Con El Juicio Con Que Juzguéis, Seréis Juzgados

Mi Familia,

Thanks a lot for the emails. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Things are good here. My companion Elder Cruz is awesome and we get along really well. He has a year in the mission and is from Mexico State I guess you would call it in English (Estado de Mexico), just north of Mexico City. He is from Cuautitlan Izcalli. The transfers were great and I think every companionship that had changes is stronger now, so that is great.

This week we had a great experience with one of our investigators, Guadalupe. Her family is all members of the church. When Elder Ah Mu said goodbye to her on Monday she cried and apologized for not getting baptized during his time here. She said she would soon. Elder Cruz and I visited her and she accepted a baptismal date for the 25th of August. We also found some great people this week and we are excited to start teaching them. We are working well with the ward and are planning and making some changes and having an activity. We are going to have time in priesthood opening exercises to have missionary experiences. We are also going to have a "Memory Binder" that is going to have the conversion story of every member in the ward. Then we are going to give it to a family so they can read and think of someone that we can teach, maybe someone that is in the same situation as a member, then we are going to take those members to teach them, and give the binder to another family.

It has been very cold and rainy here. But I am enjoying it a lot and I hope I can stay here a few months more. We found a lot of new people to teach this week and we are happy about everything that is going on in the area.

On a funnier note, we are teaching a girl named Diana. She is 15 but as tall as me and plays basketball on the Chiapas State team. She had surgery on her knee and wasn't here but I felt like we should go and we found her at home. The surgery went well. She was in bed for a while and she read almost all of the Book of Mormon. She said she knows it is scripture. She also got some of those month long tattoos (don't remember what they are called in english) but she said that the Book of Mormon inspired her to do it. She said that is says "only the Lord can judge me" but in Portuguese. I can't say I didn't laugh a lot but it is a start. I guess we just need to show her how she can better express those feelings she has (i.e. getting baptized).

Things are good here. I love you and miss you all a lot. Have a great week!

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson