Success...ish...

Well this week we finally had investigators in sacrament meeting, but after probably our worst week number wise in the mission. It was a rough week, with essentially all of our appointments falling through, and none of our contacts being home when they say they'll be home. Fortunately, our two investigators that we've been teaching for two weeks without them coming to church, and almost didn't this week, came through for us. The mom's name is Liz, and the daughter (11) is Ariana. Liz works in Tequix (20 minutes away) Saturday nights until early Sunday morning, and was going to meet up with the missionaries in Tequix to come to church, because we're the same branch. We called Sunday morning to make sure everything was good, and her daughter picked up her cell phone, which Liz had left at home. We ran by at about 8:50, and found them changing clothes and made it just as the meeting started. Talk about being guided by the spirit. Now they're preparing for the 25 for baptism, and the 9 for confirmation (conference in between), which means they'll be confirmed after transfers, and one of us will most likely be gone. It's ok, though, I'm just glad they finally made it. They are such good investigators, and really keep their commitments (minus church), and I think they are really developing a good testimony. We did exchanges on Thursday, and I stayed here with Elder Messner (who was in the MTC with me. We were probably the youngest companionship ever at the moment) and we went with Liz. We had a really good experience, and I'm getting a lot better at teaching based on what the spirit tells me they need. Also my Spanish is pretty darn good, so I'm really excited about that. I wonder if I'll be able to understand Manuel after listening to all these Mexicans... We do have a Peruvian Elder in our district, though. He's from Lima, but has a very different accent from Manuel.
I did end up hearing from Tara this week, and just wrote her back, so I am aware of everything going on with her. I'm glad everything's going well with her, though. I'm glad Alyssa Shirley finally came to visit you. I told her not to be shy about it, and included a map of how to find you in one of my letters (which I don't know if it was in one that she got...). I don't include news in my letters to her, because it's all in here, and I know she's reading these letters. When you read this Alyssa: keep sending letters the way you are. They get here in about 10 days, the only problem is that I only get them when someone from the district goes to the offices. I've gotten four or five letters from you, the last one being dated August 18, so just keep doing what you're doing (not parcel post), and hopefully we'll hear more from each other soon.
Speaking of letters, mom, send them to the apartado postal address. That is just a PO box that the mission has, and I found out we're apparently not supposed to send things directly to the mission address (the miralirio one), so send it to the Apartado Postal 98 or we may have problems.
I did get the pictures dad sent, and that was fun to hear about Canyon. How did his talk go? Maybe he can give another one when we talk at Christmas so I can hear it, too. That's fun that Savanna is growing up so much. I'm sure she'll have plenty to say to me, too, with or without her "r"s. Happy birthday to Dad and Andrew last week. I meant to put it last week, but I always forget birthdays until after they've happened. I did think about them, though, and wrote about Dad turning 50 in my journal (how's that feel?), and you now have no excuse: you're old. That's fun that Andrew carried the balloons around everywhere. I'd imagine they'd be quite a hassle for someone who is still just crawling. Hopefully he'll be talking before Christmas so I can hear how his Spanish is coming. I think mine will be better than his then. I'm glad you had that experience in the temple, mom. I've noticed hat it's always the small things that get you the most. I'm sure that person is rejoicing for the work you did for her, and Heavenly Father is so happy that you are willing to help those who weren't able to receive those sacred ordinances in this life. I haven't gotten anything from Betsy so far. I only get family emails, letters from Alyssa Shirley, and I got one letter from Becca, too. Other than that, nothing. Thanks for the pants. With my plan, I'm only using one pair of each color until they're totally worn out. If things keep going well, I'll have basically new clothes when I get home that will just need a dry cleaning after being in a suitcase for 2 years. Thanks, Sharon for getting those books. I really appreciate it, and I'm sure you'll hear a lot of inspiring things from them. I'm almost done with D&C right now (section 134), then it's Pearl of Great Price, then Old Testament. I'm hoping to be done with all of those before our next interviews with President. Speaking of that, D&C 127 and 128 are good temple work sections if you were wondering, especially for Tara and Alyssa Shirley. My apartment address really doesn't exist, so you couldn't send it to me here even if you tried.

Speaking of interviews/President Call, we did have a special training on Wednesday. It was really good. The assistants talked about preparing investigators for baptism, which was more just telling us that we need to do things better, but President shared a really good message. He talked about a talk that Elder Bednar gave while I was in the MTC about being a preach my gospel missionary. It was really good, and I got a lot of things I can work on. He especially emphasized that If we're obedient and worthy, then we bind the Lord, and the Lord will never not fulfill His promise that we can baptize every week (D&C 82:10 and 58:somewhere in the 30s I think). We're doing our best to fulfill that so the Lord will bless us.

So where is Brigham? He hasn't answered any of my emails to him in the last few weeks, so I never heard where he ended up after Acapulco or who he's with or how things are going. I'd appreciate an update there if you don't mind.

Well to wrap things up, here's another testimony. I know that this church is true. I know that we are guided by the Spirit in this, the Lord's work, and that if we do everything we can, the Lord will always bless us in our trials. Just like Joseph Smith (D&C 122/123), we go through so many different trials and afflictions, but everything will work together for our good, and we always have the Savior to turn to. He descended below everything so that He can help us in every problem we have, no matter how insignificant. He loves every single one of you, and as you keep the sacred covenants you have made, you will receive specific blessings that the Lord has prepared for every one of you. The Lord continues to talk to His children through revelation, and each one of you can receive revelation as you study, ponder, and pray that will bless your lives immensely.

Elder Joseph Facer