Mi Familia,
Bin Laden is dead?! Crazy. Sounds like a very exciting week. Elder Ballard and I think that Hernan, our investigator, looks like Osama a little. Good to know it is not him! But it would have been cool to baptize him.
I can't believe everything that happened with the stake! That is crazy. I hope our ward doesn't change, because I love our ward! Does that mean Alicia has a new seminary teacher? And I think Jimmy is going to Chile Santiago West, and Brandon to England Manchester. Let me know when you find out!
This week went well. I got to work a little but Elder Ballard is still sick. So, lots of study time. I feel like I am making good progress in Spanish and feel pretty confident with it, for how little I have been exposed to it. I studied the scriptures for hours this week and learned a lot. I wish I would have studied them more before the mission.
Cool experience: Boyd K. Packer said that practicing teaching is the way the Lord teaches his missionaries. We practice teaching almost every day as a companionship. One practice we had was about reading the Book of Mormon with one of our investigators, Luis, who drives Taxi. In the practice, I was the missionary and Elder Ballard was Luis. Elder Ballard said he hadn't had time because he works 12 hours a day as a Taxi driver, and he is really tired. Lo and behold, Luis said the same thing when we went to the lesson. We were able to help him almost word for word with what we said in the practice. It was an amazing experience for me.
A little more about the Montejo Family: The parents and oldest daughter have been inactive for 12 years. They were baptized 21 years ago and we think they were offended by a member. The dad has other issues with the church and will say hi but takes off whenever we are over. The mom loves us and knows the church is true, but won't attend church. The sons, Nefi (16), Jared (14), and Alejandro (12) are not baptized, but are so great. The Bishopric came with us Wednesday to talk to them, and the whole family was there, and awake (which is rare). 11 of us were sitting there and talking, including their Dad! The mom and sister were crying the whole time when we talked about the Sabbath day and sacrament. Hermana Montejo told us so many missionaries have stopped by to try to talk to them and help the family and baptize the sons but it has never happened. Then she told Elder Ballard and I that she feels like we are going to be the ones that are going to baptize them. It made me so happy, because I feel such a special connection with those boys. Nefi told me he wants to be a missionary too someday. They called us Saturday to tell us they couldn´t come to church, because they were leaving out of town. I was so sad, and decided to fast that they could be able to somehow come to church. On Sunday they called us 30 min before Sacrament meeting telling us they were coming! Only the boys came but that is alright. I still don't know exactly what happened but I know my prayers were answered, and I know that fasting works!!!
I am so happy! I love it here. I know I am doing the Lord's work. The only thing that makes me sad is thinking that someday I will come home and have to take off my missionary tag. I know this church is true. I love you and miss every one of you!
Con Amor,
Elder Riley Stevenson
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