From Braedon

hey hey hey,

so, things continue to roll, with some things slumping and others bouncing up, but overall things are going decently well. the best news is that Juan got confirmed on sunday and is as excited as ever to keep plugging along. the lame news is that his wife esperanza and his grand-daughter Griselda didnt come. Esperanza was sick (she gets sick quite easy after all the cancer treatment from the past, but shes got cancer beat for now and shes beating the sicknesses bit by bit too), and Griselda just didnt get up on time. supposedly she said she was going to go but nobody woke her up, and rather than not believe her, we told her that wed help out this next week and come wake her up ourselves haha. but she was down with it and is still on board with everything. shes still reading the book of mormon and wants us to keep coming by often, so its moving along.

Hector Gallegos is still reading and praying about the book of mormon, and even though hes yet to receive an answer, its helping to resolve some of his doubts concerning the book of mormon and such so thats good. the lazy guy totally slept through church though. 10 really cant be that early. however, hes gaining more confidence with this stuff and if we can just get him to come to church then i think thatll help it all click. we may start teaching his brother too, and the bro even offered to go to church with hector if he went. who knows, maybe we can work through the brother to get things rolling a bit quicker.

jose terran is doing pretty well. hes definitely old and talks a ton, but hes doing well. the poor guy got confused this past sunday because last week in church he had heard that the temple was closed to renovation and he thought the church was the temple. so sunday morning like 15 minutes before church he shows up at a members house to visit instead of going to the church and they explained that the temple was in san diego and that the church was still open. he ended up not coming to church because he hadnt gotten ready, thinking church was closed, but hes still solid. just old and confused at times haha. hes been telling us about people he knows that we should visit though. i love when people give us referrals when they arent even members.

cool story with the hernandez family. theyre the ones that pretty much dropped us over the phone last week. well, we went by just to say hi and see if we couldnt save the situation a little bit, but it turns out we didnt even have to try to patch stuff up (God did it for us ha). we knocked, they opened right up and told us to come right in. they told us to sit down at the table and they offered us food and drink and everything ha. the wife then told us that after she had told us not to come by anymore, she hung up thinking it was done with. well, that night when the time came that we were supposed to come by and didnt, she felt something inside her shrink and she felt horrible. she told us that shes positive it was the Holy Ghost telling her that she shouldnt have told us no. she even asked God to forgive her for having told us that ha. basically, theyre accepting us back over several times a week and last night they came super buddy-buddy with sister ochoa, so things are going well. the husband is reading and they were both asking us about church services and the times and such. so weve got them back. thank goodness for the Holy Ghost and backing us up ha.

Maria oregel still puts up her 'take it slow' front, but i think shes starting to change. she told us that she never reads other religious books besides the bible, and even has given or thrown away other religious books from other churches. yet she reads the book of mormon. she told us that this week she wants to come to the first hour of church (but just the first hour, because she wants to take it slow haha), then the week after shell come for two, then the week after shell stay for the whole time. i think shes doing it like that more to act like 'ill do it my way and my own time, bit by bit' than anything. shes just yet another older person in our teaching pool that wants to act like theyre in control and do as they please, but really are drawn to this stuff. we shall see what happens with time i guess.

carlos mejia continues to really dig this stuff. we taught him about the plan of salvation because hes heard his wife talk about it (shes less-active). we read from the book of mormon to help explain some points and he told us after that when he was reading from the book of mormon something pierced him to the heart. and his prayer at the end of the lesson was bomb. he gave thanks for having a wife that could bring him these truths that would bless him and asked for help to keep going with it. even though his super busy schedule restricts us meeting with him too often, i feel super good about him.

both brother castillo and brother lemus came to church yet again this last sunday. thats 3 in a row for castillo and twice for lemus. both are super cool guys, and im stoked that theyre getting back into the groove with church now. and their wives are super content with it all too. great guys, im happy for them. the church was packed this last week too. and surprisingly enough, most of them were there before sacrament got started haha. we didnt quite have enough to have to open the curtains and put more seats in the back, but it was pushing it. woot, go calexico ward.

what else...we did a lot of service this past week. not only is service rad because its good to help others out, gain trust, and help along missionary work, but it also helps me learn how to do new stuff haha. building sheds, replacing the kitchen, putting up walls, working on house foundations...i definitely never wouldve done that stuff before haha. im a noob when it comes to that stuff, so its fun to learn a bit about that stuff. what else...we had interviews this morning followed by a meeting with the stake presidency. all went well. no major issues to deal with and thank goodness haha. this thursday we have a conference with elder evans from the 70. should be fun. besides that, its just normal work work work.

im glad ashton got to go out with the missionaries. hopefully they were on top of things and he had a good experience. i still remember the time i went out with them...haha president donaldson wouldve smashed them haha. no, but im sure theyre solid guys. i mean, we missionaries are perfect right? pshshs haha oh how i wish that were so. well, i hope everyone gets better quick. if you want, i can give you some mexican remedies. have i told you about the one where you boil rusting nails in water and drink the water after it cools? haha i hear lots of ridiculous stuff like that. stick to good old american doctors haha. well, id best get a move on. our p day is shorter cause of interviews and weve got some early appointments. but i love you all and thank you for all you do. let me know when your mormon.org profiles are up and ill use them with members ad investigators. woot.

love

elder roney