October 15th,2018 Letter #49

I will no longer be secretary here in Los Lagos. I'm gonna go open a second area in the Tuxpan Ward in the Tuxpan Stake in the city of Tuxpan. It's kinda funny because we had already made jokes about that happening because Whitewash Tuxpan Finlinson makes for a hashtag that had some missionaries laughing. I'm going to be District Leader and my companion will be Elder Jimenez from Durango. He's only got a few months left in the mission. I already know him rather well and, interestingly enough, he had already mentioned to me that he wants me to be his last companion. We did splits one time back when I was in Xanath, Papantla and he is a very talented teacher. I'm excited about the change. That being said I do feel a tad wary of the situation due to some struggles that he's had in the mission. President talked to me today about the decision and he said that it was something he felt strongly about, but he gave me a warning. He basically said, "We're putting a lot of confidence in you with this change. There are two possible outcomes here. Either he enters your game or you enter his." I'm being given a good support though. The two zone leaders that I'll have are the two that I would handpick for helping me out in this situation and they are going to be working in the same ward as us (My area is Tuxpan 2). And going back to what I mentioned at the start: He told me personally that he wanted to be my companion and he knows that I'm not into messing around so I almost want to believe that he has a desire to give one last burst of effort before going home. 

Elder Lovaas leaves Wednesday, but I leave tomorrow so we'll probably just buy a pizza tonight or something because I don't think we'll have time to do much seeing as today he has to give a conference for the new missionaries. 

We ended up with four baptisms. Juan José, Fernando, and Fernanda were fairly expected, but super special nonetheless. The baptism that really caught me off guard was Sasha. Do you remember her? She was one of our investigators for a while, but she seemed really reluctant to join the church for 2 reasons; 1. Experiences she'd had with members and 2.Hesitation to leave her old church. She got really close to getting baptized a while ago, but it didn't work out. Then she left Xalapa to visit Guadalajara for a month or so (she's from there). Well she got back late last week and told us that she wanted to talk with us. She said that she had gone to her old beloved church while on vacation and she realized that they didn't take things seriously enough in that church. She felt like they didn't do things with the order that God would have them done with and that that was something we did well in our church. So her interest was peaked once again. I won't say that she immediately accepted baptism from that moment, but after a couple of visits and a good stop in Alma 32 we were able to help her make the decision to get baptized. And It was cool because she has a daughter from Guadalajara that was visiting this week so her daughter watched her both make and follow through with the decision to be baptized so hopefully that'll turn into another baptism down the road. Sasha and Juan José chose me to baptize them so that was a neat little experience. Juan José had a cast on so we had to tape grocery bags to his arm, but all went well. 

The investigators that went to conference loved it and we're expecting 3-5 more baptisms in the area this weekend, but I'll just have to find out later seeing as I'll be in Tuxpan. 

For President's Birthday we just ate a solid meal, I don't know how to describe it but it was good. Then we had cake and left so that we wouldn't waste too much time there. I couldn't find the charger for my camera and I don't have it with me right now to check what kind of charger you'd need, but I'm sure it could wait another week. The packages get here pretty fast. Also it'd be killer if you could include covers for my scriptures because my bible is falling apart. 

Something I was looking at in my studies this week was from the teachings of the presidents of the church. It was about how we must not question the direction of our leaders in the church nor talk poorly of the Lord's anointed. It talked about how losing trust in our leaders is a step in the direction of apostasy. I find it an important principle. It's important not because the leaders are perfect and don't make mistakes, but rather because when they are weak and need support we need to be the arms that bear them up (Exodus 17:8-12). 

Also if you wanted to know, President sent me a short email this week that essentially said, "I feel very blessed to have you in this mission and to know that you are a very obedient and hardworking missionary. Thank you for your work. This month has only 3 weeks (to baptize because you can't during conference) but we'll baptize a lot. I wish you success and I love you. Do your best."

I'll throw in some pictures for you to see as well.

Love, Elder Finlinson

The first 2 pictures are my district from this last change. There's one picture of the baptisms and the rest are with the family whose kids were baptized.

I like the serious picture because due to the position of the light bulb in the room I look like I'd just barely descended from the heavens to chasten the people.