Agency

Hello Dearest Family!                                         

Things are going well here in Tambo Grande! We are in the final week of the transfer sessions, and man did it blow by!! There is a chance I will be leaving, but more likely is that I stay to finish training Elder Plata. And that is what I want to do, even though 6 months in the end seems like so much time to have in one area. But I don't want to leave just yet! So we will see.

Elder Plata and I are facing some rough times... L and his family didn't make it to church yesterday. So his baptismal date for the 28th fell. I think Elder Plata was on the edge of tears, and I was honestly feeling crushed myself. We even passed by their house before to make sure they were coming and they were all getting ready to go!! We couldn't go with them because we told a blind member we would take him to church (a member used to take him weekly but it has been about a month since he got to go, so I thought that would be good for him, (and it was) but maybe it was that extra attention the family needed in order to attend. We have to respect their agency and give them the opportunity to show their personal desire and diligence, but it was heartbreaking.

With this goal of 6 baptisms for the month, our big plan fell so we are trying to see what else we can do. This goal has really upped my diligence and emotion for the work. Like the prophets in the Book of Mormon would mourn and weep for their cities, I have found all of my thoughts and prayers turning to them and when they don't keep the commitment you understand why the prophets wept. You feel sincere love for these people and the desire for them to participate in these covenants fills your entire being. We are continuing to work hard and keep our diligence full throttle.

We have been finding new investigators and hidden less actives and that has been good! We found H and J, two former investigators. What happened with them is they were all set to get married then baptized, then H's mom got sick and they had to use the marriage money for her. Then they moved several times and the missionaries lost track of them. We spent 2 hours one day asking the town for where they lived and we finally found them!! And they are AWESOME. They have everything set to get married, they just need to set the date, and they have super strong testimonies from before and want to be baptized! The thing is they want to wait until August 24th for marriage, for the 1st birthday of their daughter. But we are starting to work on getting them married and baptized before. The last lesson I mentioned I think I will be leaving Tambo Grande in the end of July, and they said that they will get married before I go, so that is super great!! I think they want me as one of the witnesses! haha so they are super great and fun to be around and I think they will really start to progress more and more now.

Oh!!!!!! LATEST NEWS!! ELDER INOCENTE IS NOW ENGAGED!! 

Well gotta go! Love you all!!

Elder Collin Russell

Tacos with Hermano Morales on P-Day