Not for the Faint of Heart...

Hello there!

So, I don't have much time at all today. We went to this gondola ride thingy today, and at the top we could see basically all of Quito. It was pretty cool, but it sucked up absolutely all of our time, and we still have to buy things for the week. Pant pant but así es la vida [such is life].

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFFREY!!! It's rather crazy to think that he's 18 now. That's just ridiculous. My little brother can't be 18. That's just not something that's possible. But I guess he is, so happy birthday to him! I'd write on his facebook wall, but that's a little against the rules. I hope you have an amazing day Jeffrey, and keep staying strong and faithful. Our Heavenly Father has many great things in store for you in your life; you just have to be willing to accept them. Keep on keeping on!

(Madre: I shall leave this up to you if you want to publish it or not. I'd like it published just because it's part of my mission, but others might get all frightened and worried and such, so it's up to you.) [Madre has opted to publish as he asked - so proud of my amazing son!]

So this Friday night was quite interesting. First we had an appointment with an investigating couple (they're a bit older) who have a son who is a member. They want to get baptized, but on their own time, which means that they don't actually really want to get baptized that much. This time they told us that we basically shouldn't ask them to be baptized anymore because they'll repent when they're ready to. I shared Alma 34:31-35 with them, and I think the mom realized a little bit that they need to change (I hope so, because she was crying at the end of the lesson). They're both rock solid still though, so that's a bit saddening. Then after that we went to check up on our investigators who had a baptism the next day, and one of them said that she didn't want to get baptized anymore. We had a nice talk with her that was completely by the Spirit, and she changed her mind and was baptized the next day.

So that was taxing. But to top things off, that night, as we were walking back to the house, and when we were only about 50 meters from the house, a smallish man came up and asked us for some money. Elder Papworth was going to give him a few cents (we don't ever hardly carry money with us), and then he told us to give him all that we had. We were still walking rather brusquely, but then he pulled out a fairly large knife, and that's when we realized that we were being robbed. I was rather surprised that someone his size (he was about the size of Michelle [from Madre - she's about 5'3" and cute as a bug!]) had decided to rob two of us, one of them being 6' 3" and close to 200 lbs. I wasn't very scared though. I was rather calm. He was a bit rough when asking Elder Papworth for money (the knife never really got very close to either of us), and he checked most all of Elder Papworth's pockets. When he came to me, he allowed me to take my money out of my pocket, and then he reached in one of my pockets and patted another, but that was the extent of his interaction with me. I told him to be calm several times, and then as he was walking away I told him, "¡Tenga una buena noche!" ["Have a good night!"]  I'm fairly certain he was more afraid than I was, because it really hardly phased me at all. He only took $4 from me and $6 from Elder Papworth. He didn't take either of our watches or anything, and he didn't take my raincoat either, for which I was very appreciative. All in all it wasn't a horribly terrifying experience or anything, though I was a bit bummed that he took my coin pouch thingy. I liked that coin pouch. But no worries everyone, we're fine, and it's just as likely to happen to anyone in the States as it is to us here. We're just going to keep saying our prayers every day.

Well, this Saturday we baptized the last of our investigators, so we need to start from scratch basically. We don't really have anyone, and we don't have many prospects lined up, so we're going through a rough patch, but with hard work and prayer all will work out.

Well, I must go now. I love you all so very much, and I'm sorry this was so short today. I'll try to make a longer one next week. I love you all, and I'll talk to you in a week. Oh, and I'll send out a mail packet in a week. Sorry about the delays! ¡Cuídense mucho!

Love,
Elder Schomburg