Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

Dear Everyone,

Another week passes in Paraiso Terrenal. There were a lot of things that happened but it’s going to be a little bit hard to explain. Hopefully it all makes sense. Keep track of names and who they are because I am just going to start throwing names out left and right.

So last Monday I was feeling a little but under the weather. I got a sore throat and I didn’t think anything of it because I went and played ping pong with my comp and I didn’t feel much. But it got really bad when we went out to work that night. We went working igual. I worked through it. We went to District meeting like always. We have now changed it so it is now in Chivilcoy every Tuesday. Then the rest of the week went pretty normal. Saturday we got the opportunity to meet an ex elder that was Branch President also out here. He served four years ago there and he was just visiting with his wife.

Sunday, oh yeah, Sunday. So the past week has just been FREEZING! And Sunday morning wasn’t any different. It probably wasn’t that cold but the humidity just killed us. I had my gloves and sweater and a shirt under my white shirt and a jacket. And I had my long johns on! And two pairs of socks. Wow, I was wearing a lot. So we did the whole church thing. I taught my lesson on Balac and Balaam. Cool little story that I don’t think I have heard about. It was hard to teach it in Spanish to the youth. I don’t think any of them got it. Well, I tried. I told them that basically we need to do what the Lord says or else. That got through their heads better.

One of our investigators, Victoria, didn’t show up and we were really hoping she would show up. We are afraid that she is getting “cold”. Cold meaning that she is distancing herself from the church. We are going to be working frantically this week to do a NDH [Family Home Evening] with her and some of her friends in the church. Her Mother is inactive and that doesn’t help us much either so it’s been a struggle to try and get them both to church. So Victoria and Julia (Mother) is project #1.

Project #2 is a bit more difficult. We have an investigator who is golden. She comes to church every week. She doesn’t go to gospel principles but to gospel doctrine and participates. She is just golden. But the problem is she is not married and she is living with a guy. The guy is the excommunicated member that I think I have talked about before. His name is Ruben and her name is Virginia. Virginia is ready to get baptized once they get married. So this Sunday, my comp had a conversation with her and asked her what the progress is on making the decision. She said that this is a really difficult decision for them to make because of stuff that has already happened. She would be the third woman that Ruben has been with and second married with if they get married. He has six kids, three from each of the previous. She has one from a relationship she was in before. Both of their last relationships ended pretty bad. There is saying here and I will do it in English for everyone. It goes like this: “When one is burned by milk, they cry when they see the cow.” So it is in this situation. But when my companion was talking to her yesterday she said something that surprised us both. She said that she doesn’t have a commitment with anyone else but with God. And that in order to be good with God, if she had to leave Ruben, she would do it. Our jaws dropped. So we are now in a situation where if Ruben and Virginia don’t get married, It is only going to be Virginia going to church with her daughter Sofi (7 yrs old). To make things even more exciting, the oldest daughter of Ruben from the second, we’ll say, wife, is attending church and all the activities and she wants to get baptized too. Her name is Milagros and she is 12 years old. So we are working with her so that she can get permission from Ruben, her dad (easy), and her mother who is against the church (not as easy). So we have our work cut out for us.

We had 32 people at church yesterday which is an average day. And then to make the day better, we had District Priesthood meeting in Bragado and 4 [came?] in the afternoon. It was such a good meeting. We had one person from our branch receive the Melquisedec Priesthood. Well, not received, but got sustained and he will be getting it on Thursday. In the Priesthood Meeting they talked about always having a current temple recommend even though we cannot go for another year. They also talked about the blessings of being full tithe payers. And the last one I liked the most. The last speaker, President Abrea, talked on the importance of the priesthood and each of the responsibilities that each office has. It was so awesome and I am sure that it helped out some members of our Elders quorum. We had five men from our branch go which is the most ever they said that had gone to a meeting like this. We went in a convey [combi?]. It was fun. So that was Sunday. And now it is P-day. We are probably going to play ping pong right after we write these letters. Anyway, nothing too exciting but enough to keep me occupied.

I received a card from Miss Erica, thank you very much for being very consistent even though I am very, very inconsistent. I very much appreciate your letters. Mother’s day is coming up so you know what that means family… I’m calling! I don’t know any plans yet or what is going to be happening that day because it is also the last day of the transfer so we don’t know if we are going to be traveling to BA or not. We probably won’t because we will probably stay together for a third transfer. That is unheard of. So who knows. I’ll let you know with more details next week. So anyway, Talk to you all next week.

Love
Elder Pickett
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