¡Hola hola!

Howdy familia!

Thanks ya´ll for the emails! And for those of you in the family that didn´t write me, why the flip not? Nah. I´m good. I especially love Shekynah´s ¨It´s summer, so that means we get to do whatever we want.¨ Ha!

Like Masey, our numbers were less than fantastic this week, but I feel, like her, that we´re fulfilling our purpose. It´s hard sometimes to feel that way when you´re only having about five lessons a week, but I really do feel that we´re doing as much as we can with what we have.

Well, if you were all expecting pictures of the baptism that I mentioned we were going to have, you´re out of luck. We didn´t have a baptism Saturday... we´re having it tomorrow. So yay! Elder Diaz will be performing the ordinance for Fatima while I´ll confirm her a member of the Church on Sunday. I´m happy that he´s the one doing the ordinance, seeing as he´s had 15 converts but has only baptized 2. And that makes him feel sad. So now he´ll be happy. Which means less trouble for me and more unity in the companionship. Bien con ganas para mí. ¨Con ganas¨ means ¨cool¨ here, by the way, not ¨wanting¨ like Google tells me.

So we have some new rules here that are causing quite a bit of havoc for, well, everyone. We can´t eat with sisters when a man above the age of twelve isn´t present. Now, you might say, ¨That´s in the handbook,¨ to which I´d respond, ¨We had different rules here.¨ Basically what it means is that we can´t eat at members´ houses the majority of the time seeing as we eat at two in the afternoon and many hermanas don´t have any priesthood-age folk at home. It´s a bit of a bother. We were told also by the Zone Leaders that we have to eat either in our house or the chapel, not in parks. Muchas problemas.

And also, check this out: http://www.lds.org/church/events/the-work-of-salvation-missionary-broadcast?lang=eng. We´ve been told that it´s pretty big and I´ve been wondering if it has anything to do with Masey´s gossip about a gigantic announcement this month. We´ll see, but ya´ll should watch with us to see if it is. President Monson, President Packer, and other Apostles are going to be speaking so it should be big. I´m excited.

We also have a zone conference this month that´s giving me a bit of a panic. Elder Diaz told me horror stories about missionaries who gave lack-luster talks and are stuck as Junior Companions because the President lost faith in them. He also told me about Elder Love, one of the Assistants, who shot up in ranks after a good talk when we was being trained. I don´t really like the whole system of having to impress so-and-so to get such-and-such position, but it´s the system I´m stuck with. We´ll see what passes.

Time really is starting to fly by here. My Spanish is improving to the point where it´s getting difficult to speak English, which is a problem, and I can understand 90% of what´s being said and have no problems 80% of the time saying what I need to. Very good this. Also I really am finding joy in the work. I don´t think about what I´d be doing if I was at home or feel world-sick anymore. I also absolutely love teaching and seeing people gain a testimony of what I´m saying. It´s truly amazing to hear somebody say that they believe in your words and that they feel the Spirit testifying to them.

As to the problem of the front room at home, if my word carries any weight I vote for making it a theater room, but Mom and Dad are the bosses so whatever they say goes.

Don´t lose your minds now that it´s Summer and remember who you are and what you stand for. Love you all tons and look forward to your emails every week.

Con amor, Elder Brayden Decker