New Old Weak

Hey Everyone, nice to talk to ya´ll again.

So this week was an adventure.

So on Friday we had weekly planning and Elder Sanchez and I had a 4 and a half hour planning session

where we figured out how to fix everything here, or the Lord told us how to do it.  So in the past, this area

is strong, then it crashes, then it is strong, then it crashes, etc...  so recently it crshed big time, and then

an Elder came in and baptized and opened a new zone, and that zone has been keeping everything alive,

but then things have been getting worse and worse, for example, of the 16 people from that zone that 

should be in church, only 3 showed up.  That is a problem.  The solution that we recieved was to stop

trying to cover up the problems with new members, and just fix the stuff that is already here.  We have

been using the parable in D&C 101 about the watchmen in the olive garden.  We are in the process

of solving the problems that this area has had for so long.  People are frustrated and tired and falling

away because they don´t have the same vision and are working for the short term and not the long term.  

We will win though.  

So this week Claudio was supposed to be baptized.  We wanted him to show up to church at least 

once here (because he was taught and everything in praia) but on sunday last week when he didn´t show

up we recieved revelation that the Lord still wanted him to be baptized on saturday.  We were working

with him to figure it out, so we went out to caibros where he lives and talked to him a bunch and worked

it out.  (Caibos is in the middle of nowhere but is super green and gorgeous).  We went out on thursday

for the interview, which went well, and then after we had to go to Riberao to do corelation meeting,

so we decided to try this path up in the mountains, so we hiked up like an hour over the mountain,

and then another hour down into Riberao, then no one was home, so we walked another hour down

Riberao because it is way up in the mountains, and then another hour from Cucoli all the way home.

4 hours of hiking, a lot in the dark.  It was good for our health though.  My feet turned black because of my socks and all the walking.  Haha.  It was great.

So Saturday morning we get a call saying Claudio doesn´t want to be baptized, so we try to get 

ahold of him, but his zone doesn´t have reception so we finally decided to go out to his zone, hoping

that he was there.  We got blessed with a car that took us all the way there, so it only took like 30

mins to get there, and he wasn´t there, but we waited then he showed up.  He had lots of righeous

desires that aren´t nessicaraly bad, but that where leading to problems of doubts about getting to

church and other worldly problems having to do with the fact that he hasn´t gotten paid yet so he

can´t pay for himself to get to church and stuff.  We talked for like 3.5 hours because the spirit kept

saying that we had to keep going.  I´m not going to lie, I was ready to stop and just give up, but the

spirit said no, so we kept going.  In the end, it happened sort of like Martin Harris who asked 4 tims

to show the manuscript to his family, and in the end, Claudio wasn´t prepared enough to take the

step of faith, so we left him for the next week, but then he didn´t show up in church, so I don´t know

what is going on.  We´ll see.  

So that is pretty much what happened this week.  It is not easy here right now for sure, but that

is okay becuase the Lord has a plan.

This weeks thought is about patience.  I read a great part of a talk that my dear Grandma Deana

sent me.  Fantastic.  As we choose to be more like Christ, we will realise that there isn´t a quick

fix for everything that in most things we have to have patience with ourselves and with others.

So, Have patience!!!

Love,
Elder Sampson

P.S. I tried attaching pictures, but they didn´t work.  Hopefully next week.  Sorry.