Well the big news is that we spend all day today playing on the beach
at the Puerto La Libertad, it was super hot, but very beautiful! The water was pretty blue and was really hot! Unfortunately no agates but I guess there is always time for that at the Oregon Coast. We ran into a bunch of Canadians which was pretty weird, they mostly spoke French, not much English but it was still fun to run into them. We ate some food right off the beach and a few mariache bands were playing in the background. It was heavenly.
On the pier they had this crane that they would use to lower all of the little fishing boats down, right when we first got there, they were still lowering some down and lifting some up, but later in the afternoon no. It was a really cool system. There were all kinds of guys too that would throw nets off the dock, and all kinds of guys who were repairing their nets on the side of the pier it was way cool. The fish they caught was mostly barracuda, they were pretty freaky looking, very sharp teeth, and lots of eel as well. They would take the fish they caught, fillet it, and lay it out on the rocks to dry. Dried fish here is a big deal. Unfortunately we are not allowed to eat seafood, otherwise I would have gone crazy and have eaten everything. They had ceviche restaurants everywhere. Someday...
The mission work is going really well, we starting working with this partial member family named the Gs this week, and they both came to church! The wife is a member and has a very strong testimony, and the husband is very positive, we have another cita with him tonight at six so we will see how that goes, but so far he doing well. C is having a hard time kicking the coffee habit, but we are working with him. We are going to buy soy or corn coffee so that he can drink that instead. But hopefully all will be ready for the 26th when he can get baptized along with his sister. They are both super funny now, every time we go over there they insist that we play a game with them. So we take like 5-10 minutes to play hot potato or something simple like that. A lot of times it is a nice break from the teaching, teaching, teaching, routine.
This week we are going to make a few benches for some members in this colonia called La Joya. ("hoya") We are going to give them to two member families to keep at their houses on the condition that we will be able to use them for family home evenings whenever we need them. Basically they will stay at their house always but when seating is short when we do FHE in that colonia we will bring those benches. Sometimes like twenty people come and there is no where to sit other than to pull up a rock, or a bucket. It makes things sometimes uncomfortable to that is what has caused the bench making. It is also a great excuse to do some wood working, whcih is never a bad thing.
They are going to be super-simple and low budget but it should satisfy the building itch. This week is also going to mean lots of exchanges, basically every day, the asistants to president want us to get to know almost every investigator in the zone so we are going to be running around like crazy this week, but exchanges are always way fun. I guess I´ll just have to take it as it comes.
Do you guys remember the S family that got baptized a little
bit ago? They are going strong, they both are probably going to go do
baptisms for the dead on March 1st and they are both super excited. We are also trying to get a less active member R F to the temple. He has been coming for the past six weeks and has stopped smoking, he is a great example of being humble enough to let the Lord change us. He was sealed in the Guatemala temple about 8 years ago went inactive and started drinking, and about two months ago decided to stop drinking and come back to church. Now is is one of the biggest helps in the ward as far as visiting and referrals go. He is a stud. We are trying to get him to the temple this 1st of march as well. His wife has a coffee problem as well, and is struggling trying to kick it, but we just need to be patient and work with her a little bit more.
Well sounds like everyone is doing really well, having fun and being productive. That is what I like to see. I hope you all enjoy the pictures love you all and pray for you always. Have a great week,
Elder Schriever
