Things are going well here in Vancouver. Sorry for not getting a letter off last week. I didn't have much written down and I couldn't think of what else to say and then I forgot to send what I had written down. Vancouver is doing well. It has been relatively cool lately. This morning it is in the low 60's overcast and misty. I don't know how it does it, but you know how people have misters in Arizona around their patio, well that's the same type of thing but its rain here, it's weird.
Sunday was a good day. We had three investigators at church, two of which were there for the whole three hours.
Domingo was the first. He is a great guy in a tough situation. He is married to a member but she is not very active. They have a son that is in Juvie right now, Mingo. But there is a twist, when this son was an infant, he was handed to them with a note that said you are now the legal parents, while they were at a carnival. Well obviously that is not a legal way of adopting. Well everything has been fine for the 14 years this kid has been alive, as fine as things can be. Well now that he is in juvie, for some reason, their other daughter is mad at them, so she called the court and told them the story and so now, they are thinking the court is not going to give them Mingo back. It is a sad situation. Domingo has been to church twice now and you can tell that his spirits are getting higher. So that is the story of Domingo. Add that to the list of things I didn't know I would do as a missionary, an adoption counselor.
Next up is Jorge. Jorge is married to Claudia and they have four kids. They also have no money. The other day we went by their apartment and Jorge was digging through the dumpster for cans to take them to Portland for the “cans for cash” thing. So we aren’t really sure what his true motives are but that is beside the point. Anyway, he came to church and now has come four times. Yesterday we went by and for the first time in probably two months, caught him and his wife at home. We talked to them about "seek ye first the kingdom of God then seek ye for riches". We promised them that if they read five minutes a day together that they will find work. So we will see what happens.
Well as you can see by the title, I have met a lot of Chileans. There are currently two families from Chile in the branch. Well another family came for the first time on Sunday and they are going to start coming. We met them yesterday and they are from Santiago and are a great family. The last investigator that came to church was Ingrid. Ingrid is the daughter of a lady that got baptized last October-ish. She is a great lady that would be baptized by now, but her husband won’t let her. She’s not even allowed to go to church. Well little by little, Gino (her husband) is changing. He came to a branch camp-out that they had and stayed the night which is amazing. So she really wants to get baptized. We don't know if Gino is going to allow that quite yet but we will see. We have made it this far so we will find out what happens this week. I would absolutely love to teach a Chilean.
Well that's about it. I hope you have a good week. Sounds like the weather is doing better down there. I hope so. Keep up the good work
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Big things are happening (08/18/2010)
BIG things are happening here in Vancouver. First, I will start with the biggest and probably the most exciting. Last week we started teaching this family named Eddy and Blanca. They are an awesome couple. It is just the two of them but they want to have kids soon. Anyway, they have been taught off and on for about a year when some English Elders tracted into them the other day and they passed them onto us. Well we started teaching them and quickly committed them to baptism. The date we set was for the 24th of August; because that's when Elder Arnold will be going home and since his family will be picking him up, his whole family will be there. We don't really have many obstacles to get them accomplished; we just have to get them married which they are willing to do. They should be buying their wedding license today so we should get them married probably the day of their baptism or maybe the night before. It should be quite the affair. We are working and praying really hard that it all works out. We are really excited for them. They are a great couple.
Yesterday we had Zone Conference with Elder Ringwood of the 70. It was a great conference and I learned a lot. He talked about how to show true sacrifice. It was really good and he was a good speaker. He was funny and shared a lot of good stories.
Other things are going well here. I feel liked a lot happened but I can't remember it all. Probably because it was an extended a week. But I am enjoying Vancouver. It is probably not as good Yakima but it still a good area. That is too bad that that elder in your ward has only had 3 people to teach in 8 months. I sure have been blessed in that aspect. Sounds like it has been hot there in Arizona. It has been pretty warm up here. Some households are sweltering without AC and the humidity. We had Zone conference yesterday and they had Mexican food and it was kind of like an enchilada casserole which seemed hard to make but I thought that nachos would be good and easy, just some chips with some ground beef and all of the toppings. That would be something easy to do.
I got a call from President Greer last Wednesday and he said "Elder Bair, we are looking into the future here about you going home and from what other Elders have said I think we are going to send you all home the 15th of December, will that be okay with you, and I said that will be fine". So, I guess that is my release date. At first I had a hard time with it, but after thinking about it a lot, I felt that it will be okay. This will give me a chance to be with just you for a few days before everyone else gets out of school and work and what not.
Well I gotta run
Have a great week
Yesterday we had Zone Conference with Elder Ringwood of the 70. It was a great conference and I learned a lot. He talked about how to show true sacrifice. It was really good and he was a good speaker. He was funny and shared a lot of good stories.
Other things are going well here. I feel liked a lot happened but I can't remember it all. Probably because it was an extended a week. But I am enjoying Vancouver. It is probably not as good Yakima but it still a good area. That is too bad that that elder in your ward has only had 3 people to teach in 8 months. I sure have been blessed in that aspect. Sounds like it has been hot there in Arizona. It has been pretty warm up here. Some households are sweltering without AC and the humidity. We had Zone conference yesterday and they had Mexican food and it was kind of like an enchilada casserole which seemed hard to make but I thought that nachos would be good and easy, just some chips with some ground beef and all of the toppings. That would be something easy to do.
