I hope it has been a great week for you all. Lake LA is great as always. It is getting a bit hot. We have been on bike all this week and we have been cooking a little bit. Last Monday on P-Day Elder Dee and I decided to hike Saddleback Beaut, which is the biggest beaut/mountain in Lake LA. It was really hot so I was planning on taking it slow, but Elder Dee wanted to run up it. He is big on fitness and wants to be a fitness trainer when he gets home so he really wanted to run and wasn't taking any of my excuses. So we ran up a mountain on Monday in 80/90 degree weather..... I was dying. Every time I said I needed to stop or take a break or whatever, Elder Dee would yell at me and tell me to keep going. I am sure it looked pretty pathetic!
Besides running up a mountain in the heat, the rest of the week went pretty well. Victor is doing well. It was a little bit of a rough week with him, but he is doing well now. It was actually a bit of a bummer, we had everything ready for him to be baptized. It was scheduled for the 28th, Saturday. Everything was ready. The Branch was super supportive, his interview was ready, and more than anything, Victor was so excited to be baptized. Then we went over on Wednesday and he was really stressed out. Victor has had a bit of a hard time during his past couple years here in the States. When he was in Washington visiting his son, he was shot. He really is lucky to be alive, but he was shot in the arm, right next to his wrist. He isn't able to use that hand so he has been going to physical therapy and trying to get better. He is supposed to be having a surgery this week as well. Well I guess his insurance agency is giving him a really hard time and he may not be able to have the surgery here. He said that if he can't figure things out, he will have to go back to Colombia to get his surgery. He is stressed out and says that he may be moving back in the next two weeks. He said he was sorry, but he doesn't want to get baptized while all of this is going on. We understand his point of view. It would be hard to be baptized and do something so big in your life when there is a lot going on. We have met with him almost every day this week, and he is feeling a lot better and is just waiting to hear from his insurance agency so he can make the decision whether or not to go back to Colombia. He told us not to worry and that whatever happens, he is going to stay strong in the Church. He has a sister back home in Colombia who joined the Church while he was away who has already been helping him and will help him more when he goes home. The Branch is being really supportive of him. We are visiting him a lot and we are hoping he gets baptized soon, but whether he is baptized here or there, I will be happy. I already consider it a miracle that we have been able to find and teach him. He is a really cool guy and I have never met anyone so willing to change for the Savior. He has moved around a lot and says that he doesn't have many good friends. He says that he considers us two of his best friends. I am going to miss him so much if he has to move. Victor is awesome.
Dulce is doing great. We meet with her every Tuesday. She has been really sick for a while and hasn't been able to come to church or even leave home much at all. This Friday she came to a Relief Society activity which was really cool. She brought her little daughter Camila and they loved it.
This week we visited Adam too. He is a ten year old boy who was baptized with his dad not too long ago. He is the funniest kid ever. He is ten years old a pretty crazy, but super funny. Well he lives with his Dad, grandma, aunt, uncle, and a few other people. That house is packed. Almost all of them are recent converts so we usually go over there once or twice a week and just visit with and teach whoever is there. They are all really awesome. Well there is one lady, his aunt, who speaks no Spanish. Her name is Deon and she is really nice. We referred her to the English Elders, but we don't think that they ever visited her. Well, we were visiting with Adam and right before we left we asked him if there was anything that we could do for him. He was like, "Yeah! You can give Deon the missionary lessons!" She was walking through the room and she said that she would love to have the lessons. She said that she liked when we came over and taught the family and wants to know more, since everyone who lives there is already members. Well, now that we are the English Elders as well as the Spanish Elders, we will be able to teach her! We are really excited. Adam is such a funny kid, we are glad that he broke the ice for us.
The rest of the week was good. We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders and I went to Lancaster with Elder Lopez. It was a very long day without much success, but we kept working hard. We talked to a lot of people, but nobody was really interested. At 8:30 we finally found an awesome family. Their names are Abol and Lima. They have five kids and they are hilarious. They are interested in finding a church for their kids. We shared a quick message with them and it was really cool. You could tell that they were hanging on every word that we were saying. They were super funny too. They reminded me a lot of my family. Lancaster is not my area, so I won't see them again, but I am excited to hear more about them in the future. It was just really cool to see how we had nothing, nada , no success all day at all, but at the very end of the day we found who we were looking for. It really goes to show that if we do our part and try, the Lord will help us out. It may take a bit of patience and diligence, but He will always provide for us, without fail.
Well, we have to get going. We have no miles for the rest of the month, so we are going to go bike to a mountain and go rock climbing! Hopefully Elder Dee doesn't make me run too much. Take care everyone and have a wonderful Easter!
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson