May 17th 2010

Hola Familia,
Like I said, Saturday there was a baptism, and I peformed the Ordinance! My first one in the mission, and in my life. Sorry that I can't send any photos, because I actually wasn't going to use internet today. The President was supposed to come and we were going to have interviews, but something kept him. So we played ping pong and then came to use internet. So, the zone leaders were late for the baptism (and they were bringing the baptismal clothing for the investigators, one in my area and one in theirs). So we sang about 5 different hymns while waiting, then a couple elders and I sang two more... But all went well except we didn't get to take photos before the baptism for the wait and then the rush. Anyway, afterward we watched Joseph Smith: Profeta de la Restauración and played some games before hotdogs and juice. Yay!

Yeah, so yesterday was the national census. How are they going to do it there? Here it took a day, and there were several difficulties. But they passed by in the morning, because they are counting the population, extranjeros, and the houses, too. It is sort of weird....

This week we also did three and a half service projects. We helped paint a man's house, carried about ten sacks each of sand and rocks that weighed about 40 or more pounds for another families floor, and cut 'monte' for two different people (one only took about 5 min.) One of them is a positive investigadora, but she and her 'esposo' aren't married, and won´t think about getting mairried or at least a few more months. Another positive investigator is about 18, and she works in other people's houses all week in the city, so she's only home on Sunday. But she went to church, and agreed to go next week. Sometimes it feels more like we are trying to 'convince' people to feel the Spirit, for we don't normally see much effort on the part of the investigators. But we will keep working and learning to work more efficiently.

So I hope all is going well. It sounds like JonAnna are doing well. I hope all goes well finding a job. Sorry that you have to work so much Erika, but thanks for your support always. I also got the letter form the miamaids today. And I guess I will send photos next week. Thanks for evertything.

Love,
Elder Niendorf