I got a call from President Greer last Wednesday and he said "Elder Bair, we are looking into the future here about you going home and from what other Elders have said I think we are going to send you all home the 15th of December, will that be okay with you, and I said that will be fine". So, I guess that is my release date. At first I had a hard time with it, but after thinking about it a lot, I felt that it will be okay. This will give me a chance to be with just you for a few days before everyone else gets out of school and work and what not.
Well I gotta run
Have a great week
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Another week down (08/10/2010)
Well how was San Diego? Sounds like you had a lot of fun with all of the shenanigans there. It sounds like there was quite the crowd of people if it got up to 32 without me and Scott there. I did get all of your post cards and that's too bad that it was cold. It was cold up here all week as well. The lows have been in the low 50's. It is actually nice to me.
Things are going well here. We actually have two people committed to baptism. We don't really have a date set because they haven't been to church and they aren't married. But here is the story. Eddy and Blanca are their names. They were taught about a year ago by some other missionaries and came to church and really enjoyed it but for whatever reason stopped taking the lessons. Well some English elders were tracting and ran into them and they let them in. So then they passed them onto us and we have started teaching them. Well we asked them about baptism and they want to get baptized but they aren't married. So we talked about marriage last night and they have a lot of interest in doing so. Eddy also called Blanca earlier that morning and said if we are going to get closer to God, then I can't drink anymore so he told her to pour all of his beer down the drain which she did. We hadn't even taught him the Word of Wisdom yet so that was awesome.
Things were going well. The training in Tri-cities was for different people and Elder Arnold went and another Elder that was training went and so I was put with another Elder that is brand new to the mission for the week. So I trained for the week I guess, although, I didn't do much since he isn't a Spanish speaking missionary.
Arnold is getting set to go home here in a couple of weeks so I will be getting a new companion so that is coming on the horizon.
Wells that's about all I have. Sounds like everything is going well there in Arizona. Try and keep cool. We have Zone Conference with Elder Ringwood next week so I will be emailing on Wednesday next week so I will talk to you then. Have a great week.
Things are going well here. We actually have two people committed to baptism. We don't really have a date set because they haven't been to church and they aren't married. But here is the story. Eddy and Blanca are their names. They were taught about a year ago by some other missionaries and came to church and really enjoyed it but for whatever reason stopped taking the lessons. Well some English elders were tracting and ran into them and they let them in. So then they passed them onto us and we have started teaching them. Well we asked them about baptism and they want to get baptized but they aren't married. So we talked about marriage last night and they have a lot of interest in doing so. Eddy also called Blanca earlier that morning and said if we are going to get closer to God, then I can't drink anymore so he told her to pour all of his beer down the drain which she did. We hadn't even taught him the Word of Wisdom yet so that was awesome.
Things were going well. The training in Tri-cities was for different people and Elder Arnold went and another Elder that was training went and so I was put with another Elder that is brand new to the mission for the week. So I trained for the week I guess, although, I didn't do much since he isn't a Spanish speaking missionary.
Arnold is getting set to go home here in a couple of weeks so I will be getting a new companion so that is coming on the horizon.
Wells that's about all I have. Sounds like everything is going well there in Arizona. Try and keep cool. We have Zone Conference with Elder Ringwood next week so I will be emailing on Wednesday next week so I will talk to you then. Have a great week.
Monday, August 2, 2010
A lot of walking (08/02/2010)
Well we only get 1,400 miles a month on our car, and at the end of last Tuesday we had used 1,340....so we did a lot of walking and riding the bus. There are a lot of interesting people on the bus....very interesting people. But it was good. We weren't able to teach as many lessons but we were able to talk to some different people and get out and enjoy the sunshine. It has been nice and cool which has made it very nice.
I don't have much to write about. We talked to Emidio (we thought it was Emilio but it is actually Emidio, who would of thought?) about baptism and he seemed interested. We had him read 2 Nephi 31 and pray about it and he did and said he felt good. But he said he wanted us to come over and explain it to him. We haven’t been able to do that and he didn't go to church, but at least he is thinking about baptism.
We had 2 people come to church. Jorge came again, even though we have tried to stop by to talk to him but we were unsuccessful all week. A man named Juan came with friend. He seemed very interested and he was even taking notes during the classes. We have never met him but we have an appointment set up so we will see how that goes.
Other than that things are going well. Tell everyone hello for me in San Diego.
When you have FHE will you read with the group 2 Nephi 33:10 and talk about how this book testifies of Christ. Then read Alma 7:11-13 and show that it really does. That Christ was truly bruised for our iniquities. Just a thought. If you use it, let me know how it went
I don't have much to write about. We talked to Emidio (we thought it was Emilio but it is actually Emidio, who would of thought?) about baptism and he seemed interested. We had him read 2 Nephi 31 and pray about it and he did and said he felt good. But he said he wanted us to come over and explain it to him. We haven’t been able to do that and he didn't go to church, but at least he is thinking about baptism.
We had 2 people come to church. Jorge came again, even though we have tried to stop by to talk to him but we were unsuccessful all week. A man named Juan came with friend. He seemed very interested and he was even taking notes during the classes. We have never met him but we have an appointment set up so we will see how that goes.
Other than that things are going well. Tell everyone hello for me in San Diego.
When you have FHE will you read with the group 2 Nephi 33:10 and talk about how this book testifies of Christ. Then read Alma 7:11-13 and show that it really does. That Christ was truly bruised for our iniquities. Just a thought. If you use it, let me know how it went
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
