Hola!!!!!
That´s about all of the spanish I know. But the work continues!
Alright. So here´s the breakdown of what´s going on in Centro.
We´re changing up everything this week. Elder Divis and I had a huge talk, and feel like we need to change our focus a little bit.
Right now we work three little areas, the Chacarita, San Felipe, and a bajo. 90 percent of our time is spent working there, but it´s probably, all together, 1/20 of the whole area of Centro. The missionaries have always worked there, that´s how it was when I got here, and that´s how it´s been for a long time.
There´s a lot to the story, but I´ll try to cap it up really quick. We work in more of the poor area. Most houses are just little one room, dirt floor huts. Lot´s of people are out of work, or if they do work, they´ll get thier whole family to find plastic and paper to recycle. In short, there are many very poor, very humble people. Which also means they´re very easy to teach. We´re very well accepted there.
But this is our problem. There are 700 members of our ward, and 60 come to church every week. A ton of the inactives live in the area that we´re teaching in.
We run into the problem of them being so easy to teach. They´ll agree with what we say, come to church if we bring them, and get baptized eventually. But after that, the missionaries stop carrying them, and they stop coming. Nobody knows them in the ward, and they get lost in the thousands of people who live in the Chacarita.
So. WHat does all of that mean? We´ve had three baptisms since I´ve been here. All of them very solid, very neat people, who we will work with to stay active for the rest of their lives. Everyone needs the gospel. Everyone needs a baptism. It´s a saving ordinance. But the fact of the matter is, Rama Centro needs more people who are ready, and capable to lead. People who know how to organize, to direct, to LEAD. They´re soooo short on people, especially men, like that. There´s not enough to fill all of the callings that they need to fill. And it´s sooo hard to retain everyone we bring in, if the leadership doesn´t function like it needs to.
We met with some of the members of the ward, and we´re going to start working with them to work in the rest of our area.
It´s going to be hard. But We´re here to strengthen Rama Central. We´re going to continue to work with a few of the solid investigators we have right now, and the Conversos Recientes, but we´re going to take a little leap of faith, and start working in new parts of town. We really feel like it´s what we need to do. We´re praying hard for help with this. Haha, it´s uncomfortable just thinking about it. But really, we´re not here for ourselves. It doesn´t matter if it´s not easy for us. We only have two years to forget ourselves like this.
Whew. Sorry. That´s all. I just wanted to get that out. It´s good to feel like I have the understanding from the people I love back home, you know?
Hmmm….. funny story. So Elder Divis told me Happy Thanksgiving the other day, but it was the day after Thanksgiving. They don´t celebrate the united states´ indian feast down here, so we forgot that it was thanksgiving. What a bummer, huh? I think I´d miss home a lot more if it was cold….. but when it´s a LOT of degrees Celsius outside… It´s hard to conjure up memories of sledding, and hot cocoa, and snowmen and such. What a blessing it is to serve here!
Listen, I´m super focused. I promise. But it´s really nice to get letters from friends. It keeps me more normal…. Ish….. Haha. The President of the Rama and Elder Divis were laughing at me last night, because I LOVE to talk about the work with them, and I have a hard time staying with non work related conversation. I guess I get really antsy too when it´s time to leave, and we´re not leaving yet. I really try to stay on time, and especially get home on time. Elder Divis and I are really trying this week to be 100% obedient. It´s amazing how easy it is to get home a few minutes late, or start your personal study a little bit late, or whatever. Cory Beighly talked a lot about how almost obedience gets almost blessings. I really take that seriously.
ANYWAYS…. All I´m saying is that we´re focused. We´re working hard. But it´s nice to hear from my closest friends.
We had a baptism this week. I love the little kid.
More questions? I love those.
Wow, I really do love you back home. Take care.
I really do love you, my dear family. I try to pray for you all, individually. It´s amazing how love can grow with being so far away.
Send me a piece of turkey.
Elder Stewart
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