March 4th, 2019 Letter #69

We had a baptism this weekend. It was an older gentleman. The funny thing was their was a slight miscommunication. After he was baptized he went and changed clothes, then he left. He didn't know that we would end with a prayer and a hymn. He left his cell phone behind also so we went to visit him to return it. Unfortunately he was unable to get confirmed the next day because he was sick so he still hasn't been confirmed.I don't think it will happen this week either because we have stake conference. But hopefully in a couple of weeks we can do that.

This is going to be a very busy week. We won't have much time as zone leaders to get out and teach, except for a couple hours tonight, Tuesday morning and possibly a couple hours on Thursday morning. We have a 4 zone conference in Xalapa on Wednesday so we need to leave Tuesday evening for that. Then we leave Thursday evening to go to Poza Rica to a Leadership conference on Friday. Then we have Stake Conference Saturday and Sunday. We did just get a Bishop for the ward though so that is exciting. It is my understanding that they have not had a Bishop for the past 6 years. They have had a 1st counselor and a 2nd counselor. The first counselor has been in for 8 years now. The 2nd counselor moved into the ward within the last year. He is now the Bishop. He is a great guy and has been our go to guy. He is around 26 years old. The new 2nd counselor is someone they asked if he could become active again and get his life in order so he could serve as 2nd counselor. He said he could. One thing I have learned while serving here in Mexico is the importance of doing the little things, like ministering to your neighbors and the people around you. It really does make a difference. 

Unfortunately there was a reason that the dad couldn't baptize Dylan, but he's a solid dude and he's doing his best to be a good example for his kids. 

The zone is looking really good right now, but we're going to have to stay on our toes to make sure that everything turns out right. Elder Korth from Arizona and Elder Leon from Texas are the other two in the ward. I was Elder Korth's district leader in Xalapa when he got to the mission. 

The missionary who had a visa issue was a special case, because he has been living in México for years already, but isn't a citizen so his visa is different. So he had to go to México City instead of Xalapa. 

This week we lost a bit of time as well because we ended up doing a service project in Vega all of Friday (we painted a bridge). I didn't have my camera, but other missionaries will pass me pictures for next week. It was fun to go back to Vega though. I had a free minute where I stopped by the house of some members and the youngest daughter came out (11 or 12 years old). She was happy to see me haha. 

One miracle this week is that almost all of the investigators in the zone that had baptismal goals went to church so their goals are still standing. Sorry I didn't get to all the questions as I'm in a bit of a hurry.

 Love you! Elder Finlinson