ELDER DREW CARSON: Week 10 in the field (DOUBLE DIGITZZZ)

Helloooo my glorious friends, neighbors, and acquaintences (spelling?),

This week has been a week of change and a week of learning. Lots of good experiences, and (fortunately) not too many bad ones!

LECCION DE LA SEMANA: Optimism brings a happiness that transcends the challenges we face in life. DON´T ROLL YOUR EYES IF I´VE ALREADY TOLD YOU THIS BEFORE, because this time the message isn´t coming from my experience, but what I saw in an old less-active member we visited.

The guy´s name is Margarito. For many years, he worked in construction and had a lot of success in his job. He was one of the guys who climbs up some giant, tall machine and uses it to move big pieces of hardware around. One day, in his tower, his body had a freak reaction to something (who knows), and without warning, he lost his sight. Everything went red. Imagine that. He had to call for help, panicked, to get down from the machine and to a hospital. They had no idea what happened.

With time and some sort of laser therapy, he was able to regain 20% of his vision. One eye sees color-blurs, and the other sees a relatively-clear black-and-white image. If it were me, I would go nuts. But from the time he opened the door to the time we said hasta luego, he had the biggest smile on his face. He laughed after almost every part of his story, and thanked God about a hundred times for the 20% vision he had. He said he´s found a passion teaching at the University of Chicago, where he travels periodically. I can only hope to find the happiness that I saw in his face.

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We had a broadcast - all the missionaries in the world - where they changed a few things about the mission. We now have more flexibility in our schedule. We can study when we choose and our planning session takes place in the morning. We can choose to go to bed an HOUR EARLY. We also have a whoppin TWO HOURS more of PDay, which is super significant. It means we´ll actually have time to play basketball with the zone in addition to the normal, weekly tasks X)

I tested a "water initiative" where I planned, each day, several points in which I would drink a bottle of water. The result is that I feel more energized and more talkative in basically all situations. So, yeah, that´s a keeper.

I realized this week how great an example Mexico is for people like me who eventually want to start their own business. THERE ARE SO MANY SELF-STARTERS HERE! They start from basically zero - a bike and the ability to make bread - and they slowly work up to opening stores,

internet cafés, and other services. I´m taking careful note of the fundamental principles, you better believe it.

We worked a lot this week with the members, and it was a success! Specifically, we worked with members to help them plan their own activities with neighbors and friends in which we, the missionaries, can be introduced. We found six new investigators and fixed several baptismal dates!

Even with the new investigators, it´s difficult to have a turnout at church. We´re trying to adapt better to each member of each family to help them understand the importance of church attendance, but even so, we had one investigator out of the TEN we focused on show up. Oh Marvel, how we love you and your sweet family! It´s a manifestation of the agency we all have, I suppose! The work continues!

Speaking of Marvel, we started teaching her kids, Luis and Blanca, this week! While helping Marvel and Paul with the details of their marriage, we´re catching the youngsters up on the lessons. They´re wonderful.

I got ROULETTE-PICKED for a talk on Sunday! The bishop noticed that the speaker hadn´t showed up, at which point he looked over at me, smiled, and pointed to the pulpit. Mayyyybe not so random. That was fun, though. I talked about obedience and the members said it was great and surprisingly organized, so I´m happy XD

That´s the news for this week, folks! Tune in next time for the latest Cancún drama, funny puns (the odds don´t look too good), and FREE CANDY (forget it).

Love,

Elder Carson

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