Working Hard and Finding People to Teach

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas season so far! I know I am! I get to share the story of Christ's birth (Luke 2:4-16) several times a day and I sing Christmas songs with all of my investigators. Anyways, I'm good, busy like always. The weather has cooled down and I was actually cold the other morning. It's funny because the people here are using their winter coats and scarves and hats and I'm still using my short sleeve shirts because it's not that cold for me.

Anyways, here's the weekly update:

Tuesday, we had our district meeting, we practiced singing Joy to the World and Hark the Herald Angels Sing for our multizone conference this upcoming week with the mission president. Elder Lugo went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant for lunch, then we bought ourselves a little tiny Christmas tree for our house. That evening, we had some lessons with both the Fam. Guerrero Gaxiola and the Fam. Guerrero Soto (the fathers of both families are brothers).

Wednesday, Hermano Guerrero Soto asked us if we could help him paint his house, so we did! We painted the ceiling of his house for a few hours. Then we visited Emily, Angel and Helen, the Fam. Lopez Madrid, and then the Fam. Veltran. The Fam. Veltran is a new family we're teaching. We've been teaching the two children of this family, Luis Angel and Carlos. The dad's name is Felipe. So we taught the three of them about the Restoration, and usually we share only a few points each lesson so we don't overwhelm the investigator, but they were all really receptive, they were ready to accept everything we were sharing, and we ended up teaching the entire Restoration pamphlet, which is a first for me. Felipe is really good. He's smart and has the potential to be a leader in the Church if he's baptized.

Thursday, was kind of an "ehhh" day. We had a singing practice with our district again. Then on our bus ride back to our area, I was talking to my zone leader about what the USA is like. A 17yr old boy in front of us jumped into the conversation and wanted to talk about the USA too. His name is Jorge and he speaks a little bit of English. I chatted with him and also got his address, so that we could visit him at a different time. He seems interested in hearing the gospel. After lunch, we visited members and investigators to invite them to the ward "posada" that evening. None of our investigators came, only the Fam. Guerrero Gaxiola. The posada was fun, our zone leaders let us stay at the posada until 10pm, and the tamales and frijoles were really good.

Friday, we had our weekly planning session. We had lunch with the Fam. Guerrero Gaxiola and shared a message about baptism. So we originally had baptisms planned for Banesa, Diego, and Alejandra for the 12th, but we found out that we weren't having Church services on Sunday the 13th so we couldn't baptize and then confirm them over a week later. So we pushed their baptisms back a week. We're still planning on having the three baptized on the 19th but we need prayers for this family. Anyways, afterwards, we visited Angel and Helen again, then the Fam. Veltran. We gave the Fam. Veltran a Book of Mormon, we showed the Restoration video, and I felt impressed by the Spirit to challenge baptism for the three of them. Felipe said that he needs to pray about the Book of Mormon and the Church first before he can commit to baptism. 

Saturday, a really rainy day. The streets were converted to muddy, rushing rivers. However, Hermano Guerrero had asked for more help painting that morning so we still made the trek up to his house (of course his house is on top of a mountain, haha). After painting, we ate lunch, then got to preaching the gospel. We visited some investigators but none had time for us to share a lesson. We ended up finding the Fam. Lopez Madrid and we finished the Plan of Salvation pamphlet with them. 

Sunday, we participated in the dedication of the Tijuana MX temple and for this reason, we did not have Church services. It was a really good spiritual experience. We went to our stake center and watched a broadcast of the dedication. I know that everyone who was present felt the Spirit and the heavens opening. Afterwards, we ate lunch with a member, then we returned home because my companion is really sick and needed to rest for a bit. After about 2 hours, we went to an appointment with the Fam. Guerrero Gaxiola to review the baptism interview questions. We're planning on having the interview this Wednesday.

So that's all I have for this week. I'm staying busy in the Lord's work and I hope everyone is making time for the Lord this season! Continue to remember the reason for the season! Merry Christmas!

Love,
Elder Finkner