Dear Family,
Well, another week has come and gone in Laredo. I think that this might have to be the fastest week I've had yet in the mission. I'm guessing that's a trend that will continue as time goes on, but it was quite a surprise when I found myself doing weekly planning again and feeling like I had just done it yesterday.
This was a great week, filled with some pretty good experiences, not all of which I can remember. I guess the most important thing that happened this week is that we had the baptism of Nancy Castaneda. She is an eight year old girl that is part of an inactive family we found about five weeks back. She didn't count as a convert baptism because she's only eight and her parents are both members, but to me it stills feels just the same. The father of the family left about three months ago, leaving the mom with her four children. Her husband was also the one keeping her from full activity in the Church. His departure was a tragedy, but it did open the door for a whole new world of blessings from our Heavenly Father.
So, the sister now holds a calling in the Primary here and it seems like they're on a good track to stay active in the Church. Nancy's baptism was a great experience. It was nice to see some tangible results from our past few months here in Laredo. Nancy had large turnout of support from the Primary who performed a song for her baptism. Also, the Elders that we live with had a baptism of an elderly woman who couldn't lean back. So we taped up the drain on the font, filled it to the brim, and had lean back in a chair for the baptism. It made the baptism of Nancy, after the elderly lady, pretty funny. The water was high enough that Nancy had to tilt her chin up to try to keep her face dry.
Also, this week we had an interesting experience with a less active member. We met brother Mendez, a return missionary who lives in our area who hasn't been to Church in about six years or so. Part of the reason for this is work related, but he also had an argument with another member a while back. It was a pretty bad experience. We've met with him a couple of times and have done our best to remind him about what he knows he needs to do. We reminded him of the things he had learned and experienced in the mission field. It was also a huge help that the member with whom he had the argument now goes to a different Branch. It had still be long enough since he had been to Church that it felt weird for him to go. It seemed as though he had a good time this past Sunday. Hopefully he'll keep going so he can turn it into a habit again soon.
I've been having a change of heart these past few weeks, though it may be just a new way of looking at things and motivating myself. I've always worked hard in my mission. I've never really felt like I slacked off or wasted any of the Lord's time, but I'm learning to not just do the work, but to love it. When I've had hard times and disappointments, I'd find myself doing the work, but maybe not with the attitude that I should have. I'm starting to learn just how important and influential that attitude is. If we don't have it, we struggle to love the people and to work for unselfish motives. Carrying out the Lord's work with a willing and cheerful attitude does so much to help you change your vision of the vineyard. It brings with it the success that missionaries desire. I feel like these past couple weeks I've started on that process of finding a better outlook. It hasn't finished yet, but I feel like it's definitely rolling.
I hope that everyone is doing well and is continuing to have some good experiences. I'm sure JoAnn and the baby will keep doing well, and that everything will turn out great. Congratulations to Tyler on his graduation (I just saw the pictures), and Calvin does look like quite an amazing little kid. He is definitely more worthy of such a great name than I was.
I'm going to throw in a couple of requests in this letter if that would be all right. First, if Mom and Dad are able, I'd appreciate it if they'd get a Liahona subscription at the house for me, in Spanish of course, so that when I get back, I'll have a good stack of reading material to go through and keep my language skills sharp. Also, the pictures I have for the family are pretty outdated, so if Mom would be willing to print off some of the more recent pictures of everybody and send them, that would be great.
Editorial note: As I haven't been carrying a camera at recent visits to family, could each of you print off some of your own and send them to Roland's Laredo address posted at the top of this blog? I know he would love to see pictures of Allison where she isn't a new baby, and of all the other nieces and nephews.
I hope everyone has a great week and I'll be sure to have some cool stories to tell this next week.
Love,
Elder Wood
P.S. The library we are at now doesn't allow me to upload pictures, so I'll have to send home the pictures of Nancy's baptism later.
