Well Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is soon to come. Wow, where did 2011 go huh? Anyway, Thanksgiving was just as merry as any other Thanksgiving I guess you could say. It included some all star football in Bogata on the same football field I played at last year. It was a little wet and muddy, but nothing too horrible. Now the questions is... did we win or not? Well unfortunately we didn't get to play zone vs zone, but the zone leaders were team captains, and My team, and Elder Erikson's team both beat the other zone leader captains, so I guess we could say we won. It was really fun though, although the super soreness for the days following wasn't much fun. We didn't actually end up eating PB and J, and we had a pretty original meal with Hermana Zamorah. Turkey, Stuffing, Potatoes, Gravy, Corn, and rice. It was a super delicious meal. Later we went to the lazaro's house and got to eat some ribs and the such. So it turned out to be a great Thanksgiving overall.
As far as missionary work goes this week, it wasn't too great overall. We didn't teach a ton of lessons, nor did we accomplish the goals we were hoping, but I guess it was good to finish off the week with 2 baptisms! Yep, Guillermo and Gerardo both got baptized this Sunday by their Uncle Hermano Bello. It was a great baptismal service, and President and Sister Jeppson came to enjoy it with us.
But now comes the real test. Passaic was split, we lost a lot of investigators, and then we just baptized 2 more of them. So where does our teaching pool lie? Well we don't really have much of a teaching pool anymore. I guess you could say we just ran the elevator principle, and now the elevator is back to the bottom, but nobody there waiting to go up. I guess it would be unfair to say there is no one, but there definitely isn't anyone super close to getting baptized.
We did find some other great investigators this week. One is named Jimena. Her parents and some of her siblings are members, and her parents work in the temple. We taught her one time 2 weeks ago, but seeing very little desire. We came back though, and she had kept her commitment to read, and seemed a little more open to what we were saying. Still not anywhere near baptism, but step by step she could possibly progress. We also started teaching this lady named Natalie, who is the sister-in-law of Ana (The recent convert). She still has a long way to go, as she hasn't participated too much in religion, and prayed (Like really prayed) for one of her first times when we taught her. We'll see how things go with her.
I guess our big focus for these coming weeks is finding. I don't really know the secret to finding here in Passaic, so that is something Elder Erikson and I will have to figure out together. The mission sits at about 361 baptisms for the year, and our yearly goal set in December or January was 500. The goal has been reset to have 400 baptisms in the year of 2011. It's quite a feat, but definitely possible. Hopefully Elder Erikson and I can fulfill our responsibility of helping the zone get 6 baptisms this month, as well as our companionship getting 1 for the month of December. And the way things are looking now, we don't have anyone close to be baptized before year's end. I guess it will take a lot of prayer and faith.
Things are going pretty well though. It will be interesting to see what kind of turn our area takes with these coming weeks. We just need to work super super hard to build up our teaching pools. It's true what pmg says, nothing happens in missionary work until you find people to teach. So that will be our big focus this coming week.
I'm really happy to be a missionary though, and I'm excited for this Christmas season. I'm not too much into the Christmas spirit yet, I guess it's just not the same when you're a missionary. We are excited for the new zone goal coming up, and then we have a missionary fireside for investigators and members in Union City on the 11th. On the 23rd Alex Boye (President's son in law) is coming to the mission to perform. (I think he is the main african american guy in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) so that should be quite a treat. Transfers are in 3 weeks on like the 18th or so.
The Gospel is True! I Love you all so much!!!
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