Now Go, And Be Golden: I'm Phelan Tired This Week

You have no idea how busy this past week has been! I'm so glad that it is finally P-Day so I can take a break from it all.

So, I may or may not have said in my last email that the Phelan Ward has started a 40 day fast. This is only the second week of it, but some cool stuff has already happened. So, Roland, my newest investigator, is a pretty cool guy. He is married to Carla, who we've already taught a little bit. We went over to their house this past Tuesday and answered some questions for him. He is super interested and really wants to go to the temple. Its a little difficult telling him that he can't go unless he's a member. Hmm. He's been to church twice now and we've already taught him twice. We've also got two more lessons set up with him and Carla this upcoming week. Its cool seeing him slowly gain a testimony of this gospel and wanting to follow Christ.

We told Jenny that she can get baptized this past Wednesday. She and her mom both started crying when we told he that. I am so excited that she will finally be able to get baptized. It feels like we have been waiting forever for this. We've set her date for the 22 of September so that her dad will be able to baptize her. Transfers is on the 11th, so either Elder Smith or I will not be here for that, but we will still be able to go to the baptism.

Chris, our 9-year-old investigator, will be baptized on the 7th, and all we've got left to do is teach him one more lesson. Teaching him is probably the easiest thing in the world because no matter what I tell him, he just believes me. Wahoo!

Blanca and Ilich got married on Saturday! That was a totally cool time. Elder Smith and I helped set up the wedding Friday night for quite some time. It really looked nice. I even took some pictures of the thing. Earlier this week we got a call from Blanca saying that the wedding was cancelled, though. There was a pretty big misunderstanding between the two of them. We were kind of freaking out. We told pretty much the whole ward that the wedding was off, so everything was cancelled. The next day, however, we went to go talk to Blanca and found out that it really was just a misunderstanding at that the wedding was back on. That was a huge fiasco. It is weird being in the center of all the wedding plans. I never knew that part of being a missionary was being a wedding planner. I was just glad that it all worked out and now they are all married and stuff so that Blanca can get baptized. It was planned for the 1st, but I think it is being moved to the 7th.

I had my first Zone Conference this past week as well. I really didn't find it that enjoyable. I was sitting in the same seat for like 5 hours listening to my mission president say the same thing over and over, which was, find more investigators, give them a baptismal date, then they will get baptized! I understand what he's saying, but it really isn't that easy. I was kind of bored from the whole thing. We did watch a super awesome talk from Elder Holland, which I thought was totally worthwhile. We also ate sandwiches. Yummy sandwiches. I like sandwiches.

Yesterday, Sunday, I felt so super busy, There were 4 investigators at church and I need to set things up, and talk to, and do things for all of them, plus there was Ward Council and a nonmember who just showed up. I was stretched thin yesterday. I would rather have it that way, though, than I would just doing nothing. Doing nothing as a missionary is the worst.

This upcoming week will probably be even busier. We've already got 5 scheduled appointments and we need to schedule a couple more. I really am loving it here in Phelan.

Now go, and be golden,

Elder RST