who's counting? (it makes twenty-one)

Dear Family,

It's nice to hear how everyone is doing. If you connect the dots between the places where we live all over the globe, we make a very spacious quadrilateral. It might even be a kite (ish)!

How can I describe this week? It's hard to fit it into one word. Mari was having doubts about being baptized - she wasn't sleeping at night, fighting with the idea. We testified and invited her to follow the spiritual promptings she was receiving. Wednesday night after a long lesson, we went home and commended the results into the Lord's hands. Thursday morning before her baptismal interview, Mari told us that she had taken the decision to be baptized. Her interview with Elder Hepworth was a long one, but all went well. She was baptized at 11am on Saturday.

On Tuesday, another investigator, Michel, told us he wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. He had been coming to church with a recent convert for several Sundays, so we lined up his interview and set up a baptismal service for Saturday night. He was baptized at 8pm on Saturday. (We had to do two separate baptismal services because we're in charge of two wards.)

Jose and Ricardo came to church again, and we saw them in seminary this morning (we ran by the church and did some pull-ups on the basketball hoop/soccer goal for exercise time). They're excited to be baptized this Saturday - we've got all week to get things ready.

So things are going well. We're happy! It has become obvious that everyone is aware of how much time I have left. It's not that unsettling. In fact, I'm determined to make the most of it. Why slow down? I think Nehemiah said something about not being able to come down, for he was busy doing "a great work." The same goes for me.

Last night we were teaching a family around the table in the front room/living room, and the door was open because it was still pretty warm inside. A man in a yellow t-shirt leaned in the door and asked if we were evangelists. He walked in the house and - on further inspection - realized that we were not, and he tripped vocally, "no, you're mo.. mor.. m-m-mor.." He didn't finish the sentence and muttered something about us being North Americans and proceeded to talk about angels and white people and many other uninteligible things. I decided to ignore him and continue answering the question I was in the process of resolving when he had walked in. I caught a whiff of the man's breath and commented to my companion that it was probably the drunkest man I'd ever seen. Unfortunately, he started grabbing my head (mostly because he lost his balance) and hugging me. I got up and led him outside, walked around the tree and went back in the door, closing it behind me. He got my shirt dirty, and my companion could not stop laughing. What a great day.

Love,
Elder Withers

I don't mind getting wet - clothes dry quick here.

Elder Withers