Week 6 in Sonsonate

David is doing better and now working harder.  I love to hear that!  It also looks like he’s getting a new companion.  Yes, a *new* companion…

Subject:  "Look out below! Shield your eyes!" "What is it?" "Dandruff!"

I seem to be getting more and more emails every week that end with "sent from my iPhone", so I think that that's a pretty good sign that the family is good. And is getting ready for my epic return :)

What a rollercoaster of a week. We started out kind of the same as before, and it was kind of good. We were doing alright. A couple investigators have been progressing more or less, which is nice. But then we got to Wednesday and had interviews with President. That was crazy. So he got there late because "something happened with some elders." Which is, of course, never good. And then when he did the interviews, he kept getting calls from the assistants and the area presidency and such (I think... that's what it sounded like). But most of all he was not in a beat-around-the-bush mood. At all. I got in there and he immediately machettied me (first time in recorded history that I got one from him) for not bringing a list of converts that the zone leaders never told me I needed. Not a good start. And it just got worse. Suffice it to say that he gave me some stuff to work on, and mostly just inspired me to work as hard as I can so that nobody has any excuse to accuse me of not doing so. I'm walking even faster and always trying to push myself and my comp, which of course is more work, but I think I'm winning. Against Satan, or whoever. It doesn't even matter against who. I'm winning.

That was weird. Oh well. So that just helped me to realize something. There have been a couple comps in my mission that have not worked very hard, and it's hard to get them moving. So after a while I just kind of stopped getting them up in the morning, stopped telling them to study, and so forth. I let them do what they would, and did my best with that. However, I realized this week that that is not something that a leader does. It's kind of the opposite. A leader looks for ways to inspire and motivate and push people. And I guess I may not have been very good at that at those times, but I've been focusing on it a lot the last few days especially and I can definitely see the difference. It's fun being in charge. It's like I have control. Awesome.

After interviews there wasn't much that happened meetings wise. We did find a couple new investigators, though, which were good. One of the most positive ones is named Juan Carlos. His wife, Flor, is an inactive member that we're reactivating. She came to church one Sunday, and asked us to go visit her husband. I had never met him because he works all week almost all day and studies Sundays. But we taught him, and he basically told us that he has never really been interested in a church before, but wants to change and be better and start going to one. Well, Mr. Carlos, that's what we do best. We have now taught the restoration, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and are starting into the commandments. He has a dead date for the 10 of March, too. The only hard part is that he has to go to church, and he studies on Sundays. And there's apparently no way to change it. He told us that he might be able to miss class every other week to go to church, though. That's a start, right? They invited us to a rabbit soup dinner tomorrow night, starring their pet rabbit. Cool. Oh, and what's even better is that he and his wife already want to get married. They have been setting plans for the end of March, but we'll move those up a bit. So it's all good.

Oh, and it was kind of sad, but Carlos, the guy that has gone to church for like four weeks straight on his own, told us when we went to wake him up Sunday morning that he doesn't want us to pass by anymore. According to him, we've helped him have a greater desire to follow Christ, so he's made the resolve to be more active in the Catholic church. Nice. I guess we didn't teach the apostasy very clearly.

That's about all I can think of this week, except for also sending a huge HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! to Mom and Dad! That's a solid thirty years, which is approximately nine years longer than my entire life. You guys are old. Just kidding. But seriously.

Alright, I have to go. President, in my interview, asked me to send a report on some stuff today, so I need to do that. However, I am prepared, so I fear not. I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder David Arrington

PS: Yes, Mom, I did send a quick email to Grandma McNeil last week. And to Grandma Arrington this week. I would have sent it last week, but I didn't have her email.

PPS: I think for the trip back here, I'd prefer to wait until after the rainy season. It doesn't rain a ton here, but it's a lot nicer when it's not, so probably December or later would be my first choice. So we probably don't have to start booking quite yet.

PPPS: And I still have no idea how I'm going to go through the starting school process. We may need to research that process a bit. But the big one for me will be signing up for classes. More on that later. Just know that it will probably be a joint effort by the My-Older-Sisters council. Isn't there a better name for that? The Frogley Condie Leybas De Rurange Foundation? Brainstorm that for me.

PPPPS: I almost forgot some kind of big news (as in information)! My comp is leaving this change (Wednesday), and I have to be in the office Tuesday because I'm going to be training another new (missionary)! I wasn't really expecting that. But cool!