Today is transfer pday and so I don't have too much time because we started later :) but thank you so much for the news and pics. I loved it all, though I'm kinda bummed about the BYU game. Ugh haha oh well, don't worry, their good luck charm will be there soon. ;)
So first of all, there have been a lot of changes, the whole zone was changed up, we opened 4 new areas and split it into two zones of 8 elders with 2 districts. Elder Gonzales was sent around the corner to Vucetich and I stayed. Jose C Paz 2 was split and now we are JCP 2 and JCP 3, 4 elders in the same ward. So now we are going to be 4 elders in the tiny pension again haha, but I'll survive like I have before. We still haven't met the new elders that are coming, it will be an American, who was actually trained by Elder Barragan, so in mission terms he's my grandson and he's training so I have the privilege in my old age to have a great-grandson in the mission, haha. So I'm old. haha
We split the zone north and south and I'm taking the south part. Now we have to figure out how to divide the area, I'm thinking of doing it east and west and us taking the west side, the part that touches the west mission. So I'm now officially zone leader senior comp, so now I have that
responsibility haha, but now I'm going to "die" as a zone leader and I guess that's what the Lord wants me to do. :)
So I have to tell you all about M-- and how she was baptized! On Tuesday we received a call telling us that M-- wasn't going to be baptized, she had a doubt that she couldn't get over. We later found out that it was tithing. We were able to get through all of her doubts, giving up the Virgin Mary and knowing that the bishop doesn't recieve and use her tithing money. Then on Friday we had scheduled her interview and I received a message three hours before telling us that she couldn't be baptized, haha, it's passed so many times that I didn't even blink. We headed over at the time planned and I just sent in Elder Stewart to do the interview, after an hour she passed, turns out that she did have an abortion over 20 years ago and felt really bad about it, she was afraid that she couldn't be baptized for that but it happened so long ago and she really was repentant, so she passed with flying colors and she was super excited!! She even got one of her wayward sons to come to the baptism, with his wife and daughter, the daughter saw the baptism and was like, wow, I want to be baptized like that!! Now we have to get the permission of the dad... but we are depending on the spirit, but I think according to where I want to divide the area that they are going to be with the new elders, but they will be in good
hands.
So she left the font super happy and with a big smile and it went perfectly! :) Then after church we went far away to eat Peruvian food and then we went to the missionary farewell and that was a crazy
experience to think that's me in 6 weeks, what!?
We are also working with the cousins of G-- and M--, well technically they are half-siblings, same thing right, haha, anyways they have a date for Oct. 6th, we are excited for them because they already
have the signature of their father. We are working with him, G-- too. :)
Friday and Saturday night we got home late both nights, we were out doing late interviews. Saturday night we got completely lost, we didn't get off at the right stop on the bus, haha I think we might have
gone into another zone, but it was on accident haha.
Yes, on Thursday we had the mission conference with Elder Viñas and it was excellent to learn from him. It was just him with the half of the mission. He is a man that just uses the scriptures to answer questions and quotes from the prophets and Preach My Gospel, so like he said that we couldn't deny his words because they were the Lord's. We learned more about the work of Salvation, how the missionaries are in all of the 5 facets of this work. We learned about the importance of saving the members that have entered the temple but now don't have a current temple recommend. He had lots of missionaries stand up and bear their testimony on the Atonement and how it has blessed their lives, he used the scripture Jacob 4:12, it's like why shouldn't we talk about the Atonement, something like that haha. But overall it was a great experience.
We had a great experience Saturday morning, so we decided to drop in unexpected on this one companionship that is having troubles. We have their keys and we got all the way to their door, it was 8:30am and they were still in their jammies and they weren't studying, so we fixed that and then we had a good 2 hour discussion with them and hearing their complaints and concerns about their area. They think that the church is dead there, but using Preach My Gospel and the scriptures we were able to get them more excited to be more obedient and more diligent. They actually had two people in church, which is 2 more than normal. I was glad to help them in a good way, well it wasn't me but the spirit.
It rained a couple of times this last week and it's been colder and windy, not winter-like cold, but more cold than it should be in spring, it just hit and everyone was excited for the holiday, they
have a holiday and a day off from work for like 30 occasions... and they ask us why we earn so much money haha, it's a different economy, but I'm realizing that it's also a different attitude, don't get me
wrong, there are a lot of great hard workers down here, lots of them are members of the church, but it's still funny to see the culture difference.
This morning I did receive your packages, thanks for the bday gifts and candy. :) I love it and I'm already wearing the BYU shirt. :)
As of now we are at 26 baptisms and 20 confirmations, so we need 9 to break the zone record and we only have 3 sets, so we are going to need a couple of miracles haha, us in my area, we don't have anybody. But we are looking to having a couple on Oct. 6th.
Pres Ayre speaks to us in Spanish because I'm with a Spanish comp, but sometimes he speaks to me in English when I call him, but when two Americans are together it's all in English.
I love the scripture you sent and it makes me think of you also, because you were just in front of me to come down. Do you think that we met each other before, like hey Ryan this will be your earthly mother! one wonders, no? haha
Yes, I did receive a letter from Tanner and I'm glad that he is doing well and enjoying his time in the peach state.
Remember to send pics of this week's game and I hope that they win big!!
Have a great week family and we will be writing each other soon! :)
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard
M-- was baptized by me and it was a miracle!! I Love the Mission!!
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