Progress!

Dear Family,

Just wanted to let you know that I shook hands with the one-eyed creepy cross-dresser man this week. He started kissing his hand and screaming afterwards.

I also had the amazing opportunity to go up into the mountains this week. I went on 24 hour divisions with my zone leader and we went to the farthest part of his zone (which is in the mountains!?). It was awesome, there were tons of trees, space, dogs, horses, and almost fresh air. We got warned two times to be careful because a Peruvian woman was killed by a bunch of wild dogs not too long ago. I just petted the dogs?

We had our interviews with President Laycock this week and it was intense. We talked about a whole bunch of things, but mostly we talked about my sector. "Permanaced" is our main focus right now in our sector. It`s a document that we are supposed to share with all active and inactive members of the church. You should look it up and read it, it`s really simple and really clear. Problem is that our ward has not had much success in the last two years. The average ward seems to have about 15 or more baptisms in the last two years and our ward has 5. I got President`s full support to focus as much as we want on the re-activating efforts in our ward because there are plenty of inactive members who are accepting us and wanting to return to church, but just need some help. Our increased focus on reactivating has proven extremely helpful because we`ve found a whole bunch of inactive families who want their kids to go to church and be baptized.

As of right now we have one baptism scheduled for this Sunday. Cristopher Valenzuela, age 13. He likes church and loves mutual and is excited to receive a remission of his sins! We also have Cristopher (16) and Juan (10) that went to church for the first time this Sunday and LOVED it. The are planning on getting baptized the following week. Their dad is fully supportive of them, but thinks that the 2 other baptisms he`s already received should be enough to save him. We`re gonna try to work with him.

I`ve really come to see the blessings of obedience, fasting, and following the spirit this week. I`m extremely grateful to be where I am and doing what I`m doing. My testimony of Jesus Christ has grown so much and with that everything else has become so much easier. I love each and every one of you and hope that you are all doing your best at living the gospel. Praying, reading your scriptures, magnifying your callings, and sharing the gospel. You are amazing, thank you for all the love and support.

Love,
Elder Mooney