From Braedon

hey,

so, just so you know mostly everything is going really well. but the ouch is because of a comment made during stake conference that just poured a bit bucket of water on member missionary work. the guy that made the comment didnt intend for it to come out the way it did (hes an ex-mission president and understands this stuff pretty well), but it really did just give us missionaries a kick to the face haha. he said that members should stop giving videos and copies of the book of mormon and cards and such to their friends and neighbors. he said to stop giving missionaries referrals. he said that instead of all that, we should just be friends with people for a year without saying anything about the church besides, 'im a mormon'. he said to do it without the intent of sharing the gospel with them at all or preparing them for the missionaries. after each comment, we missionaries just cringed more and more. he was trying to talk about motives, and say that we shouldnt do that stuff just because were asked to, but because we really care for them and want to be their friends and love them. and the idea was that they should develop that sincere friendship with a NEW person, not with the people the already know. but the guy is older and recently had a couple issues with his brain and had surgery and such, so it all just came out in a less than desirable way. and hes a big leader in the stake, so of course all the members heard it and believe it. so now we have members thinking that they shouldnt do any missionary work for the next year, even with the ones they have already known since before. really bad. president donaldson was there and heard it and had a meeting with the stake presidency after to address it, but the damage was done either way. so all the missionaries have been concerned over that. but last night we got a call from president donaldson saying that salt lake got word of what happened and that all will be fixed 'in these next few weeks'. so im guessing that hes saying the general conference will set things straight for us haha. now we just have to make sure the members actually watch all of the conference haha. but yeah, that put a big dent in things but were moving forward regardless. we know the guy who said it didnt mean to shut us down, and im positive itll get straightened up soon.

anyways, as for sabrina and lidia....still no baptism. but, theyre still down for it and actually are pushing to have them family do it too. this past saturday, sabrina went up to san diego with her sister and they went to the mormon battallion, and afterwords they and the missionaries from that area talked with the sister lidiana about baptism. and she wants to do it too! hahah. so now weve got 3 out of like 10 on board hahah. but still nothing with the parents. if we can just get the dad to feel it and approve it, then i think itll unlock everything for the 3 sisters to get baptized right away and bring in the rest of the family a lot sooner. so thats our goal for the week, the dad haha. but all is going super well. i gave them each a general conference ensign and theyve been eating it up. they read that, the book of mormon, and lidia has even been reading in doctrine and covenants about certain themes she wants to learn about haha. awesome. keep them in your prayers, its just a matter of time now.

the cruz family continues to do well. they came to activities on wednesday and the kids helped us bake cookies while the parents had an english class with elder mata. then the mom and daughter came to a relief society activity on friday and really enjoyed it. they were planning on walking to church on sunday but when they found out it was in el centro they decided not to go even though we offered them a ride. even though they dont have much, theyre very determined to be self reliant. i wish theyd let us help them out a bit more but for right now they wont haha. but theyll be there this wednesday and this sunday so itll be good. the daughter is coming to YSA tonight too, and im sure shell get taken in super fast there too. that program is a machine. these past three weeks weve had like 7 non-members go to it and get sucked into it. the missionary couple in charge of it, elder and sister king, rock.

celia geraldo also doing well. shes reading and praying, even though shes timid and was reluctant to pray at first. she even asked us about how long it takes to get baptized in our last appointment. we told her that she could be ready within a month, and she seemed a little nervous but didnt shut down the idea. next appointment were going to invite her to be baptized on a specific date. shes timid and a little hesitant with everything, but i think shes likes and wants this stuff and will take it well.

found another great guy named carmelo. he was raised catholic, but after reading from the bible and pondering, he thinks some of the doctrine is off and is lookin for the right stuff. so far, everything he believes is right on with the teachings we have, and hes super open to learn more. his wife is hesitantto talk with us, but well win her over haha.

also met and taught a new lady named lepe yesterday. shes open and kind too, but also a shy person. after dealing with people like norma landin, esperanza, the montanos, etc that talk non stop, its nice but kinda weird to teach quite, reserved people haha. but lepe is cool and i think that even though shes a little more timid, she will be open to this stuff. were going back tomorrow with a member (one that thank goodness didnt go to stake conference hahah) to see if thatll help open her up a little more.

we taught the garza family a couple of days ago and they are doing super well. they loved the video and the reading, and we went over moronis promise with them and they loved it. theyve had a lot of jehovas witnesses and baptists come by their housing trying to pound them to accept things, so they really liked the idea of personal revelation and finding out for oneself through the Spirit. shes doing really well healthwise too (she gets really bad migranes that last for days) right now so it looks like God is giving us a perfect opening to help them out. love it.

we had a funny experience teaching the laborin family. as we were teaching them the sons-in-law would walk in drunk and smoking and talking about crazy things like seeing weird things around the house. but their parents in law did a good job of getting rid of them haha. and regardless of the interruption, it ended up going pretty well. one of the sons told us that after going through catacism classes and then studying on his own, he believed that God guides us through a prophet and 12 apostles. he asked us what we knew about that and what our thoughts were hahah. needless to say, he was pretty happy to hear about conference in a couple of weeks. the son and mom show the most interest, the dad just sits there listening and wont participate, but always likes to be there to listen regardless.

oh, another funny story about drunks. we went over to explain the 'stop smoking/drinking' program to victor...and he was drunk hahah. he went off about what he had read from the book of mormon and told us the first 5 chapters of 1 nephi without a flaw. ive never seen such a smart drunk. but as for the program, we told him wed come back to explain it another day haha. he wouldnt let us leave though and took us to the back yard, where he had a drum set. elder mata with his big mouth had told him earlier that i played drums, so he said we couldnt leave until i played him a song hahah. ill be honest, i was happy to do it for him hahah. it had been a long long time since id played the drums, but i played him a couple of swing beats and he loved it hahah. with that wonderful experience, we left haha. probably definitely not the most purpose-fulfilling visit, but itll be a funny one to remember haha.

norma landin went to the RS activity too. she loves the RS. but shes hit a standstill with her progress. she wont come to church! but the good news is that her husband has been asking her about the church more and more (she knows a bunch more than he does). who knows, maybe well get him moving along first and then with that shell follow.

the egyptian guy couldnt make it to his spanish class because of work. plus, president donaldson said that were not allowed to teach him unless hes already christian, and im pretty sure hes not. apparently if you baptize them out of their egyptian religion and into christianity, its basically like putting a big 'shoot me' sign over their head if others find out. missionaries in san diego baptized an egyptian about 6 months ago without knowing that, and president donaldson got notice from the 1st presidency that we need to be very careful about that. the egyptian guy that was already baptized basically cant ever go back to egypt or let others from his home know or hes a dead man haha. so, akmad is kinda out of the picture. darn it!

we did MTE on thursday and friday for the zone and it seemed to help a lot, cause the zone now has 6 more people with baptismal dates. and finding for everyone took a jump up too. so even though we were out of our area to 2 days, it was definitely worth it. were going to start doing missionary movie nights and a blitz to advertise it in each area too to help boost finding for each companionship. the first one is planned for 1st of april, so well see how it goes. even if it only gets each companionship 3-4 more investigators, itll pick up the pace (our zone was really struggling with finding more people to teach this past month).

thats about all folks. sounds like the family is doing well. im excited to ashtons mission call. the annoying thing is that ill have to wait until 6 days after he gets it to know about it! oh well, thats just the way it is. love you all lots. thanks for the vitamin things. i just barely got them and dont really know what they do, but ill read the letter and im sure itll explain. que Dios les bendiga hehe.

elder roney