Working Hard but Nothing's Working

These past two weeks have been difficult and unsuccessful, at least as far as the idea of numbers go. Numbers here are apparently a big deal. This is known to be one of the biggest baptizing areas in the world supposedly, so the fact that there has only been one baptism since my arrival, isn't exactly inspiring. Nevertheless, Hermana Crompton and I are working hard every day to find the people who are ready to hear the gospel.

For me, in all honesty, the numbers are useless if the people aren't fully converted or don't fully understand the things we are teaching. I would rather have only one baptism my whole mission and know that the person was truly converted, than have 89 where the people eventually become inactive.

Apparently this is the trend here, so our mission president has asked us to work hard with the less active members in our areas to help bring them back. I like doing this because they are generally more receptive to the things we are teaching.

Anyway, we have two young investigators right now named Litsy and Nayele. They are sisters and they both have so much faith. We have been teaching them for about 2 weeks, maybe 3, and both of them have so many questions but also a lot of answers. Their mother gave them permission initially to be baptized, but right now she is pretty reluctant about the follow through. We have to change their baptismal date though because they couldn't attend church this week and they need to attend at least twice before baptism. I have hope though that their faith will carry them through and that God will soften the heart of their mother so that she will let them go through with it.

Also, there is a less active member named Alexandra who I swear is a kindred spirit to me in every way. She is so sweet every time we visit her and this last week, she offered to feed us lunch during the week. Afterwards, she said she want's to feed us every Tuesday because she loves when we visit. She has been to church twice already and I think she is well on her way to fully returning and being a strong member. Her husband isn't a member and he isn't really open to us teaching him yet, but he listens when she talks about what she is reading in the book of Mormon and he drives her to church on Sundays on the back of her motorcycle. They are sweet and I have high hopes for their future.

Although I still think my body is never going to adjust to the food or the heat here, I truly love the city of Vinces. They have a cute little area near the river that is called "Paris Chiquito." They have a mini Eiffel Tower and a bridge that looks like a toy version of the Golden Gate Bridge. We walk across this bridge almost every day to teach and in the mornings, my companion and I run along the river. It is beautiful and sometimes I feel like I am living in a Disney movie! Call me crazy, but that is the only thing I can think of to describe it.

Anyway, I will try to take pictures this next week. My camera has been buried in a drawer for a while so I should probably dig it out. Hopefully next week will be a little bit more interesting.

Ta ta for now!