6-28-10

This week!

A few good things have happened this week. We have a baptismal date for July 18th with a girl named Mariela, who is a native from Mexico. Only downside is she has told us that she is apparently in love with me, so hopefully she is making the decision based upon the spirit and NOT based upon me being tan guapo, hahaha. She came to church yesterday and all went well! The members here fellow shipped her like it was their job, so she felt really comfortable. We're really excited for her.

We also had a part-member lesson last night with a family from ecuador. The mother, Ruth, was converted in their first few years of marriage and she is also endowed now. But, the father continues to live in his teen years. They have a 14 year old named Jessica, 9 year old Katrina, and 3 year old shelly. Adorable kids! The older two are both baptized. The husband Angel, just doesn't want to recieve an answer. We asked him last night if he would follow an answer if he recieved it and he basically told us no. So we don't really feel too bad for him on that account. We said what we needed to say and I think we made some progress. What i saw from the whole thing though was that their relationship needs some serious work because everytime Ruth wants to say something to him she would turn to us and say "Elders, he does this or that." So I busted out some knowledge that I have gained from all my years living with our crazy family and I said "Ruth, I want you to tell him one good thing about him, then tell him what you want him to do, and then tell him you love him." So she did so, but basically told us... Again. So I said "Ruth, Ya sabemos (we already know) Tell him this time." She said "Right now??" and I said "yes, right now." So she did it, and I think it really helped. They need to communicate a lot more if he's ever going to understand WHY he needs to be baptized and how important it is for not only their family, but also their relationship! I wrote them both a prescription, they have to take it 2 times per day every day. They have to tell each other they love each other. It's the simple communcication that seems to be ruining it! It went really well.

This week we had a tornado rip through Bridgeport. To us, we thought it was just a quick storm, and then as we continued to drive home we realized there were trees blocking our path and powerlines were down! We got to our apartment and the power was out so we couldn't get into our front gate. The Most of the east side of Bridgeport was trashed. The trees were ripped out of the ground, like the big old trees, and the power lines were destroyed. Power is still out in some areas and a few buildings have collapsed. It was awesome! Nobody died either, so it was something a little exciting.

Well. I love you all, hope you are all doing well, and I have you in my prayers.

Love
-Elder Conner Allred