Soccer Is Great And So Are Exchanges

What a week. Holy cow.

We have been posting English class flyers and spreading the word about our famous super sábado soccer night. Why? Because we want to find and teach more people! English class has been about the same in terms of attendance but there are five students who consistently come. We love this! As for soccer night, it was a blast this past weekend! 17 was our total attendance. Us 4 elders, 5 members, and 8 non members! I think 4 of those non members were new too, so I consider that a blessing. It was super intense too; everyone was going after the ball and playing great defense, so I sweat a lot trying to keep up. That was our last time playing in a church gym. We're starting to play on a field now. Hopefully more people will come. This seems to be a pretty good way to find new friends, so we're sticking with it!

I went on two exchanges in a row! I went to an area called Duthie Hill for 24 hours, and then I went to Issaquah in the other Spanish elders' area for another 24 hours. In Duthie, I did some fun service. I cut and trimmed blackberry bushes around a gaited horse ring. Those branches are so thorny! It was good work though. Later, we visited a nice member. He had a stepping stone in his front yard that had my first name on it! Talmage! It's not a common name, so I got a photo of it. 

In Issaquah, I got to do some more "whiteboard finding". This is where we walk around talking to people and asking them to write something on our whiteboard that they're grateful for. It is eye opening to see some responses! Later that night, we had our Friday activity. It was a huge turnout! So many members and nonmembers were there. This is because we were celebrating Mother's Day, and we had a fantastic program. We're talking carne asada, outdoors, pina coladas, uplifting words about our amazing mothers, singing, and constant socializing. It was spectacular!

As of right now, we have lost contact with Raydel for 5 weeks. He isn't home when we stop by and doesn't respond to texts like he used to. We are praying that we can get back together with him. Imeldo is thinking about baptism, but is very insistent on not having a set date, so we're just inviting him to our activities and being his friends. At least he comes to church each Sunday!

We met with our inactive member Marco Torres again! He amazes me each time. We got to talk about where he's been reading in the Book of Mormon, and he described the verses in Mosiah 27. I felt the Holy Ghost confirm to me that he was aware of Marco's needs because this is exactly where I was reading the past two days during my own scripture study!! It was so special. I shared with him that we can return to God (in Marco's case, church) regardless of where we've been--even if it takes some time. He accepted our invitation back to church and said he'll pray about it. What a kind man. I teared up while talking with him because I sincerely feel love for him. I love being a missionary.

Our mission is experiencing a new change! Tracting (knocking doors) is being eliminated! This is going to be a hard transition, but we are going to find effective ways to find people. 

A new transfer is starting! I am staying in Bellevue for another 6 weeks! I'm excited to get a new companion. 

Es todo por ahora. ¡Gracias por su apoyo!

Elder Jones

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