If you remember, I told you all that we would be having 2 baptisms. Well, we didn't have any. Early in the week, Josueth told us that he couldn't get baptized. Basically, Josueth´s sister is a super inactive member that lives in Tijuana, we can tell because she lives in a free union and seems to not know anything about the church. She told Josueth´s grandma (who is his guardian), that Josueth shouldn't be baptized until he is a lot older, but he could keep going to church if he wants to. So they convinced him that he is not smart enough to make his own decision, even though he is 12 years old. What a dumb sister, and a dumb grandma.
And David... David´s story makes me even more mad. David was progressing really well, we planned his baptism and everything. When we had his interview, everything went perfect. We made sure that the baptism was going to be ok with his grandma. She is his guardian because his mom died and his dad is in jail somewhere in the US. She said that it is fine if he gets baptized. We asked if she could sign the paper, she said that she couldn't read or write. We though, ok we´ll just have David´s sister sign the paper.
The next day was the baptism, we filled the font, invited everyone, 8 of our converts came, other missionaries brought their investigators to see the baptism, and David didn't show up when he said he would. We went to his house to go get him. When we finally got there, we yelled for him, and he came out looking really depressed. His grandma apparently told him last minute that getting baptized was "nonsense." She left town and locked David inside the house. Someone really stupid apparently told his grandma a bunch of dumb things about the church the night before. We tried everything, we told David "who cares what your grandma says, jump the fence! Let´s go!!" He looked super sad and didn't want any problems with his grandma. He said that if he disobeyed his grandma, she would never let him go to church again.
You guys have no idea how badly I have lost my patience with stupid people. In David´s house, literally everybody smokes marijuana, drinks, and are elementary school drop-outs. Everyone except for David. He is incredibly smart, he actually got a scholarship for High School, and plans to go to Japan to be a foreign-exchange student. I don´t know why he got placed in the dumbest family on the face of the earth, but that´s life. I walked away from that house back to the church just feeling so much anger for how much power Satan has over people who are mentally ill.
The worst part is walking in the baptismal room, after everyone has been waiting forever, looking into the eyes of all my converts and telling them the David can´t come because his grandma locked him inside the house.
That day got even worse after the failed baptism. Elder Yoo when he woke up that day was literally dying. We could barely walk to the church for the baptism in the first place. After the baptism, we went to the hospital where they connected Elder Yoo up with a bunch of suero. While he was sitting in the hospital bed for like an hour, I was sitting on the floor waiting. I have felt so bad these past weeks, and this week especially, watching my companion suffer so much pain. I bought us some Subway after the hospital, and then we went home and he rested.
After we rested for a bit, we went back to the church to teach our English class, then we went right back to the house. At that point, it was getting late, so I decided to start making dinner. I made Quesadillas de Carne Asada with an awesome salsa and guacamole for my companion and I. They were delicious. It was the least I could do for Elder Yoo. That night Elder Yoo suffered more than ever, I really thought "he can´t go on like this." He amazes me so much.
There was another baptism on Thursday from the other elders in the zone. We went to support them. It was the baptism of the son of Marcela, who is a really sweet lady that I interviewed when she got baptized. It was a super hectic baptism with way to many children, and I was conducting the program. When the ordinance was going to start, I noticed that Marcela´s youngest son wasn't in the room. I was going to be the witness of the baptism, so I told Marcela that we should have her other son see the baptism, so we left the room to find him. We were gone maybe 15 seconds, but by the time that we returned they had switched witnesses and baptized Marcela's son. Marcela didn´t see her son get baptized. I don´t know why they can´t think before they do things. Marcela was obviously really upset that they jumped the gun, and I felt guilty that I was the one that told her to find her son. I think I was more mad how unorganized the service was and how unobservant the bishop was.
Now I´m feeling bad that the majority of the letter seems pretty depressing. I´ll end on a high note. Yesterday, the Sister Trainer Leaders of our zone baptized 6 people! We went so Elder Yoo could play the piano. Being sister missionaries, their baptismal service was extremely well planned and super spiritual. President and Sister Munive showed up too, making it even that much more special. After the service, we took the last picture with President and his wife. Elder Yoo talked to president about his problem, and then president gave us a ride all around Obregón looking for a pharmacy that would sell the medication that could help my compa. President told him that if he doesn´t get better this week, that he would have to go home. So we have a ton of faith that the medicine will work. Elder Yoo didn't suffer 21 months already to go home early.
Another thing I almost forgot. Yesterday in church, another one of our converts, Ivonne, got a calling. They put her in the Nursery. 2 of Elder Yoo´s converts, Yahayra and Samuel gave talks in sacrament meeting. Yahayra did amazing. Like I said before, the most faithful members are our converts.
Now that I´ve written so much, I´ll come to an end. I´m looking forward to this week. On Wednesday we have the leadership council with our new president, President Myers. That should be interesting. We´re going to try to take things easy this week so that my compa can get better. I love you guys so much. Thanks for reading the letter!
-Elder Steele
-Elder Steele
This is a picture that we took last night with President and Sister Munive.
They are gone now. President Munive and his wife came to the sisters baptism in which they baptized 6 people!
The new mission president should get here tonight. We have our leadership council on Wednesday,
so I'll see him for sure then.
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