WILL WORK FOR ....VESPA.




VESPA...SOMETHING EVERY MISSIONARY NEEDS

Well not much to report on this week.  We did a lot of finding this week, which means a lot of tracting.  The main areas that we usually would search for Hispanics have all been searched already so we have to go and try to find the "pocket" Hispanics. Which are the Hispanics that live in the middle of neighborhoods, or apartments complexes where you normally wouldn't find them.  We found a few Hispanics this week but none that were really interested in the Gospel.  The rest of the week has been mostly getting the area in order for when the new president and his wife come in. We did service on Saturday which was nice,  helped a member family get some of their possessions from their house to a storage container.  The container area was really nice, had indoor temperature control and everything, really fancy.  Then they fed us pizza, which is great because they know how we as missionaries like food. On Thursday was my first day riding my bike all day.  And the streets here have so many hills I felt that I was going to die after the first hour.  I think I'm going to see if the Mission President will authorize the missionaries to get some Vespas, I think that would be great  for us in this area. 

The first transfer my companions were OK with letting me say a prayer and bearing my testimony, but they want me to start having a more "pro-active" position in the lessons.  So this transfer is going to be me working on  interjecting my thoughts and impressions as they come instead of trying to wait for a moment to give them.  Other wise the highlight of the week would have to be Sunday.  Since coming out Sundays would have to be the best part of the week for me.  Fasting (going without foodd for 24 hours and then using the money that you would have used for food and donating it to the poor and needy) is also a lot easier since I came out on the mission too,  probably because I'm not sitting in the house half the day glaring at the refrigerator for taunting me. We have a lot coming up this week though.  I have my meet and greet with the new president and his wife on Tuesday and then we have a baptism to go too on Saturday with a family from Quincy, FL.  They are a great family.  They have been fellow-shipping in the church for years and now finally they are ready for the gospel and they are just such joys to be around.  So we get to make an excursion to Quincy on Saturday to see them get baptized.  We've also set up some appointments this week so I'm hoping that they will all go through otherwise its going to be a lot of tracting again this week, which if it keeps up I'll be a pro by the time I go to Colombia.  But there I won't have to look for someone who speaks Spanish.  Which is the hardest part right now. 

The highlight of the week is hopefully going to be when we set a BCD with Alberto and his family.  They would be such a great addition to the branch.  We had a family that we have been trying to teach all last transfer without any success, but we met them on Saturday and invited them to church (even though we haven't had a lesson with them yet and only barely know them), and they said that they would come.  So first hour of Sunday rolls around and they aren't there and so Elders Correa, Olmstead and I are all bummed out that they didn't come, until we get a call from Alberto (the 15 year old son), that they are in the church.  So me and Elder Correa go running down the hall to find them and we find Alberto and his sister, Kimberly, outside calling us and find his Mom sitting in the Chapel listening to the English Sacrament meeting.  I walk in and try to tell her to follow me but I haven't learned commands yet in Spanish so I had to pantomime following me and saying por favor a couple times.  So we take her to our Second hour meeting where the missionary lesson was.  In the lesson Elder Correa used Alberto as an example to the members that there are people that are ready for the gospel. We had given Alberto a Book or Mormon about 2-3 weeks after I got here, and he had the whole book read within a week, and then at the end of the lesson his mom, Kathy, raised her hand and told the members that they just need to smile and invite people because they have everything that they need. All the Elders and myself were very impressed with her and with our Ward mission Leader for their input and willingness to help us with the work, especially Kathy for giving a testimony the very first time she had ever been inside our church. 



MY DESK

Thanks for the emails and letters!!!!  Keep them coming!  If anyone back home wants to know more about what I'm doing, email me at justin.bandy@myldsmail.net.