talked about temples, and how it will be plenty reverent when he goes there a year from now. Liz just had an excuse, but we don't know what to believe. The day before that, we taught her daughter, Vanessa. She is 13 years-old and the second oldest. Right off the bat she opened up and just starting bawling. She told us how she has to be the mom for her three youngest siblings. She said her mom goes out partying at night and gets home and won't wake up in the morning. She said how she has to shake her awake in the mornings crying, because she doesn't want her little sisters and brothers to see her like that. Her mom won't clean, so Vanessa has to clean everything, because she doesn’t want her little siblings to live in a dirty house. She tried to talk her aunt about it, but the aunt told her mom, Liz, and so Liz starting verbally and physically abusing her. So she feels alone and wants help and really wants to get baptized and for her mom to change. So we are going to work very hard on that for Vanessa. Hearing all that made it very difficult for me to keep loving Liz with the way she treats Vanessa, but we are going to try to see her the way Christ does and help her to be a real mom. It won't be easy, change like that never is, but we are praying for some Brother Rubio size miracles. We would appreciate the extra prayers.

Maria and Jairo are ok. Maria is reading the Book of Mormon everyday, but she still works on Sunday. Hopefully, we will get the chance to teach that this week, but he works a ton, and it is really hard to find him at home. Gabriela Reyes is a lady with four kids that got baptized a year ago and hasn't come back since then. I went with our ward mission leader last week, and she promised she would come to church, but when we went to remind her she was out with her boyfriend. We need to find her and have a talk about what happened. (I like how it sounds like we are mothering/lecturing people 20 years older than us. We act humbly for the most part, we promise).

We helped the ward on Saturday during their Mother’s Day party. We played games with the kids and the nursery guy while the mothers ate food. I think the ward was happy to see us help even if it was unproductive. We almost got three investigators there, but they all bailed out last minute, too bad.

Sister MacMillan's birthday party

Our companionship has been great this week…still getting along great as ever, nothing to complain about. We always have so many meetings and never seem to have enough time to get all our studies in-especially 12 week. It’s a good thing Elder Pyne is a stud and doesn't even need to be trained. District meeting and everything went well this week. It was one of the sister’s birthday, so we had cake and candy. The sisters are really hard to build trust with, since we can't ever call or see them since that’s weird, so we just remembered her birthday instead. We have zone sports Saturday morning, and they really don't like sports. Oh well, we can't please everyone.

Other good news: Diana's uncle is getting baptized. She is going to church every week and Brother Rubio’s brother-in-law is getting baptized too. I may have already said this, but Miguel's dad got baptized a couple weeks ago!

Finishing off p-day getting out whole cart paid for at Costco...it’s gonna be a good week! Well, I hope all is well. Just want everyone to know my family is awesome! Thanks for everyone that sent packages/letters/emails for my birthday. The first and last birthday of the mission. (Everyone’s mission got cut a week short because of the 18 year old adjustment)

take care!~

Elder Bassett

Me on my 20th birthday. I figured Mom would want a picture.

And tell Jeffrey I was 4’ 10” in 8th grade. Let him know not to worry; he will grow. And tell him that my 20th birthday was the first time in my life someone guessed my age, or older than I actually am, correctly.

*Once again, it was great to talk to you all. I want to ask you how it was…maybe I am just paranoid, but I am sorry for being so negative about my ward/investigators. That had been the hardest Sunday in a long time, and I was pretty flustered so I may have come off like I had a bad attitude. However, seeing y’all did make me feel tons better! Love you all, hope talking to me was a good Mother’s Day activity.You're welcome for having a birthday...thanks for the packages. I did end up getting all of them and now I have some SWEET new ties to wear. Thanks!

And Mom, We found the package. We put the meat in the freezer, but it had all been room temperature for a couple days, and we probably shouldn't eat it right? The lady at the apartment office decided to ignore the big thing on the box that said 'perishable' and blamed fed-ex for not notifying me about the package. I wasn't happy, but missionaries can't yell at people, so I just took the package and left. She didn't even apologize. 

PS Other exciting news...there is a huge chance I could stay in this area next transfer!