December 7th

Email from Ben....of course:)

This week has been good. We have been teaching the Family Mandonado. A few weeks ago some recent converts from another ward stopped us in the street and she said her sister is interested in the church and has been attending church with her. We got her number and tried calling her but to no success. Then last week she came to church on a whim. We are teaching the whole family and this last Sunday they all came to church. We are planning on driving to San Luis this Friday to get them married. And have their baptism planned for this Saturday along with another young women. And Jose. Jose actually has gone through a rather rough patch. He was the union libre spouse of one of our converts. When we were teaching his neighbor he came over and was being antagonistic. My companion promised him that if he did not repent he would be alone and lose everything. That weekend we had the Baptism of Irma (the neighbor) and he was antagonistic again. Next day the police kicked him out of his spouse's, Carmen's, house. We then baptized her and by the time we baptized her, she didn't really want him back. He told us he wanted to be baptized. And from that week till now, he sleeps in his taxi eats in the street, and has become completely alone. He almost lost his taxi, but he began to pray to change. He found the money he needed to pay for the rent on his taxi, and our plan is to help him get away from Carmen, and help him truly repent. And now we are house hunting for him. Our Ward is incredibly animated and wants to work. In the Consejo del Barrio the leaders were demanding more of us, so we came up with some ideas. We only teach the lessons when we eat with members. We set a goal to call every leader if we have a sure cita and make sure we always have members present when we teach. My companion and I have been getting along better and better with the passing weeks. We started out really rough and now we only have the occasional joist. We teach more in unity and have the spirit much more. He isn't perfect, but neither am I. We are both coming out better men of God. Alright, Till Next Week, Love You All. I Will write, I may not get your package if I am transferred. Be Valiant in all things.
Yours Eternally,
Elder Benjamin Baria