Sister pass-offs and bone cancer
Yea so the title is a reference to
the two things that took up most of our week this week. To start off Elder
Pesqueira and I got lost on the island of Montreal after transfers, but
eventually we found the highway. The problem was the raging blizzard going on
and filling the street beneath our non-winter tires with slush and snow. When
we got home Zone Leaders sent out the message that no one was to leave their
apartment due to extreme weather conditions. That killed all the stuff we were
going to do.
Now on to the subject of the e-mail.
Last night we finally managed to visit the investigator with a baptismal date
that the sisters had been teaching in our area. They had told us that they felt
he needed Elders. First thing he said when we brought up his baptismal date was
that he had never actually agreed to it...awkward.
As for bone cancer I've been dealing
with one of Joliette's investigators who really wants to be baptized, but his
stage 4 bone cancer has called his physical capability to be immersed into
question. He likely only has a few weeks to live anyway, so he'll likely just
prepare a letter expressing his desire to have his work done after his death so
that his family can't get in the way. I'm going to give him an interview some
time in the next few weeks, but the ward has determined that he isn't able
medically to do the ordinance (ironically this is exactly how sprinkling came
to be as a form of baptism). I felt really mature though because I had to
approach the ward's bishop (it's not my ward) and discuss the situation with
him.
Also with transfers they expanded my
district to 6 teams, none of them zone leaders and 4 of the teams are Elders.
This gives me 5 nightly phone calls plus the zone leaders every week and 6
splits plus the zone leaders every 6 weeks. President called me himself and
asked if the district was too big for me. I said no. I feel bad for Elder
Pesqueira though. He had to do splits on his first day, and we just don't have
a ton of open proselyting time these first two weeks or so due to the myriad
things I need to take care of (there's a huge list but I'll spare you the
details). My stress is really high, but honestly I'm having a lot of fun.
On Saturday we passed a family of
formers and they were pumped to see us. They told us to come back the next day
at any time. We tried a couple of times but they were never home (they're
Haitien so that's not really abnormal. Culturally they just never keep
schedules). The last time we tried as we were leaving we saw their neighbor throwing
out his recycling. I had already felt very strongly on other pass byes that
that house had investigators in it, so we talked to the guy. He was really cool
wanted to receive us. We gave him a card and he told us to come by any time
after Christmas break. Now we have two potential families on the street. I love
it when that happens.
Elder Pesqueira is cool. He sings and
plays the Ukulele so we plan to use that to our advantage. He is Mexican in
origin (though born in Utah) and speaks Spanish, which is perfect. He's also
started to teach me Spanish so I can one-up Dylan...I mean talk to the
Hispanics who make up nearly half the ward.
To answer your other questions: Yes I
got the Christmas package. Elder Pyron went through the gifts and read the
scriptures before I did. He's a funny guy. We have a few less-active
individuals we visit, but only one family. The reason most of the people here
are less-active is because their families disintegrated. It's really sad
actually. The youth are pretty strong, but really young. There is like 1 Laurel
and 1 Priest, but plenty of 12-15 year olds of both genders.
I just got your note about Ronnie!
That's so exciting!! I always knew he was an ugly duck! Those younger kids are
really showing us up! First Paige and now Ronnie!
My fingers are tired, so I'll stop
for now. I love you all so much! Just recently I finished the Book of Mormon
for the third time on my mission (second in English). I once again took
Moroni's challenge, and once again received an answer. The Book is True, and
because it is, we will be together forever as a family.
Peace and Blessings! (as Sister
Willis says)
Elder Hardy
