Dorsal 1 - Week #6

Queridisima Familia!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the Good Ol' USA! We of course are not celebrating with a barbecue today, but we did have the opportunity to participate in a barbecue yesterday but it was celebrating a different occurrence.

This was a pretty fun filled weekend for us here in Dorsal. Saturday we were able to attend the wedding of 2 of our investigators, Mario & Marisol. The service was what I would classify as an "express wedding", but the ceremony itself seemed very impersonal. It looks like Chile has a tendency to turn events like this into legal encounters more than anything, I guess I'm still not used to that part of the country. However, the party following the ceremony here in Chile is a very big deal!

Sunday, yesterday, Mario & Marisol were also able to be baptized! YAY!!! They kinda freaked us out a little bit because they didn't show up to church... We gave them a call and they said they were definitely going to make it to the baptism and that the party hadn't ended until 4:00 AM, later he mentioned that they cut it off early because they were really tired. They did make it to the baptism on time. The bishop baptized Marisol and I had the opportunity to baptize Mario. All in all it was a wonderful experience... Mario was jumping up and down like a little kid from how excited he was. Mario and Marisol had both been waiting for this moment for a long time! The Church now has 2 excellent recent converts, they actually have interviews with the bishop on Wednesday to receive callings and for Mario to receive the Priesthood. I've also been cordially invited to the sealing in a year, and to travel down to Los Angeles (southern Chile) with them for the party they are going to have down there!

As a rebuttal to my comments about the "end of the world"... Almost all of the Evangelicals here in Chile were freaking out about the "end of the world", hence my comments...

Congratulations to all of the high school graduates out there, especially Ryah and Dillon!!! It's good to hear that Ryah did well on her speech, try to send me a copy if you can! I guess not everything about graduation week can be fun though, but totaling the car didn't have to be how it became interesting.

So Ryah is officially a nursery worker! That wouldn't exactly be my first choice, but maybe the bishopric of the Lufkin 1st Ward is trying to make sure that these young women don't decide they want to become mothers to fast... I guess it would work... right? (Se supone que es revelación... ¿ó no?).

Good to hear that everyone had a semi-decent week at least! By the lack of information about Gabe I'm guessing that he is still just hanging in there...

This week is changes, and the time feels like it is ticking by faster everyday. I can't believe that I've only got 2 more chances, including this next weekend, to be transfered!!! Time is flying!!!

Love ya'll and miss ya'll more everyday! I'll see you all very soon... I'm excited about that part, but there are parts of returning home that I'm not super excited about...

¡Besitos!

-- Élder Todd