8 months in!

This week was pretty good!

Gerardo e imelda were baptized saturday and confirmed sunday!

I had the amazing opurtunity to physically baptize gerardo!

These two are a power couple!

They have been taught by the missionaries for almost 3 years and have been coming to church for 2 or 3 years! So i came in at the right time, all the glory is to god and the missionaries who found them so long ago.

The reason they werent baptized sooner was because of some problems with a marriage so we held their wedding in the church on thursday which was super fun!

It was a big party with tons of music!

I got the dancing party started, everyone else was too embarased, they all would laugh and say hey the white boy is dancing!

But they started dancing anyway.

I also played the piano at rhe baptism too which was super fun!

We also set a baptism date with a new friend named Daniel, he is about 21 and super cool!

So we are very excited for that!

Other than that, this area is very slow! Lots and lots of rejection but we workin our tails off and we see so many miracles everyday!

This is tough! But we keep on keepin on

Poco a poquito chiquita!

Thanks for all your support and love i am eternally grateful

1 nefi 3:7

7:And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

I will go and do :))

Elder Sandberg

Happy Easter!

We had a good easter week full of hard work!

This area is still very large and I am very greatful for a car!

I have been taking advantage of a car, because my last transfer We were on bikes and it took solid amount of time to get from place to place.

But now as soon as we finish up a lesson or a visit. We get back in the car and zoom to the next point!

The biggest thing I think i've learned on the mission is time management. It's very important not only as a missionary but for life. That's something I really want to improve on because time passes slow but it sure does pass, and you cant get it back!

I'm getting very close with the other elders in my apartment. They are all serious goofballs and they are serious about missionary work which I love.

My companion is still a gangster and puts on a tough face. sometimes It seem like he's mad at me but that's just how he is. He's Never really mad. He just seems like something is upseting him but every now and again I make a joke and he burst out laughing in the most high pitch hilarious laugh i've ever heard!

Hes a softy on the inside

This week we found 7 people to teach and not just people who say they're interested but people in which we have a lesson with them and and they Learn a lot and I can tell they feel something special about this message.

I have a lot of things that I love about this work. But one of them is when people notice that these 19 Year old teenagers are preaching the gospel of jesus christ. It's something That blows my mind, That teenagers are responsible for the salvation of the world.

.......

And if that doesn't strengthen your testimony that the church truly is true, Then I don't know what does, Because if the church wasn't true missionaries would have destroyed it a long time ago.

I also really love the rules we have because honestly back home. I was kind of a Rule breaker.

And since I've been here on the mission I have heard a lot of complaining about rules and about how high of a Standard that we get put on.

But every time I hear somebody complain or break a rule it makes me think about About the reason we have rules.. Especially on the mission our rules are here to test us. The whole point Life is hard is because life is a test and if it were easy; what Would be the point of being here?

And all of the rules we have and all the standards we have. Are there so that we can fulfill our purpose more effectively, And that purpose is to Is invite others to come Unto Jesus Christ.

Because I am only here for Seventeen ish months more.

That's really not a lot of time so I'm trying to make myself as obedient as I can so that I can fulfill the purpose of being here. Because that's silly to come on a mission and not get work done.

Another favorite I love is finding how to apply the gospel to someone's life. Because the gospel can be applied to any kind of person, Is any kind of situation, And any kind of problem.

The best part about it is it only offers good things.

Find the good in the bad

 

This week was full of long days knocking doors, talking to everyone, visiting all kinds of members..... with little to nothing to show for it.

There is a lot of things to bum me out,

But

Im not gonna let it!!! Because of 2 reasons

Reason 1!

This past week we visits

we had a great visit with Sister Bañuelos on her front patio, we presented something called the missionary member menu (something our mission came up with that has a bunch of options for members to help us in the work)

 

and she chose family history (ps I absolueltly LOVE family history) so we got her all set up on her phone with the family tree app

But! when we saw her tree, it was just her! So I said, Ok we got some work to do. We had her add her father and filled out his information, then the App pulled up someone who had all the correct information and asked us if we wanted to combine the files,, she clicked yes, then it took us back to her tree and there was a lot of more of her family visible, 

 

we showed her how to see the ordenances and i cant explain the PURE JOY she expressed when she found out a decent ammount of her family has already recieved so many temple blessings! We also found out her passed away parents and havent been sealed yet! So shes gonna go with a brother to seal her parents this weekend(because she is an older lady maybe bout 60-70ish and her husband fell aways from the church sadly.)

But she is now super excited to go and get her parents sealed!

The joy she expressed helped me feel so much joy, these feelings of joy and peace are only from the spirit, and strengthened my testimony of the power of the spirit

Reason 2!

I have faith that this week there is someone who is in desperate need to feel the spirit and recieve the gospel!

And even if we dont find them this week, it will be the next, or the next, or the next, but we will find them even if it takes the remaining 17 months!

All the rough, hard and sad times we have are forgotten when we have even 1 small spiritual experience

And through jesuschrist we can forget all the pain, guilt, and remorse that we sometimes feel. And through him we can recieve everlasting Joy and eternal life

I love you all!

    Elder Sandberg