Week 21 ~~~

Pictures are from Kevin's apartment that was below standards - he has moved to a new one!!!  THANK GOODNESS!!!!

Well this week was certainly a little different. There were little hiccups with the visa, and apparently I have been living in Mexico for like 100 days illegally (whoops), but everything is fine and taken care of now. Also, we finally moved houses, and so now that I am out of the gutter, I am in this new house where I have air conditioning, no snakes or leeches, and dragon ball z drawings on the walls (it was an internet cafe before it was a house. Honestly its pretty darn cool. 

As far as things with the area go, we are moving along just nicely, we have found a girl whose mom told her she wants her to wait until she is 18 to get baptized, but the girl is awesome and has a real testimony, so it feels really weird to be giving her advice, because like its just like me, the only difference is she is 14 instead of 16. I honestly have really come to know just how important it is to get married to the right person. So many people get married and can never get a divorce here. It is honestly bad, and so many people are unable to receive the ordinances they need to be saved because they are not married and for no other reason. 

We did divisions this week, and I got to go out with a gordito (that translates to little fat person, but in spanish it sounds a lot nicer) named Elder Roque. He is honestly just so kind and loving, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

This week I have really been questioning about the role of leaders here in the mission. A lot of times leaders tell missionaries to do things that are just flat out wrong, or if not wrong, they are certainly not what is best for the person (baptizing when not ready, or leaving people who really are just progressing slowly), and I have been pondering about if our leaders are our bosses in that we should just do what they tell us to, or if they council more than anything else. A ward member mentioned to me (ex-missionary) that it was the latter (he is why I have been thinking on this), and I do not see anything in the manuals about obeying leaders, but I dunno, I am just a little conflicted. 

This week like I really realized how important it is to ask questions, like not just any questions, but questions to help people learn, questions to understand people, and more than anything, questions to make sure people understand what you are trying to tell them. Its honestly essential to everything we do as missionaries, and I really have such a long way to go.  Anyways, that's it for me for the week. I am excited, I love you all lots.

Love, 

Elder Standridge